chrisyour/CakePHP Block Helper

## CakePHP Block Helper
// CakePHP Block Helper

// Ever wanted a clean way to capture a block of HTML in your CakePHP view and use it later in your layout just like CakePHP uses $content_for_layout?

// I use Rails all the time and take content_for for granted. I recently started a CakePHP project and noticed the absence of a simple content_for method to capture a block of HTML.

// For this example we are creating a helper named $cake, a controller named 'main', and using a layout named 'app'.


// HELPER:
// app/views/helpers/cake.php

<?
/**
 * CakeHelper Class
 *
 * @author Chris Your
 */
class CakeHelper extends AppHelper {
	/**
	 * Begin capturing a block of HTML content
	 *
	 * @author Chris Your
	 */
	function capture(){
		ob_start();
	}

	/**
	 * Set the captured block of HTML content to a $variable
	 *
	 * @param string $variable Assigned name
	 * @return void
	 * @author Chris Your
	 */
	function content_for($variable){
		$view = ClassRegistry::getObject('view');
		$view->set($variable, ob_get_clean());
	}
}
?>


// CONTROLLER:
// app/controllers/main_controller.php

<?php
class MainController extends AppController{
	var $layout = 'app';
	var $helpers = array('Cake');

	function index(){

	}
}
?>


// LAYOUT:
// app/views/layouts/app.ctp

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>My App</title>
</head>
<body>
	<div id="content">
		<?=$content_for_layout?>
	</div>
	<div id="side">
		<?=$side_for_layout?>
	</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>


// VIEW:
// app/views/main/index.ctp

<? $cake->capture() ?>
This content is for side_for_layout.
<? $cake->content_for('side_for_layout') ?>
This content is for content_for_layout.
	// CakePHP Block Helper

	// Ever wanted a clean way to capture a block of HTML in your CakePHP view and use it later in your layout just like CakePHP uses $content_for_layout?

	// I use Rails all the time and take content_for for granted. I recently started a CakePHP project and noticed the absence of a simple content_for method to capture a block of HTML.

	// For this example we are creating a helper named $cake, a controller named 'main', and using a layout named 'app'.


	// HELPER:
	// app/views/helpers/cake.php

	<?
	/**
	* CakeHelper Class
	*
	* @author Chris Your
	*/
	class CakeHelper extends AppHelper {
	/**
	* Begin capturing a block of HTML content
	*
	* @author Chris Your
	*/
	function capture(){
	ob_start();
	}

	/**
	* Set the captured block of HTML content to a $variable
	*
	* @param string $variable Assigned name
	* @return void
	* @author Chris Your
	*/
	function content_for($variable){
	$view = ClassRegistry::getObject('view');
	$view->set($variable, ob_get_clean());
	}
	}
	?>


	// CONTROLLER:
	// app/controllers/main_controller.php

	<?php
	class MainController extends AppController{
	var $layout = 'app';
	var $helpers = array('Cake');

	function index(){

	}
	}
	?>


	// LAYOUT:
	// app/views/layouts/app.ctp

	<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
	<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
	<head>
	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
	<title>My App</title>
	</head>
	<body>
	<div id="content">
	<?=$content_for_layout?>
	</div>
	<div id="side">
	<?=$side_for_layout?>
	</div>
	</div>
	</body>
	</html>


	// VIEW:
	// app/views/main/index.ctp

	<? $cake->capture() ?>
	This content is for side_for_layout.
	<? $cake->content_for('side_for_layout') ?>
	This content is for content_for_layout.