PHP logical coding style

Question

I have to modify some parts of a large PHP application. The different parts were written, of course, by different people (mostly interns). After looking through the code, I found that there were 2 styles of coding used by the other developers:

• The 'PHP is the glue of the Internet' style, mixing html and php, ex.:

[snip]

<tr class="ds_subsubhead_2">
<td colspan="21" align="left">&nbsp;A&nbsp;<select name="nb_linge" onChange="MM_jumpMenu('parent',this,0)" style="vertical-align:middle">       <option value="<?=get('index.php',$orgurl,'nb_ligne=','22','23','9999') ?>" <? if($messagesParPage == '9999') { ?>selected="selected"<? } ?>>Tous</option>
    <option value="<?=get('index.php',$orgurl,'nb_ligne=','22','23','25') ?>" <? if($messagesParPage =='25') { ?>selected="selected"<? } ?>>25</option>
    <option value="<?=get('index.php',$orgurl,'nb_ligne=','22','23','50') ?>" <? if($messagesParPage =='50') { ?>selected="selected"<? } ?>>50</option>
    <option value="<?=get('index.php',$orgurl,'nb_ligne=','22','23','75') ?>" <? if($messagesParPage =='75') { ?>selected="selected"<? } ?>>75</option>

[snip] or

<td <? if((isset($_GET['t1']))&&($_GET['t2']!='ALL')) { ?>bgcolor="#0099FF"<? } ?>></td>
<td <? if((isset($_GET['t3']))&&($_GET['t4']!='ALL')) { ?>bgcolor="#0099FF"<? } ?>></td>
<td <? if((isset($_GET['t5']))&&($_GET['t6']!='ALL')) { ?>bgcolor="#0099FF"<? } ?>></td>

[snip] or even

<script type="text/javascript" src="<?=$_SESSION["path"]?>lib/js/ajax.js"></script>

[snip]

• ... and the more procedural way, ex.:

[snip]

     $output .= '<td valign="top"><form name="form5" method="GET" action=""><select name="m" onchange="this.form.submit()">';
     if ( empty($_GET['p']) ) $output .= '<option value=" ">All</option>';
     else $output .= '<option value='.$_GET['m'].'>'.$_GET['m'].'</option>';
     $query = "SELECT DISTINCT maoie FROM ".$BD."site";
     $res = mysql_query($query);
     while ( $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($res) ) {
         if( !empty($row['maoie']) ) $output .= '<option  value="'.$row['maoie'].'">'.$row['maoie'].'</option>'; 
     }
     $output .= '</select></form></td>';
     $output .= add_more_stuff();
     echo $output;

Now, I'm not completely sure that this is a more procedural way to do things, but at least it is different from the previous one. Which one, do you think, is generally better?

I, personally, dont't like 'the glue of the Internet' style.

Answer 1

I would ditch both and code the PHP away from any presentation-layer specific HTML. Otherwise things get very nasty, very quickly for anything bigger than 'Hello World' :)

You are shooting yourself in the foot if you want to modify the code later. I would try and kill off this problem by porting to a proper CMS/Abstract presentation.

Neither look good. I wouldn't want to maintain code in either style. save time later by spending time now cleaning it up properly.

Even something as basic as moving your HTML into externally loaded format strings and running them through sprintf() or similar might be better than the current situation. And you say you have a mix of these coding styles !?!

good luck to you sir!

Both styles should be relegated to the tomb of dynamic internet growing pains. Take a peek through some open source PHP projects to see a good, maintainable coding style in action. Things like http://sourceforge.net/projects/wikipedia MediaWiki show a good mix of HTML-In-Source and separation (although it is not perfect IMHO)