How to create a widget system in Codeigniter

Question

I am creating a custom CMS in Codeigniter and I'd like to have a widget system similar to what is used in Wordpress.

For example, I'd like to have a widget that shows the last 5 posts displayed on the sidebar. I'd also like to be able to control what pages this widget appears on page-by-page basis.

I am using Phil Sturgeon's Template library, so an example controller looks like:

$this->template->set_partial('header', 'layouts/header');
$this->template->set_partial('footer', 'layouts/footer');
$this->template->set_partial('sidebar', 'layouts/sidebar');

$this->data['title'] = "Create Post";
$this->template->build('create', $this->data);

I'd like to stick with the MVC pattern, so I don't want to put logic in the sidebar view, which is the only thing I can think of right now.

Is HMVC something I should be using for this?

How can I tell the sidebar which widgets to display?

Answer 1

Here's Widget library from Wiredesignz

Read more information

/**
 * Widget Plugin 
 * 
 * Install this file as application/plugins/widget_pi.php
 * 
 * @version:     0.21
 * $copyright     Copyright (c) Wiredesignz 2009-09-07
 * 
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 * 
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
 * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 * 
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
 * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
 * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
 * THE SOFTWARE.
 */
class Widget
{
    public $module_path;

    function run($file) {        
        $args = func_get_args();

        $module = '';

        /* is module in filename? */
        if (($pos = strrpos($file, '/')) !== FALSE) {
            $module = substr($file, 0, $pos);
            $file = substr($file, $pos + 1);
        }

        list($path, $file) = Modules::find($file, $module, 'widgets/');

        if ($path === FALSE) {
            $path = APPPATH.'widgets/';
        }

        Modules::load_file($file, $path);

        $file = ucfirst($file);
        $widget = new $file();

        $widget->module_path = $path;

        return call_user_func_array(array($widget, 'run'), array_slice($args, 1));    
    }

    function render($view, $data = array()) {
        extract($data);
        include $this->module_path.'views/'.$view.EXT;
    }

    function load($object) {
        $this->$object = load_class(ucfirst($object));
    }

    function __get($var) {
        global $CI;
        return $CI->$var;
    }
} 

---

Example

// application/widgets/Hello_world.php
class Hello_world extends Widget
{
    function run() {
        $this->render('hello_world');
    }
} 

In your view call the static “run” method on the widget class:

widget::run('hello_world');

Answer 2

What if you want to see some widgets in some controllers? In my opinion, something basic and simple is to keep the widgets of the CMS in a database with the name and a boolean active and inactive.

Finally, in a query, you get an array of widgets. We can extend the main controller and display all the default widgets (using an array, and a global variable)

<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

public $cms_widget = array();

class CMS_Controller extends CI_Controller {

    function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();

        $this->cms_widget = array(
        'msg'   => TRUE,
        'chat'  => TRUE,
        'video' => TRUE,
        'games' => TRUE
        );  
    }

}

When you call the template of your CMS, you should make a conditional all your widgets to appear in the desired location. For example in column view template:

if($this->cms_widget['msg']) $this->load->view('widget/msg_view');
if($this->cms_widget['chat']) $this->load->view('widget/chat_view');
if($this->cms_widget['video']) $this->load->view('widget/video_view');
if($this->cms_widget['games']) $this->load->view('widget/games_view');

Now, for example. If you are in sight "Games", will show only the corresponding widget. Suppose I want to see the widget "Games" and "Videos". We would only have to disable the remaining widgets

<?php
class Game extends CMS_Controller {

                function __construct()
            {
                parent::__construct();
            }

                function index()
            {
                // Hidden widgets, replacing the values ​​in the array
                $this->cms_widget = array_merge($this->cms_widget, array(

                                'msg'   => FALSE,
                                'chat'  => FALSE
                                                                    ));

                $this->load->view('game_view');
            }
        }

    }