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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-24T18:39:30+00:00

I use a MVC PHP framework to keep my web applications as DRY as

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I use a MVC PHP framework to keep my web applications as DRY as possible. All of my HTML templates are neatly tucked away in one folder in the application scope of my project.

The problem is that whenever I use a JSON string to build a page with AJAX, I need to reuse a lot of lines from these templates and copy them somewhere in my JavaScript files. This means there is code duplication between templates in my JavaScript files and templates in my PHP application.

I was wondering how this duplication can be prevented. One way is of course to load the template using AJAX, but then I would end up with a double AJAX request for one page. Furthermore, the PHP templates uses different tag styles to represent variables than MooTools, but the HTML setup is the same.

So to summarize: is there any neat way or a tool to prevent duplication of templates so one file could be used in both PHP and JavaScript? For the record: I use the MooTools framework to build my JavaScript files.

Edit

After some research, I found the best answer yet in my opinion. For those who are interested:

PURE separates HTML representation and JavaScript logic completely so you don’t have to bother including HTML elements in your scripts. The template can simply be provided in the HTML file itself.

Example: 

// JSON string
{ 'who': 'me' }

// In your rendered HTML page:
<div id="who"></div>

// After the JSON string is sent back
<div id="who">me</div>

Furthermore, it can be used by a wide selection of libraries: MooTools, jQuery, dojo, Prototype etc.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Interesting question that I’m struggling with sometimes too.

    • you can put your html in your javascript code, which is duplicating and which you want to avoid

    • you can load your html with a separate ajax call, which causes more ajax calls to be run, and possible slowing down of your app. you may want to avoid it.

    • you can pass your html within the Ajax call that will load the data. That way, you only have one call. Let your PHP open your templates, and add them to the data-json stream.

    • you can put the template inside your original html, put it as hidden.

    I’d go for solution 3, or possibly 4 if templates are small and limited.

    The JSon would then be something like {“data”: … your original data object, “templates”:{…}}

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