PHP Class to Generate HTML?

Question

Anyone know of any classes written for php that can clean up your code a bit?

Something like,

$htGen = new HTMLGenerator();
$htGen->newDOM('div', 'here is what goes in the div', 'optionalID', 'optionalClass');

Or does that just sound redundant?

I end up with some complex looking mish-mashes of html and php sometimes that I feel could be simplified a bit eg my latest cms bit;

foreach($details as $detail){

    $d = unserialize($detail);

    if($ad){
        print_r($d); // <-- VIEW DETAIL OBJECT IN WHOLE.
    }else{
    if($d->get_info('orphan')){
        echo '<li class="classRow orphan">' . "\n";
        echo '<div class="orphan" style="display:none">orphan</div>' . "\n";
    }else{
        echo '<li class="classRow">' . "\n";
        echo '<div class="orphan" style="display:none"></div>' . "\n";
    }

        echo '<div  class="classNumbers" id="' . $d->get_info('class ID') .  '" style="display:none"></div>' . "\n"; 
        echo '<div class="rowBG" style="overflow:hidden;width:100%">';   
            echo '<div class="startTime"></div>' . "\n";
            echo '<div class="details"><span class="classes">' . $d->get_info('class number') . '</span> - <input class="detailInput" type="text" value="' . $d->get_info('class description') . '"/><div class="editButton"><a class="editExpand">options(+)</a></div></div>' . "\n";
            echo '<div class="interval">';
            echo '<input class="intervalInput" type="text" value="' . $d->get_info('interval') . '" maxlength="5"/>';
            echo '</div>' . "\n"; 
            echo '<div class="numRiders"><input class="numRidersInput" type="text" value="' . $d->get_info('num riders') . '"/></div>' . "\n"; 
        echo '</div>'; 

        echo '<div class="classOptions">' . "\n";
            echo '<div class="selectRingMove">Move to Ring:<select id="ringSwap"><option>Select A Ring</option>' . get_ring_options() .  '</select></div>' . "\n";
            if($d->get_info('online sign up') != 'false'){
                echo '<div class="signUpContainer">Sign-Up<input type="checkbox" class="signUp" checked/></div>' . "\n";
            }else{
                echo '<div class="signUpContainer">Sign-Up<input type="checkbox" class="signUp"/></div>' . "\n";
            }
            if($d->get_info('water and drag')){
                echo '<div class="wdBoxContainer"><select id="wdDescrip"><option>WATER AND DRAG</option><option>COURSE CHANGE & WALK</option><option>OTHER</option></select><input type="checkbox" class="wdBox" checked/><input type="text" value="' . $d->get_info('water and drag') .  '" maxlength="2" class="wdInput"> min</div>' . "\n";
            }else{
                echo '<div class="wdBoxContainer"><select id="wdDescrip"><option>WATER AND DRAG</option><option>COURSE CHANGE & WALK</option><option>OTHER</option></select><input type="checkbox" class="wdBox"/><input type="text" value="20" maxlength="2" class="wdInput"> min</div>' . "\n";
            }
            if($d->get_info('ghost riders')){
                echo '<div class="ghostRidersContainer">Ghost Riders<input type="checkbox" checked class="ghostBox"><input type="text" maxlength="2" class="ghostRiderInput" value="' . $d->get_info('ghost riders') .  '"></div>' . "\n";
            }else{
                echo '<div class="ghostRidersContainer">Ghost Riders<input type="checkbox" class="ghostBox"><input type="text" maxlength="2" class="ghostRiderInput"></div>' . "\n";
            }

        echo '</div>' . "\n";

    echo '</li>' . "\n";

    if($d->get_info('water and drag')){
        echo '<li class="waterAndDragRow" style="display:block;"><span class="wdStartTime">08:33am</span> - <span class="wdEndTime">08:34am</span> <input type="text" class="wdDescription" value="' . $d->get_info('water and drag description') . '"></li>';
    }
    }
}

Or, if you know of a cleaner way to write long blocks of intermingled php vars and html... (not a big fan of EOF>>>)

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I guess it could be done with http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.domdocument.php. But that isn't really a good way to do it.

I agree that your code code sample isn't very clear, you could consider something like:

<ul>
<?php foreach ($items as $item): ?>
    <li>
        <?=$item['something']?>
        <?php if ($item['foo'] == 'bar'): ?>
        <ul>
            <li>bar</li>
        </ul>
        <?php else: ?>
        <ul>
            <li>foo</li>
        </ul>
        <?php endif; ?>
    </li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
<ul>

That's a lot better imho, I use it like that in my views.

Btw, you should validate your html output. For example, a div-element isn't allowed in a li-element.

edit: Obviously, the following code:

<?php if ($item['foo'] == 'bar'): ?>
<ul>
    <li>bar</li>
</ul>
<?php else: ?>
<ul>
    <li>foo</li>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>

Could be replaced by:

<ul>
    <li><?=($item['foo'] == 'bar' ? 'bar' : 'foo')?></li>
</ul>

Answer 2

I'm working on a simple DSL that addresses this common task. It's called htmlgen, mirrored on packagist.

Here's an example

use function htmlgen\html as h;

h('#wrapper',
  h('h1.title', 'Hello, World'),
  h('p',
    h('comment', 'link to something'),
    h('a', ['href'=>'https://duckduckgo.com'], 'search the internet')
  )
);

Here's the output (actual output does not have whitespace)

<div id="wrapper">
  <h1 class="title">Hello, World</h1>
  <p>
    <!-- link to something -->
    <a href="https://duckduckgo.com">search the internet</a>
  </p>
</div>

It's very new but at ~200 lines of source, it's already very powerful. Fork it and make adjustments or send me a note with suggestions.