TooBasic: Layouts

What is a layout?

Well, you know, the part of your page that surrounds your main content an usually stays always the same.

Create a site with layout

Main content

Let's follow an old example an create an action called myaction this way:

A controller in ROOTDIR/site/controllers/myaction.php:

<?php
class MyactionController extends \TooBasic\Controller {
  protected function basicRun() {
      $this->assign("helloaciton", "Hello World!");
      return true;
  }
}

A template in ROOTDIR/site/templates/action/myaction.html:
```
      <h4>{$helloaciton}</h4>
```
And visit it, for example, at:

http://www.example.com/?action=myaction

After all of this you'll find a page saying Hello World!.

Let's create another action to emulate a navigation bar and call it mynav:

A controller in ROOTDIR/site/controllers/nav.php:

<?php
class MynavController extends \TooBasic\Controller {
  protected function basicRun() {
      $this->assign("hellonav", "I'm a nav");
      return true;
  }
}

A template in ROOTDIR/site/templates/action/mynav.html:

      <h4 style="color:red;">{$hellonav}</h4>

Why? You'll see.

Layout

Now that you have a main content to show, let's create another controller called mylayout for your layout:

A controller in ROOTDIR/site/templates/action/mylayout.html:

<?php
class MylayoutController extends \TooBasic\Layout {
  protected function basicRun() {
      return true;
  }
}

A template in ROOTDIR/site/templates/action/mylayout.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
      <title>HELLO</title>
      <meta charset="UTF-8">
      <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  </head>
  <body>
{$ctrl->insert("mynav")}
%TOO_BASIC_ACTION_CONTENT%
  </body>
</html>

And visit it, for example, at:

http://www.example.com/?action=myaction&layout=mylayout

Config

As you may see, using a parameter called layout on each URL may not be pretty, therefore you can configure your site by creating/modifying a file in ROOTDIR/site/config.php with this content:

<?php
$Defaults["layout"] = "mylayout";

In this way, you may enter your page just specifying your action.

Also, you may do this to have a default action:

<?php
$Defaults["layout"] = "mylayout";
$Defaults["action"] = "myaction";

And then access this way:

http://www.example.com/

Doubts

What the heck is that?

You've probably seen an strange word/constant/keyword/thing called %TOO_BASIC_ACTION_CONTENT%, this is a keyword you must use inside your template in the place where you want to put your main content.

Insert?

If you look closely to our example you'll find something like {$ctrl->insert("mynav")}. This sentence "inserts" the results of an action called mynav. Of course you can import that part with AJAX later on, but in this way, that part will be add to your layout cache when it's activated.

Wrong layout?

If for any reason you create an action that requires a different layout, you can change it writing something like this:

<?php
class MyactionController extends \TooBasic\Controller {
    protected $_layout = "otherlayout";
    protected function basicRun() {
        . . .
    }
}

And if you don't want a layout at all, you may write this:

<?php
class MyactionController extends \TooBasic\Controller {
    protected $_layout = false;
    protected function basicRun() {
        . . .
    }
}

Suggestions

If you want, you may visit these documentation pages:

Layouts