I think it’s really interesting with different structure solutions like Custom snippets for specific page types.
I tried a new approach this week that I’ll share.
Structure
Let’s say we want to have this snippet structure:
Template 1 structure
sidebar
news
ratings
main
content1
about
content2
table1
Template 2 structure
sidebar
ratings
main
content2
content1
info
about
data
We want to have different templates but with the same snippets depending on the template. This can be done in many different ways.
Before I used if statements like this:
<?php if( $page->intendedTemplate('template1') ) : ?>
<?php snippet('news'); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
This is just one if statement. I’m not going to write them all here.
Pitfalls
- It can be really messy with a more complex structure.
- If need to change the order of the snippets, it will add another layer of complexity.
New approach - Controllers
Template 1 controller
<?php
return function($site, $pages, $page) {
return array(
'sidebar' => array('news', 'ratings'),
'main' => array('content1', 'content2', 'table1'),
'content1' => array('about'),
);
};
Template 2 controller
<?php
return function($site, $pages, $page) {
return array(
'sidebar' => array('ratings'),
'main' => array('content2', 'content1'),
'content1' => array('info', 'about', 'data'),
);
};
Snippets
A loop will take every value from the array and load snippets from that.
Main snippet
foreach( $main as $item ) {
snippet( $item );
}
//Template 1 - content1, content2, table1
//Template 2 - content2, content1
Content1 snippet
foreach( $content1 as $item ) {
snippet( $item );
}
//Template 1 - about
//Template 2 - info, about, data
Benefits
- Separates the conditions from the templates/snippets.
- Less code in the templates/snippets.
- Not much code in the controllers.
- Order snippets is really simple.
- Unlimited depth without hassle.
- Great overview in the controllers.
Sidenotes
Maybe you don’t like to just drop the snippet names into the controller like that.
You can nest it if you like:
It will require an extra step in the controller and in the template, but still much less code than if statements.
<?php
return function($site, $pages, $page) {
return array(
'snippets' => array(
'sidebar' => array('ratings'),
'main' => array('content2', 'content1'),
'content1' => array('info', 'about', 'data'),
),
'some_other_thing' => $page->title(),
);
};
So, what do you think? How do you do it?
