Using smarty tags in a template

This is a tutorial to show how to specify some variables in a php class and then use them in the smarty template. Here is the situation: There is a below_header.html file needs to have a drop down menu which lists a bunch of offering_types as a classification of offerings.

The Dataface_Main_Template.html contains this code:

{block name="before_below_header"}
{define_slot name="below_header"}{/define_slot}
{block name="after_below_header"}

Notice the below_header slot. Since we want this slot to be replaced on every page of Dataface, we will use the function block__below_header() in the ApplicationDelegate.php file to replace this slot.

So the next step is to retrieve the variables that we will use to display in our below_header slot.

ApplicationDelegate.php

function block__below_header(){

//only broker dealers and broker customers should be able to see offerings
if (isBrokerDealer() or isBrokerCustomer()){
$offering_types = df_get_valuelist("offerings", "offering_types");
}

//any users can see the strategy types
$strategy_types = df_get_valuelist("strategies", "strategy_types");

$context = array('offering_types' => $offering_types, 'strategy_types' => $strategy_types);
df_display($context, 'below_header.html');
}

The if statements are just some fancy permission features where we only want like the offering_types to show up for broker dealers and customers. But the important lines are:

$offering_types = df_get_valuelist("offerings", "offering_types");

$strategy_types = df_get_valuelist("strategies", "strategy_types");

$context = array('offering_types' => $offering_types, 'strategy_types' => $strategy_types);
df_display($context, 'below_header.html');

Here we are using the df_get_valuelist() function in the dataface_public_api.php file which takes two parameters (tablename, valuelistname). And the valuelists are found in the valuelist.ini of the delegate classes:

valuelist.ini of offering/strategy tables
[strategy_types]
Managed Stocks = "Managed Stocks"
Managed Funds = "Managed Funds"
Managed ETFs = "Managed ETFs"
Managed Blend = "Managed Blend"
Managed Annuity = "Managed Annuity"
Currency = "Currency"
Derivatives = "Derivatives"
Commodities = "Commodities"
Unknown = "Unknown"

Nothing special here. Just a list of the strategy types. I didn't show the offering_types which is in the valuelists.ini of the offering table. But it's the same thing.

And so after we have retrieve the valuelist as variables, we place them into this context variable which we then send in as a parameter to the df_display function. The second parameter below_header.html is the file to display which will use the variables from the context variable.

below_header.html
The important code:

<select name="Offerings" onchange="window.location=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value">
{foreach from=$offering_types key=okey item=otype}
<option value="{$ENV.DATAFACE_SITE_HREF}?-table=offerings&offering_type={$otype}">{$okey}</option>
{/foreach}
</select>

The smarty tag foreach from is retrieving the offering_types variable which is an array (remember from the ApplicationDelegate.php file) and so we are getting the key and value (as item) and using them as the option value and as the labels.

One interesting thing is the onchange javascript event which automatically changes the page to the value of the option.

That's it!