Included page name variable

[Lee]

Hi, I am building my first site using php templates. I'm just a beginner so Its just a chopped up html page where I include a header & footer, then only edit the page body & meta for each page.

 

My index page looks like this

<?php include("templates/head-tag1-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/index-meta-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/head-tag2-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/header-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/index-body-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/footer-tpl.php"); ?>

 

I wonder is it possible to create a variable at the top of this code to alter the name of the template to be called for. For example the above cose is for the index page so it calls for index-meta and index-body.

Can I do a variable at the top of the page, then call that variable in the page includes. I tried the following. It doesn't work, but hopefully explains what I'm trying to achieve.

<?php $page = "index"; ?>
<?php include("templates/head-tag1-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/$page-meta-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/head-tag2-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/header-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/$page-body-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/footer-tpl.php"); ?>

[wildteen88]

I guess your variable is called $page? If so then you'll do:

<?php include("templates/head-tag1-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/{$page}-meta-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/head-tag2-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/header-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/{$page}body-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/footer-tpl.php"); ?>

 

Or

<?php include("templates/head-tag1-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include('templates/'.$page.'-meta-tpl.php'); ?>
<?php include("templates/head-tag2-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("templates/header-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include('templates/'.$page.'body-tpl.php'); ?>
<?php include("templates/footer-tpl.php"); ?>

[Lee]

WooHoo! Yes, that works thanks wildteen. Now I can just paste that same tpl list on every page and edit only the variable to call for the relevant templates. Hopefully this should set my site up for a good starting point as I learn more php.

 

Very Merry Xmas to you!

[wildteen88]

I noticed I had a slight typo, the line:

<?php include("templates/{$page}body-tpl.php"); ?>

should of been

<?php include("templates/{$page}-tpl.php"); ?>

[Lee]

Lol, I just spotted that too thanks!

 

I went a little further with the organising and now have this. Should make life a lot easier for pages in sub-directories e.t.c.

<?php // Page name
$page = "index"; ?>
<?php // Path to the templates folder
$path = "templates"; ?>

<?php include("{$path}/head-tag1-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("{$path}/{$page}-meta-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("{$path}/head-tag2-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("{$path}/header-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("{$path}/{$page}-body-tpl.php"); ?>
<?php include("{$path}/footer-tpl.php"); ?>

[flyhoney]

Just so you know, you can format it like this:

<?php
// Page name
$page = "index";

// Path to the templates folder
$path = "templates";

include("{$path}/head-tag1-tpl.php");
include("{$path}/{$page}-meta-tpl.php");
include("{$path}/head-tag2-tpl.php");
include("{$path}/header-tpl.php");
include("{$path}/{$page}-body-tpl.php");
include("{$path}/footer-tpl.php");

?>

[Lee]

It took me a while to spot the difference there, just one opening & closing php tag. That's cool thanks flyhoney!

[Lee]

I just hit a problem. Although I now have a variable to adjust the path to the template files, the image paths also change now. I'm a bit confused how to get around this. I thought perhaps to make a variable such as $imgpath = "images". Then change it to imgpathe = "../images" for sub-directories e.t.c. But how to I code that into the image html?

 

I tried this.

<img src="<?php $imgpath ?>/bg_head.jpg" alt="Header Pic" width="836" height="307" />

[flyhoney]

echo

 

<img src="<?php echo $imgpath ?>/bg_head.jpg" alt="Header Pic" width="836" height="307" />

[Lee]

Thanks again flyhoney.

 

I think I need to work out a bit better how to setup these templates. I want to have pages in sub-directories, mainly so that I can direct people easier, for example go to mysite.com/examples or mysite.com/news. However, doing this means that the templates will not work because they are one level above so the images & css will not be called for. I could put copies of them in the same directory, but that will just defeat the object of having an overall header, footer & page body.

 

I guess I could just create these sub-directories with an index page, then just reirect after 0 secs to the relevant page in the root folder. I wonder if there could be a better way?

[Lee]

Can anyone suggest a way I might be able to continue with my templates without having to make a 2nd set for pages one level down or having to do the re-direct thing?

I'm a bit stumped.

 

Thanks