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HTML Helpers

Overview

This namespace contains components that help with the generation of HTML.

Attributes

The Phalcon\Html\Attributes is a wrapper of Phalcon\Collection. It also contains two more methods render() and __toString(). render() uses Phalcon\Tag internally to render the attributes that a HTML element has. These HTML attributes are defined in the object itself.

The component can be used on its own if you want to collect HTML attributes in an object and then _render) them (return them as a string) in a key=value format.

This component is used internally by Phalcon\Forms\Form to store the attributes of form elements.

A common piece of HTML that is present in many web applications is the breadcrumbs. These are links separated by a space or by the / character usually, that represent the tree structure of an application. The purpose is to give users another easy visual way to navigate throughout the application.

An example is an application that has an admin module, an invoices area and a view invoice page. Usually, you would select the the admin module, then from the links you will choose invoices (list) and then clicking on one of the invoices in the list, you can view it. To represent this tree like structure, the breadcrumbs displayed could be:

Home / Admin / Invoices / Viewing Invoice [1234]
Each of the words above (apart from the last one) are links to the respective pages. This way the user can quickly navigate back to a different area without having to click the back button or use another menu.

Phalcon\Html\Breadcrumbs offers functionality to add text and URLs. The resulting HTML when calling render() will have each breadcrumb enclosed in <dt> tags, while the whole string is enclosed in <dl> tags.

Methods

public function add(
    string $label, 
    string $link = ""
): Breadcrumbs
Adds a new crumb.

In the example below, add a crumb with a link and then add a crumb without a link (normally the last one)

$breadcrumbs
    ->add("Home", "/")
    ->add("Users")
;


public function clear(): void
Clears the crumbs

$breadcrumbs->clear()


public function getSeparator(): string
Returns the separator used for the breadcrumbs

public function remove(string $link): void
Removes crumb by url.

In the example below remove a crumb by URL and also remove a crumb without an url (last link)

$breadcrumbs->remove("/admin/user/create");
$breadcrumbs->remove();


public function render(): string
Renders and outputs breadcrumbs HTML. The template used is:

<dl>
    <dt><a href="Hyperlink">Text</a></dt> / 
    <dt><a href="Hyperlink">Text</a></dt> / 
    <dt>Text</dt>
</dl>
The last set crumb will not have a link and will only have its text displayed. Each crumb is wrapped in <dt></dt> tags. The whole collection is wrapped in <dl></dl> tags. You can use them in conjunction with CSS to format the crumbs on screen according to the needs of your application.

echo $breadcrumbs->render();


public function setSeparator(string $separator)
The default separator between the crumbs is /. You can set a different one if you wish using this method.

$breadcrumbs->setSeparator('-');


public function toArray(): array
Returns the internal breadcrumbs array

TagFactory

Phalcon\Html\TagFactory is a component that generates HTML tags. This component creates a new class locator with predefined HTML tag classes attached to it. Each tag class is lazy loaded for maximum performance. To instantiate the factory and retrieve a tag helper, you need to call newInstance().

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\TagFactory;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$factory = new TagFactory($escaper);
$anchor  = $factory->newInstance('a');
The registered names for respective helpers are:

Name Description
a Phalcon\Html\Helper\Anchor - <a> tag
aRaw Phalcon\Html\Helper\AnchorRaw - <a> tag raw
body Phalcon\Html\Helper\Body - <body> tag
button Phalcon\Html\Helper\Button - <button> tag
close Phalcon\Html\Helper\Close - close tag
element Phalcon\Html\Helper\Element - any tag
elementRaw Phalcon\Html\Helper\ElementRaw - any tag raw
form Phalcon\Html\Helper\Form - <form> tag
img Phalcon\Html\Helper\Img - <img> tag
label Phalcon\Html\Helper\Label - <label> tag
textarea Phalcon\Html\Helper\TextArea - <textarea> tag

Helpers

All helpers that are used by the Phalcon\Html\TagFactory are located under the Phalcon\Html\Helper namespace. You can create each of these classes individually if you wish to, or you can use the tag factory as shown above. Other than the *Raw helpers, if text is required by the helper, it will be automatically escaped using Phalcon\Escaper.

NOTE

The code and output below has been formatted for readability

a

Phalcon\Html\Helper\Anchor creates anchor HTML tags. The component accepts the href as a string, the text as a string and optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\Anchor;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new Anchor($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'name'  => 'my-name',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor('/myurl', 'click<>me', $options);
// <a href="/myurl" 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class">
//     click&lt;&gt;me
// </a>

aRaw

Phalcon\Html\Helper\AchorRaw creates raw anchor HTML tags, i.e. the text will not be escaped. The component accepts the href as a string, the text as a string and optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\AnchorRaw;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new AnchorRaw($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'name'  => 'my-name',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor('/myurl', 'click<>me', $options);
// <a href="/myurl" 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class">
//     click<>me
// </a>

body

Phalcon\Html\Helper\Body creates a <body> tag. The component accepts optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\Body;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new Body($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor($options);
// <body id="my-id" class="my-class">

NOTE

This helper creates only the opening <body> tag. You will need to use the Close helper to generate the closing </body> tag.

button

Phalcon\Html\Helper\Button creates <button> HTML tags. The component accepts the text as a string and optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\Button;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new Button($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'name'  => 'my-name',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor('click<>me', $options);
// <button 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class">
//     click&lt;&gt;me
// </button>

close

Phalcon\Html\Helper\Close creates the closing HTML tags. The component accepts the name of the tag to close.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\Close;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new Close($escaper);

echo $anchor('form');
// </form>

element

Phalcon\Html\Helper\Element creates HTML tags based on the passed name parameter. The component accepts the name as a string, the text as a string and optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\Element;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new Element($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'name'  => 'my-name',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor('address', 'click<>me', $options);
// <address 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class">
//     click&lt;&gt;me
// </address>

elementRaw

Phalcon\Html\Helper\ElementRaw creates raw HTML tags, i.e. the text will not be escaped. The tag created is based on the passed name parameter. The component accepts the name as a string, the text as a string and optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\ElementRaw;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new ElementRaw($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'name'  => 'my-name',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor('address', 'click<>me', $options);
// <address 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class">
//     click<>me
// </address>

form

Phalcon\Html\Helper\Form creates <form> HTML tags. The component accepts an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs. By default the form has its method to post and enctype to multipart/form-data.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\Form;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new Form($escaper);
$options = [
    'class'   => 'my-class',
    'name'    => 'my-name',
    'id'      => 'my-id',
    'method'  => 'post',
    'enctype' => 'multipart/form-data'
];

echo $anchor($options);
// <form 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class"
//    method="post"
//    enctype="multipart/form-data">

NOTE

This helper creates only the opening <form> tag. You will need to use the Close helper to generate the closing </form> tag.

img

Phalcon\Html\Helper\Img creates <img> HTML tags. The component accepts the src as a string and optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\Img;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new Img($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'name'  => 'my-name',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor('/my-url', $options);
// <img 
//    src="/my-url" 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class">

label

Phalcon\Html\Helper\Label creates <label> HTML tags. The component accepts optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\Label;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new Label($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'name'  => 'my-name',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor($options);
// <label 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class">

NOTE

This helper creates only the opening <label> tag. You will need to use the Close helper to generate the closing </label> tag.

textarea

Phalcon\Html\Helper\TextArea creates <textarea> HTML tags. The component accepts the text as a string and optionally an array with all the attributes that the anchor needs.

<?php

use Phalcon\Escaper;
use Phalcon\Html\Helper\TextArea;

$escaper = new Escaper();
$anchor  = new TextArea($escaper);
$options = [
    'class' => 'my-class',
    'name'  => 'my-name',
    'id'    => 'my-id',
];

echo $anchor('click<>me', $options);
// <textarea 
//    id="my-id" 
//    name="my-name" 
//    class="my-class">
//     click&lt;&gt;me
// </textarea>

NOTE

More helpers will become available in future versions of Phalcon. The goal is to completely replace the Phalcon\Tag object with small HTML helper classes.