Integrating a Template Engine

NanoMVC does not require a template engine, but you may prefer to use one for more advanced presentation logic. In this example, we'll integrate Smarty as a view layer.

Quick Setup Example

Make sure Smarty is installed and working correctly. In this example, the directory structure is as follows:

/var/smarty/
  /libs/
    Smarty.class.php
    ...
  /templates/
  /templates_c/
  /configs/
  /cache/

Create a controller using Smarty directly:

/myapp/controllers/hello.php

class Hello_Controller extends NanoMVC_Controller {
  public $smarty;
  function index() {
    // Allow NanoMVC and Smarty to cooperate with autoloaders
    define('SMARTY_SPL_AUTOLOAD', 1);

    // Load Smarty manually
    require('/var/smarty/libs/Smarty.class.php');

    // Load as a plugin
    $this->load->library('Smarty', 'smarty');

    // Configure Smarty
    $this->smarty->setTemplateDir('/var/smarty/templates/');
    $this->smarty->setCompileDir('/var/smarty/templates_c/');
    $this->smarty->setConfigDir('/var/smarty/configs/');
    $this->smarty->setCacheDir('/var/smarty/cache/');

    // Use Smarty for rendering
    $this->smarty->assign('foo', 'bar');
    $this->smarty->display('hello_view.tpl');
  }
}

Note: If a class with the same name already exists, NanoMVC will not attempt to load a plugin for it.

Recommended: Create a Wrapper Plugin

Instead of repeating setup code in every controller, it’s cleaner to create a wrapper plugin around Smarty:

/myapp/plugins/nanomvc_library_smarty_wrapper.php

define('SMARTY_SPL_AUTOLOAD', 1);
require('/var/smarty/libs/Smarty.class.php');

class NanoMVC_Library_Smarty_Wrapper extends Smarty {
  function __construct() {
    parent::__construct();
    $this->setTemplateDir('/var/smarty/templates/');
    $this->setCompileDir('/var/smarty/templates_c/');
    $this->setConfigDir('/var/smarty/configs/');
    $this->setCacheDir('/var/smarty/cache/');
  }
}

Then update your controller to use the wrapper:

/myapp/controllers/hello.php

class Hello_Controller extends NanoMVC_Controller {
  function index() {
    $this->load->library('Smarty_Wrapper', 'smarty');
    $this->smarty->assign('foo', 'bar');
    $this->smarty->display('hello_view.tpl');
  }
}

Autoloading Option

You can autoload your Smarty_Wrapper by adding it to the autoload configuration file:

/myapp/configs/config_autoload.php

$config['libraries'] = ['Smarty_Wrapper'];

This allows you to access Smarty in any controller without having to load it manually. See the Autoloading documentation for more details.

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