Opinion: better to code in all php or various languages with php spoted throughout

harty83

I have seen two ways of coding in php. So, I was wondering, could I get some opinions on the best way to code php many page programs. Which do you prefer and why:

1) Code in ALL php. Use php to output everything; for example

<?php
echo "<html>\n";
echo "<head>\n";
echo "</head>\n";
echo "<body>\n";
echo "Hello!\n";
echo "</body>\n";
echo "</html>";
?>

2) Code in the various languages and use php throughout; for example

<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<?php echo "Hello!"; ?>
</body>
</html>

Please do explain why you prefer one over the other. Thanks!

mpasternak

i prefer the 2nd method.

I started doing it that way and thats the way I guess i just learned.

But in the end I like that better because it's overall less keystrokes. Having to type echo " " ; just to issue a simple HTML command seems like excess.

I also find that most of my pages are PHP data functions within an HTML layout. This way it sort of encapsulates those PHP functions in the layout giving me a more "true to output" feel.

I guess it's just me, But i dont' know if there is a "right" way of doing it.

NogDog

I'm not particularly set in one particular way, other than I greatly prefer to avoid frequent switches into and out of PHP mode, like this sort of thing:

<p>This is a <?php echo $test; ?>.</p>
<p>It is on <?php echo $atest; ?>.</p>
<p>If this had been an actual <?php echo $program; ?>, then it would
not be so <?php echo $stupid; ?>.

I much prefer to do something like:

echo <<<EOD
<p>This is a $test.</p>
<p>It is only $atest.</p>
<p>If this had been an actual $program, then it would
not be so $stupid.</p>
EOD;

// ...or... //

printf("<p>This is a %s.</p>\n<p>It is only %s.</p>\n" .
       "<p>If this had been an actual %s, then it would not be so %s.</p>\n",
       $test, $atest, $program, $stupid);

big_nerd

I agree with option two,

There are various reasons for this.

I use dreamweaver for design quite often, although I am fully capable of creating a webpage in html without it, I find it does save time.

When using it, it can recognise where php code is (with a neat little graphic).

Additionally, with way 1, you may run into having to escape quotes.

I just say option 2.

veridicus

Option 1. Very often I find I need to do something with the HTML strings (caching, for example). Plus my code lately is mostly object oriented and templated, so I'm never outputting directly from most of my application. I give all HTML to strings, which are later echoed.

etully

I use option 1 half the time and option 2 half the time. They are each right for certain situations.

greenie2600

Since escaping from PHP is really just another way of echoing text, I think this boils down to personal style. I use both in different situations, with some caveats:

I lean toward the first method. When in doubt, I stay in PHP.
My PHP blocks and HTML blocks tend to be relatively large. I try to avoid dropping in and out of PHP too often.

I couldn't tell you exactly why I do this; all I can say is that I've been coding in PHP since PHP 3, and this is the method that seems to work best for me.

With all of that said:

I think the two methods do reflect two fundamentally different concepts of what your PHP file is.

The second method sees the PHP file as an HTML file that just happens to contain some logical instructions.

The first method sees the PHP file as a computer program which just happens to produce HTML as output.

As my projects have grown in scale and complexity, I've found myself leaning more and more toward the latter mindset. I'm willing to bet that if you talked to an expert in systems architecture (i.e., someone other than me), they'd agree.

Here's my general approach. I'm not 100% happy with this, but it works well enough until I can figure out something better:

Each of my .php files is separated into two blocks. The first block (at the top of the file) is pure PHP. This is where 99% of the logic happens: database queries are issued, form posts are processed, etc. This code transforms the relevant data structures into the various chunks of HTML - <select> controls, <table>s, etc. - that will be output to the browser, and loads these chunks of HTML into string variables.

The second block (below the PHP block) is the HTML block. I treat this section of the file much like a Smarty template. In other words, it's mostly HTML; I only break into PHP to output the HTML from one of the variables I constructed in the first block. There might be a little bit of logic in this section, but if there is, it's related strictly to presentation - none of the application flow is handled here.

This isn't a perfect separation of presentational and application logic, but it could be a lot worse.