Template inheritance and sections without Blade syntax

Question

How to structure view hierarchy without using blade? What are the pure php counterparts of blade directives (i,e @section, @extend , etc)?

Perhaps, something similar to <?php extend('foo') ?>

In Phalcon framework, while it has its own template engine (Volt) all of its template engine is also available in pure PHP syntax.

Answer 1

Since Blade directives just compile to normal PHP, it is technically possible to use the view structuring features without actually using Blade. I don't think it's very pretty though, and I personally would think twice about this decision.

You can find all the PHP code, Blade is compiled to, in this class:

Illuminate\View\Compilers\BladeCompiler

Here are some of them:

@section('content')

<?php $__env->startSection('content'); ?>

---

@endsection

<?php $__env->stopSection(); ?>

---

@extends('layout')

This is a bit a tricky one. Usually Blade compiles it and then adds it to a footer variable which is printed at the bottom. So instead of putting it at the top (like you would with @extends) you have to place this at the end of your view:

<?php echo $__env->make('layout', array_except(get_defined_vars(), array('__data', '__path')))->render(); ?>

---

@yield('content')

<?php echo $__env->yieldContent('content'); ?>

Answer 2

To put this in a pure PHP way you'll have to check out the storage/framework/cache/views and see what's happening there. Basically, is what Blade compiles to PHP code (instead of using @ and with proper function calls).

One way I can think is:

In your template where you use yield:

<!-- template.php -->
<div class="container">
    <!-- instead of using yield('container') -->
    <?php echo "_yield:container"; ?>
</div>

In your file, instead of using section and stop

<!-- view.php -->
<!-- instead of using extend('template') -->
<?php $templatePath = 'template.php'; ?>
<?php $sections = []; ?>
<!-- instead of using section('container') -->
<?php $currentSectionName = 'container'; ob_start(); ?>
    <p>This will be in my container div</p>
<!-- instead of using stop -->
<?php
    // get the current html
    $sections["_yield:".$currentSectionName] = ob_get_contents();
    ob_end_clean();
    ob_start();
    require($templateName);
    $template = ob_get_contents();
    ob_end_clean();
    echo str_replace($template,array_keys($sections),array_values($sections));
?>

Of course, this approach is simplistic at best. The code provided is not intended as a copy & paste solution, more like the concept.

Everything else is simple:

@foreach($arr as $k=>$v)
    ...
@endforeach

translates to

<?php foreach($arr as $k=>$v) : ?>
    ...
<?php endforeach; ?>

That's how it's exactly done by the BladeCompiler. The same is with if and while.