The Manual»Developing with CakePHP»Helpers»Creating Helpers

3.10.2 Creating Helpers

If a core helper (or one showcased on Cakeforge or the Bakery) doesn’t fit your needs, helpers are easy to create.

Let's say we wanted to create a helper that could be used to output a specifically crafted CSS-styled link you needed many different places in your application. In order to fit your logic in to CakePHP's existing helper structure, you'll need to create a new class in /app/views/helpers. Let's call our helper LinkHelper. The actual PHP class file would look something like this: 

<?php
/* /app/views/helpers/link.php */

class LinkHelper extends AppHelper {
    function makeEdit($title, $url) {
        // Logic to create specially formatted link goes here...
    }
}

?>
  1. <?php
  2. /* /app/views/helpers/link.php */
  3. class LinkHelper extends AppHelper {
  4. function makeEdit($title, $url) {
  5. // Logic to create specially formatted link goes here...
  6. }
  7. }
  8. ?>

There are a few methods included in CakePHP's Helper class you might want to take advantage of:

output(string $string)

Use this function to hand any data back to your view. 

<?php
function makeEdit($title, $url) {
    // Use the helper's output function to hand formatted
    // data back to the view:
    return $this->output(
        "<div class=\"editOuter\">
         <a href=\"$url\" class=\"edit\">$title</a>
         </div>"
    );
}
?>
  1. <?php
  2. function makeEdit($title, $url) {
  3. // Use the helper's output function to hand formatted
  4. // data back to the view:
  5. return $this->output(
  6. "<div class=\"editOuter\">
  7. <a href=\"$url\" class=\"edit\">$title</a>
  8. </div>"
  9. );
  10. }
  11. ?>

3.10.2.1 Including other Helpers

You may wish to use some functionality already existing in another helper. To do so, you can specify helpers you wish to use with a $helpers array, formatted just as you would in a controller. 

<?php
/* /app/views/helpers/link.php (using other helpers) */
class LinkHelper extends Helper {
    var $helpers = array('Html');

    function makeEdit($title, $url) {
        // Use the HTML helper to output
        // formatted data:

        $link = $this->Html->link($title, $url, array('class' => 'edit'));

        return $this->output("<div class=\"editOuter\">$link</div>");
    }
}
?>
  1. <?php
  2. /* /app/views/helpers/link.php (using other helpers) */
  3. class LinkHelper extends Helper {
  4. var $helpers = array('Html');
  5. function makeEdit($title, $url) {
  6. // Use the HTML helper to output
  7. // formatted data:
  8. $link = $this->Html->link($title, $url, array('class' => 'edit'));
  9. return $this->output("<div class=\"editOuter\">$link</div>");
  10. }
  11. }
  12. ?>

3.10.2.2 Using your Custom Helper

Once you've created your helper and placed it in /app/views/helpers/, you'll be able to include it in your controllers using the special variable $helpers.

Once your controller has been made aware of this new class, you can use it in your views by accessing a variable named after the helper: 

<!-- make a link using the new helper -->
<?php echo $link->makeEdit('Change this Recipe', '/recipes/edit/5') ?>
  1. <!-- make a link using the new helper -->
  2. <?php echo $link->makeEdit('Change this Recipe', '/recipes/edit/5') ?>

Remember to include the FormHelper in the $helpers array if appropriate. The Html and Session (If sessions are enabled) helpers are always available.

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