What is Smarty?
Why use it?
Use Cases and Work Flow
Syntax Comparison
Template Inheritance
Best Practices
Crash Course
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A {section}
is for looping over sequentially indexed arrays of data,
unlike {foreach}
which is used to loop over a
single associative array.
Every {section}
tag must be paired with
a closing {/section}
tag.
Attribute Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
name | string | Yes | n/a | The name of the section |
loop | mixed | Yes | n/a | Value to determine the number of loop iterations |
start | integer | No | 0 | The index position that the section will begin looping. If the value is negative, the start position is calculated from the end of the array. For example, if there are seven values in the loop array and start is -2, the start index is 5. Invalid values (values outside of the length of the loop array) are automatically truncated to the closest valid value. |
step | integer | No | 1 | The step value that will be used to traverse the loop array. For example, step=2 will loop on index 0,2,4, etc. If step is negative, it will step through the array backwards. |
max | integer | No | n/a | Sets the maximum number of times the section will loop. |
show | boolean | No | TRUE |
Determines whether or not to show this section |
Required attributes are name
and loop
.
The name
of the {section}
can be
anything you like, made up of letters, numbers and underscores, like
PHP variables.
{section}'s can be nested, and the nested
{section}
names must be unique from each other.
The loop
attribute,
usually an array of values, determines the number of times the
{section}
will loop. You can also pass an integer
as the loop value.
When printing a variable within a {section}
, the
{section}
name
must be given next
to variable name within [brackets].
{sectionelse}
is
executed when there are no values in the loop variable.
A {section}
also has its own variables that handle
{section}
properties.
These properties are accessible as:
{$smarty.section.name.property}
where “name” is the attribute name
.
{section}
properties are
index
,
index_prev
,
index_next
,
iteration
,
first
,
last
,
rownum
,
loop
,
show
,
total
.
Example 7.30. Looping a simple array with {section}
assign()
an array to Smarty
<?php $data = array(1000,1001,1002); $smarty->assign('custid',$data); ?>
The template that outputs the array
{* this example will print out all the values of the $custid array *} {section name=customer loop=$custid} id: {$custid[customer]}<br /> {/section} <hr /> {* print out all the values of the $custid array reversed *} {section name=foo loop=$custid step=-1} {$custid[foo]}<br /> {/section}
The above example will output:
id: 1000<br /> id: 1001<br /> id: 1002<br /> <hr /> id: 1002<br /> id: 1001<br /> id: 1000<br />
Example 7.31. {section} without an assigned array
{section name=foo start=10 loop=20 step=2} {$smarty.section.foo.index} {/section} <hr /> {section name=bar loop=21 max=6 step=-2} {$smarty.section.bar.index} {/section}
The above example will output:
10 12 14 16 18 <hr /> 20 18 16 14 12 10
Example 7.32. Naming a {section}
The name
of the {section}
can be anything
you like, see PHP variables.
It is used to reference the data within the {section}
.
{section name=anything loop=$myArray} {$myArray[anything].foo} {$name[anything]} {$address[anything].bar} {/section}
Example 7.33. Looping an associative array with {section}
This is an example of printing an associative array
of data with a {section}
. Following is the php script to assign the
$contacts
array to Smarty.
<?php $data = array( array('name' => 'John Smith', 'home' => '555-555-5555', 'cell' => '666-555-5555', 'email' => 'john@myexample.com'), array('name' => 'Jack Jones', 'home' => '777-555-5555', 'cell' => '888-555-5555', 'email' => 'jack@myexample.com'), array('name' => 'Jane Munson', 'home' => '000-555-5555', 'cell' => '123456', 'email' => 'jane@myexample.com') ); $smarty->assign('contacts',$data); ?>
The template to output $contacts
{section name=customer loop=$contacts} <p> name: {$contacts[customer].name}<br /> home: {$contacts[customer].home}<br /> cell: {$contacts[customer].cell}<br /> e-mail: {$contacts[customer].email} </p> {/section}
The above example will output:
<p> name: John Smith<br /> home: 555-555-5555<br /> cell: 666-555-5555<br /> e-mail: john@myexample.com </p> <p> name: Jack Jones<br /> home phone: 777-555-5555<br /> cell phone: 888-555-5555<br /> e-mail: jack@myexample.com </p> <p> name: Jane Munson<br /> home phone: 000-555-5555<br /> cell phone: 123456<br /> e-mail: jane@myexample.com </p>
Example 7.34. {section} demonstrating the loop
variable
This example assumes that $custid
, $name
and $address
are all
arrays containing the same number of values. First the php script that assign's the
arrays to Smarty.
<?php $id = array(1001,1002,1003); $smarty->assign('custid',$id); $fullnames = array('John Smith','Jack Jones','Jane Munson'); $smarty->assign('name',$fullnames); $addr = array('253 Abbey road', '417 Mulberry ln', '5605 apple st'); $smarty->assign('address',$addr); ?>
The loop
variable only determines the number of times to loop.
You can access ANY variable from the template within the {section}
{section name=customer loop=$custid} <p> id: {$custid[customer]}<br /> name: {$name[customer]}<br /> address: {$address[customer]} </p> {/section}
The above example will output:
<p> id: 1000<br /> name: John Smith<br /> address: 253 Abbey road </p> <p> id: 1001<br /> name: Jack Jones<br /> address: 417 Mulberry ln </p> <p> id: 1002<br /> name: Jane Munson<br /> address: 5605 apple st </p>
Example 7.35. Nested {section}'s
{section}'s can be nested as deep as you like. With nested {section}'s,
you can access complex data structures, such as multi-dimensional
arrays. This is an example .php
script thats assign's the arrays.
<?php $id = array(1001,1002,1003); $smarty->assign('custid',$id); $fullnames = array('John Smith','Jack Jones','Jane Munson'); $smarty->assign('name',$fullnames); $addr = array('253 N 45th', '417 Mulberry ln', '5605 apple st'); $smarty->assign('address',$addr); $types = array( array( 'home phone', 'cell phone', 'e-mail'), array( 'home phone', 'web'), array( 'cell phone') ); $smarty->assign('contact_type', $types); $info = array( array('555-555-5555', '666-555-5555', 'john@myexample.com'), array( '123-456-4', 'www.example.com'), array( '0457878') ); $smarty->assign('contact_info', $info); ?>
In this template, $contact_type[customer] is an array of contact types for the current customer.
{section name=customer loop=$custid} <hr> id: {$custid[customer]}<br /> name: {$name[customer]}<br /> address: {$address[customer]}<br /> {section name=contact loop=$contact_type[customer]} {$contact_type[customer][contact]}: {$contact_info[customer][contact]}<br /> {/section} {/section}
The above example will output:
<hr> id: 1000<br /> name: John Smith<br /> address: 253 N 45th<br /> home phone: 555-555-5555<br /> cell phone: 666-555-5555<br /> e-mail: john@myexample.com<br /> <hr> id: 1001<br /> name: Jack Jones<br /> address: 417 Mulberry ln<br /> home phone: 123-456-4<br /> web: www.example.com<br /> <hr> id: 1002<br /> name: Jane Munson<br /> address: 5605 apple st<br /> cell phone: 0457878<br />
Example 7.36. Database example with a {sectionelse}
Results of a database search (eg ADODB or PEAR) are assigned to Smarty
<?php $sql = 'select id, name, home, cell, email from contacts ' ."where name like '$foo%' "; $smarty->assign('contacts', $db->getAll($sql)); ?>
The template to output the database result in a HTML table
<table> <tr><th> </th><th>Name></th><th>Home</th><th>Cell</th><th>Email</th></tr> {section name=co loop=$contacts} <tr> <td><a href="view.php?id={$contacts[co].id}">view<a></td> <td>{$contacts[co].name}</td> <td>{$contacts[co].home}</td> <td>{$contacts[co].cell}</td> <td>{$contacts[co].email}</td> <tr> {sectionelse} <tr><td colspan="5">No items found</td></tr> {/section} </table>
index
contains the current array index, starting with zero
or the start
attribute if given. It increments by one or by
the step
attribute if given.
If the step
and start
properties are not
modified, then this works the same as the iteration
property, except it starts at zero instead of one.
Example 7.37. {section} index
property
$custid[customer.index]
and
$custid[customer]
are identical.
{section name=customer loop=$custid} {$smarty.section.customer.index} id: {$custid[customer]}<br /> {/section}
The above example will output:
0 id: 1000<br /> 1 id: 1001<br /> 2 id: 1002<br />
index_next
is the next loop index. On the last
loop, this is still one more than the current index, respecting the
setting of the step
attribute, if given.
Example 7.38. index
, index_next
and index_prev
properties
<?php $data = array(1001,1002,1003,1004,1005); $smarty->assign('rows',$data); ?>
Template to output the above array in a table
{* $rows[row.index] and $rows[row] are identical in meaning *} <table> <tr> <th>index</th><th>id</th> <th>index_prev</th><th>prev_id</th> <th>index_next</th><th>next_id</th> </tr> {section name=row loop=$rows} <tr> <td>{$smarty.section.row.index}</td><td>{$rows[row]}</td> <td>{$smarty.section.row.index_prev}</td><td>{$rows[row.index_prev]}</td> <td>{$smarty.section.row.index_next}</td><td>{$rows[row.index_next]}</td> </tr> {/section} </table>
The above example will output a table containing the following:
index id index_prev prev_id index_next next_id 0 1001 -1 1 1002 1 1002 0 1001 2 1003 2 1003 1 1002 3 1004 3 1004 2 1003 4 1005 4 1005 3 1004 5
iteration
contains the current loop iteration and starts at one.
This is not affected by the {section}
properties
start
, step
and max
,
unlike the index
property. iteration
also starts with one instead of zero
unlike index
. rownum
is an alias to
iteration
, they are identical.
Example 7.39. A section's iteration
property
<?php // array of 3000 to 3015 $id = range(3000,3015); $smarty->assign('arr',$id); ?>
Template to output every other element of the $arr
array as step=2
{section name=cu loop=$arr start=5 step=2} iteration={$smarty.section.cu.iteration} index={$smarty.section.cu.index} id={$custid[cu]}<br /> {/section}
The above example will output:
iteration=1 index=5 id=3005<br /> iteration=2 index=7 id=3007<br /> iteration=3 index=9 id=3009<br /> iteration=4 index=11 id=3011<br /> iteration=5 index=13 id=3013<br /> iteration=6 index=15 id=3015<br />
Another example that uses the iteration
property to
output a table header block every five rows.
Uses the {if}
function with the mod operator.
<table> {section name=co loop=$contacts} {if $smarty.section.co.iteration % 5 == 1} <tr><th> </th><th>Name></th><th>Home</th><th>Cell</th><th>Email</th></tr> {/if} <tr> <td><a href="view.php?id={$contacts[co].id}">view<a></td> <td>{$contacts[co].name}</td> <td>{$contacts[co].home}</td> <td>{$contacts[co].cell}</td> <td>{$contacts[co].email}</td> <tr> {/section} </table>
last
is set to TRUE
if the current section iteration is the final one.
Example 7.40. {section} property first
and last
This example loops the $customers
array,
outputs a header block on the first iteration and
on the last outputs the footer block. Also uses the
total
property.
{section name=customer loop=$customers} {if $smarty.section.customer.first} <table> <tr><th>id</th><th>customer</th></tr> {/if} <tr> <td>{$customers[customer].id}}</td> <td>{$customers[customer].name}</td> </tr> {if $smarty.section.customer.last} <tr><td></td><td>{$smarty.section.customer.total} customers</td></tr> </table> {/if} {/section}
rownum
contains the current loop iteration,
starting with one. It is an alias to iteration
,
they work identically.
loop
contains the last index number
that this {section}
looped. This can be used inside or after the {section}
.
Example 7.41. {section} property loop
{section name=customer loop=$custid} {$smarty.section.customer.index} id: {$custid[customer]}<br /> {/section} There are {$smarty.section.customer.loop} customers shown above.
The above example will output:
0 id: 1000<br /> 1 id: 1001<br /> 2 id: 1002<br /> There are 3 customers shown above.
show
is used as a parameter to section and is
a boolean value. If
FALSE
, the section will not be displayed. If there is a
{sectionelse}
present, that will be alternately displayed.
Example 7.42. show
property
Boolean $show_customer_info
has been passed from the PHP
application, to regulate whether or not this section shows.
{section name=customer loop=$customers show=$show_customer_info} {$smarty.section.customer.rownum} id: {$customers[customer]}<br /> {/section} {if $smarty.section.customer.show} the section was shown. {else} the section was not shown. {/if}
The above example will output:
1 id: 1000<br /> 2 id: 1001<br /> 3 id: 1002<br /> the section was shown.
total
contains the number of iterations that this
{section}
will loop. This can be used inside or after a
{section}
.
Example 7.43. total
property example
{section name=customer loop=$custid step=2} {$smarty.section.customer.index} id: {$custid[customer]}<br /> {/section} There are {$smarty.section.customer.total} customers shown above.
See also {foreach}
and
$smarty.section
.