Planet CakePHP

It’s been a long time since my last posting. Today I’m going to show you my cycle-helper for cakePHP. If you haven’t read my other posts on alternating row colors, do so now: Alternate Table Rows in CakePHP (and ZF, Rails, Smarty) and http://functino.com/2009/04/zebra-tables-how-to-alternate-table-row-colors/
The cycle-helper is easy to use and install and if your familiar with the rails cycle-helper you already know how it works…. So: how does it look when you use my helper for alternating row colors:

<?php foreach($rows as $row):?>
<?php echo $cycle->cycle('', ' class="altrow"');?>>
<?php echo $row['rowdata'];?>

<?php endforeach ?>

I think it’s pretty nice and a more beautiful approach then what cake bake produces.
Of course you can also use it with css-classes “even” and “odd”:

<?php foreach($rows as $row):?>
<?php echo $cycle->cycle('odd', 'even');?>">
<?php echo $row['rowdata'];?>

<?php endforeach ?>

If you have nested loops you have the possibility to give your cycle a name via the “name”-option:

<?php $animals = array("Dogs" => array("Santa's Little Helper", "Beethoven", "Lassie", "Pluto", "Brian"),
"Cats" => array("Snowball", "Snowball II", "Snowball III", "Garfield"),
"Monkeys" => array("Mojo", "Lazlo", "King Kong"),
"Frogs" => array("Kermit", "Ed Bighead"),
"Kangaroos" => array("Skippy", "Jack"));?>
<?php foreach($animals as $key => $value): ?>
<?php echo $key;?> (<?php echo $cycle->cycle("1", "2");?>)
<?php foreach($value as $v):?>
<?php echo $cycle->current();?>
<?php echo $cycle->cycle("1", "2", "3", array("name" => "test"));?> <?php echo $v;?>
<?php endforeach;?>

<?php endforeach ?>

The helper code contains comments that should explain how it all works. The code for the helper itself looks like this:

<?php
/*
* Cycle Helper for cakePHP
* Copyright (c) 2009 Andreas
* http://functino.com
*
* @author andreas
* @version 1.0
* @license MIT
*
*/
 
/**
* The CycleHelper is used to cycle through the provided strings.
* You can use it for example to set alternate classes for table rows.
* Usage is simple:
*
*
* <?php foreach($items as $item):?>
* cycle("odd", "even");?>"">
* <?php echo $item;?>
*
* <?php endforeach;?>
*
*
*
* This will create rows where the class alternates between "odd" and "even".
*
* If you need more than one cycle you can use named cycles:
*
* <?php $items = array("Car" => array("VW", "Fiat", "Ford"), "Food" => array("Pizza", "Hotdog"), "..." => array("..."));?>
*
* <?php foreach($items as $item => $aliases):?>
* cycle("odd", "even");?>"">
*
* <?php echo $item;?>:
* <?php foreach($aliases as $alias):?>
* cycle("one", "two", "three", array("name" => "second_cycle"));?>">
* <?php echo $alias;?>
*
* <?php endforeach?>
*
*
* <?php endforeach;?>
*
*
*
*/
class CycleHelper extends AppHelper {
 
/**
* @var array
* @access private
*/
private $cycles = array();
 
 
/**
* Creates a Cycle object. Cycles through elements of an array everytime it is called. This is useful for example if you want to
* use alternate classes for table rows etc.
* This method takes an arbitrary number of strings to cycle through. The last parameter can be an array with options.
* If you pass in an options array with the key "name" you create a named cycle.
* If you don't pass in this name the name "default" is used. You can use named cycles to use more than one cycle in a loop.
* @param string $name aribtrary number of strings to cycle through
* @param array $options Options is an array. Currently only array("name" => "xyz") is implemented
* @return string $options Link attributes e.g. array('id'=>'selected')
* @access public
*/
public function cycle()
{
$params = func_get_args();
if(is_array(end($params)))
{
$options = array_pop($params);
$name = $options["name"];
}
else
{
$name = "default";
}
$cycle = $this->getCycle($name);
if($cycle)
{
return $cycle;
}
return $this->setCycle($name, $params);
}
 
/**
* Resets a cycle. If you reset a cycle it starts form the first element again.
* If you don't pass in a name the default cycle is reset. To reset a named cycle pass in it's name.
* @param string $name Name of the cycle to reset
* @return Cycle
* @access public
*/
public function reset($name = "default")
{
$this->cycles[$name]->reset();
return $this;
}
 
/**
* Returns the current cycle string. Normally you simply call the cycle() method to get the current cycle string. This current()
* method is useful if you need to get the current cycle string more than one times.
* Pass in a name to get the value of a named cycle.
* @param string $name Name of the cycle
* @return string The current cycle string
* @access public
*/
public function current($name = "default")
{
return $this->cycles[$name]->current();
}
 
/**
* Creates a ViewCycle and stores it in the cycle array by it's name
* @param string $name Name of the cycle
* @param array $params array of cycle strings
* @return ViewCycle
* @access public
*/
public function setCycle($name, $params)
{
$this->cycles[$name] = new ViewCycle($params);
return $this->cycles[$name];
}
 
/**
* Returns a cycle by it's name
* @param string $name Name of the cycle
* @return mixed ViewCycle or false
* @access private
*/
private function getCycle($name)
{
if(!isset($this->cycles[$name]))
{
return false;
}
return $this->cycles[$name];
}
}
 
 
/**
* ViewCycle is used by the Cycle helper to cycle through an array of elements (in most cases: strings)
*/
class ViewCycle
{
/**
* Holds the name of this Cycle
* @var string
* @access private
*/
private $name;
 
/**
* Holds an array of strings
* @var array
* @access private
*/
private $cycle;
 
/**
* number of cycle strings
* @var integer
* @access private
*/
private $count;
 
/**
* iteration counter
* @var string
* @access private
*/
private $i;
 
/**
* Takes an array of strings to cycle through
* @param array $cycle
* @return void
* @access public
*/
public function __construct($cycle)
{
$this->assign($cycle);
}
 
/**
* Returns the current cycle string and then sets the next cycle string
* @return string current cycle string
* @access public
*/
public function __toString()
{
$this->current = $this->cycle[$this->i % $this->count];
$this->i++;
return $this->current;
}
 
/**
* Returns the current cycle string
* @return string
* @access public
*/
public function current()
{
return $this->current;
}
 
/**
* Resets this cycle
* @return void
* @access public
*/
public function reset()
{
$this->i = 0;
}
 
/**
* Set an array of strings to cycle through
* @param array $cycle array of strings
* @return void
* @access public
*/
public function assign($cycle)
{
$this->cycle = $cycle;
$this->count = count($this->cycle);
$this->reset();
}
}

If you want to use this helper just copy the code to a file “cycle.php” in app/view/helpers and add it in your app_controller.php to the $helpers array:

<?php
class AppController extends Controller {
var $helpers = array('Html', 'Form', 'Cycle');
}

That’s it!