CODEWITHSUNDEEP
codeigniterglobal-variables
Amit Aggarwal
Amit Aggarwal

Reputation: 131

Global variables in CodeIgniter view

I am following the Nettuts tutorial to implement Basecamp-style subdomains with CodeIgniter.

Based on the calling subdomain, the subdomain table in the database returns an extension corresponding to that subdomain. So say for stackoverflow.mywebsite.com, it will return the extension sf, and the image folder and CSS file used all over the website will change on the basis of this extension; for example, images_sf, style_sf.css, etc.

Now, what is the best way to fetch this extension anywhere in M, V, or C ?

Options:

  1. Cookies
  2. Dynamically setting CI config variable
  3. Set a variable for this in MY_Controller and access that variable via $this-> anywhere.
  4. Send that variable from each controller to models, helpers, views or libraries.

Did I miss any other options? Also, which one will be best assuming this will be heavily used all over the code?

Thanks

Upvotes: 2

Views: 9418

Answers (2)

tgriesser
tgriesser

Reputation: 2808

Your best bet is probably option 3, to put it in the constructor of your base contoller, probably MY_controller or whatever you are extending Controller (now CI_Controller with the CI2.0 official release)

However if all you're doing is getting an extension, there might not be a reason to have a database table, since you could just keep it in a config file

I'd do something like this... in MY_Controller.php (This is CI 2.0 syntax)

<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

class MY_Controller extends CI_Controller {

      function __construct()
      {
           parent::__construct();

           $subdomain_arr = explode('.', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'], 2);  
           $subdomain_name = $subdomain_arr[0];  

           $this->load->config('sub_prefix');
           $pre_arr = $this->config->item('prefixes');

           /* Check to make sure the subdomain name is in the config array */
           $this->prefix = isset($pre_arr[$subdomain_name]) ? $pre_arr[$subdomain_name] : '';
      }

Then in the config file (sub_prefix.php)

<?php if (! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access');

    $config['prefixes'] = array('subdomain1' => 'sub1', 
                                'stackoverflow' => 'sf');

That way you don't have to run an extra query everytime the page loads for something that is relatively static...if you got to the point where there would be a lot more information you would need other than a prefix, then it would make sense to do it with the database

You can now just use $this->prefix in any of the views, controllers, or models you will be using... the best way to do it for something that is heavily use all over your application.

Upvotes: 2

jondavidjohn
jondavidjohn

Reputation: 62392

Personally, I would create a base controller for each site that you extend, and just use $this->load->vars($data); to load the information you need globally set.

In the constructor of your specific base Controller just load the data into the views globally like this.

$data->some_var = "some value";
$this->load->vars($data);

And then in all your views loaded by this controller (or base controller) you can utilize the variable $some_var directly in the view.

Upvotes: 5

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