Question

I have a custom MVC PHP framework that has a router class, which calls a controller, which uses a model, then the controller presents the view, etc etc.

My problem is that I can’t figure out technically how to allow variables to pass between the controller and the view, semantically. I could do a quick-and-dirty fix, but what I want to have is this for a controller:

class IndexController extends Controller{
    var $name = "John"; // instance variable
}

And have this for a view:

<p> <?=$name?> </p>

My question is this:

1. How can I create a Controller->render() function, or something similar, that allows the view to access instance variables from the controller? and,
2. How can I do this without doing klutzy things like $data['view']['name'] = "John"; or having to write ten lines of code by default for any new controller I make. I want to do this so it’s as DRY as possible.

Thanks.

Edit: FabioCosta’s solution

I’m not sure I understand, so far I have my base controller like this:

<?php
    class Controller{
        public function __get($key){
            if(isset($this->$$key)) return $this->$$key;
        }
    }
?>

My base view class looks like this:

<?php
    class View{
         public $controller;
         public function render(){
         $this->controller = $this;
    }
?>

And I initialize from the router like this:

<?php
    $controller = new IndexController();
    $view = new IndexView();
    $view->render();
?>

However, this doesn’t work, and I know I’m doing something wrong.

Answer 1

Why not pass the controller that instantiates the view and use the __get magic method?

like so:

  public function __get($key){

      if(isset($this->$key)) return $this->$key;
  }

Here is a working example View.php:

class View{
   protected $_controller;
   public function __construct(Controller $controller){
        $this->_controller=$controller;
   }
   public function render(){
        echo '<h1>Hello '.$this->_controller->name.'</h1>';
   }
}

Controller.php

class Controller{
    protected $name='fabio';
    protected $_myView;

    public function __get($key){

        if(isset($this->$key)) return $this->$key;
   }
    public function __construct(){
        $this->_myView=new View($this);
    }

    public function indexAction(){
        $this->_myView->render();
    }
}

And the router:

$c=new Controller();
$c->indexAction();