Template tag for including files

[Desbrina]

I've been working on a template system for one of my websites. So far its working ok

I'm now trying to make it so that you can include a template within a template

currently a template is created using

function compile_template($temp_name, $variables)
	{
		// Load template
		$temp = fopen($temp_name, 'r');
		$content = fread($temp, filesize($temp_name)); 
		if(is_array($variables)) {
			foreach ($this->data as $key => $val)
			{
				$newcontent = str_replace("{".$key."}", $val, $content);
			}	
		}	
		$cont = (isset($newcontent)) ? $newcontent : $content;

	echo $cont;
}

i now want to check the template file for the following tag

<-- INCLUDE tempname.tpl -->

where tempname.tpl is the name of the template. So anywhere there is an include, get the contents of that file and replace the include with the contents.

Whats the best way of going about this?

[BuzzPHP]

I think I understand. You want your own template system? Instaid of using a 3rd party system or, use inline PHP, or use a common PHP page which serves all pages, or, using .htaccess to redirect old pages to a PHP page which supports templating.

Sounds like some recursive coding, which means you need to return a string from your function.

You need to search for "<--INCLUDE" using stripos If found, you then search for "-->" after the start point using the offset parameter.

Once you have the start and end positions, you need to extract the file name using some more string processing.

If there is a valid filename, you then call the function again to get the templated string for the given filename. You then need todo what I call a StuffString command. Delphi had one build in that was great.

http://delphi.wikia.com/wiki/StuffString_Routine

So, you stuff the new string into the start and end position of the <!-- INCLUDE tag. And, then continue processing until no more INCLUDES are found.

With this kinda stuff, its easy to have an enless loop, so, you might have to keep a recursion depth counter. Also, some of the string process can be a little tricky to debug, but, then thats the fun of it.

BTW: There are other ways todo template systems.

[Desbrina]

I think i almost have it working, but for some reason it says the template file doesn't exist, even though the link in the error works

This compile function

function compile_template($temp_name, $variables)
	{
		// Load template
		$content = $this->tpl_include($temp_name);

	// Replace variables with real contetnt if any set
	if(is_array($variables)) {
		foreach ($this->data as $key => $val)
		{
			$newcontent = str_replace("{".$key."}", $val, $content);
		}	
	}	
	$cont = (isset($newcontent)) ? $newcontent : $content;

	// Look for and include any included files in template
	preg_match_all('#<!-- INCLUDE ([a-zA-Z0-9\_\-\+\./]+) -->#', $cont, $matches);

	foreach ($matches[1] as $key=>$val)
	{
		$cont = preg_replace('#<!-- INCLUDE [a-zA-Z0-9\_\-\+\./]+ -->#', $this->tpl_include($val), $cont);
	}

	echo $cont;
}

the tpl_include function

function tpl_include($filename)
	{
		if($this->check_template($filename))
		{
			$temp = fopen($filename, 'r');
			$content = fread($temp, filesize($filename)); 

		return $content;
	}
}

the check_template function

function check_template($temp_name)
	{
		if(empty($temp_name) || ($temp_name == ''))
		{
			// Check to see if the template has been specified
			trigger_error('Template file <a href="' . $temp_name . '">' . $temp_name . '</a> can not be empty', E_USER_ERROR);
			return false;
		}
		if(file_exists($temp_name) && !is_readable($temp_name))
		{
			// Check to see if the template is readable
			trigger_error('Template file: <a href="' . $temp_name . '">' . $temp_name . '</a> is not readable', E_USER_ERROR);
			return false;
		}
		if (!file_exists($temp_name))
		{
			// Check to see if the template exists
			trigger_error('Template file: <a href="' . $temp_name . '">' . $temp_name . '</a> does not exist', E_USER_ERROR);
			return false;
		}
		return true;
	}

and the index.tpl page

<!-- INCLUDE /template/head.tpl -->
{WELCOME}
<!-- INCLUDE /template/foot.tpl -->

it always gives

Fatal error: Template file: /template/head.tpl does not exist in /home/.lagoons/calona/scouts/includes/classes/template.php on line 37

"/template/head.tpl" is a link and when clicked the file loads, so i don't know why it thingks its not there

[BuzzPHP]

looks like file_exists() returns false for "some" symbolic links.

http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=48535

Check permissions. Whatever that means for you, im unsure.

[Desbrina]

turns out it was because i had a / at the beginning. took that out they work fine