Question

Instead of repetitive data pasting into my controllers, I am looking to create a helper called “navigation” this will be used for every controller and load in the navigation subviews.

Currently, in EVERY controller I am adding the following code.

// Get Subcategories
$subcat1 = $this->Categories_model->get_artstyles();
$subcat2 = $this->Categories_model->get_artsubjects();
$subcat3 = $this->Categories_model->get_media();
$subcat4 = $this->Categories_model->get_photography();

$this->view_data['sub_cat1'] = $subcat1->result();
$this->view_data['sub_cat2'] = $subcat2->result();
$this->view_data['sub_cat3'] = $subcat3->result();
$this->view_data['sub_cat4'] = $subcat4->result();

So what I would like to do is trim this down and load that data as a helper. So ultimately all I do in each controller is load the helper.

If you feel this is the wrong way to do it, please advise as I’m still a little unsure on CI and its ways.

Those 4 subcat variables are all wanting to be global variables.

Answer 1

If this data is relevant to all your controllers, you should extend the CI_Controller like this:

class MY_Controller extends CI_Controller {
     protected $view_data;

     public function __construct() {
         parent::__construct();         
                 $this->load->helper('nav');
                 $this->view_data = load_navigation();
     }
}

Place this file inside the core directory and extend all your controllers like this:

class CONTROLLER_NAME extends MY_Controller 

Read more here.

In the helper function:

function load_navigation() {
         $CI =& get_instance();
         $CI->load->model('Categories_model');
         $result['sub_cat1'] = $CI->Categories_model->get_artstyles()->result();
         $result['sub_cat2'] = $CI->Categories_model->get_artsubjects()->result();
         $result['sub_cat3'] = $CI->Categories_model->get_media()->result();
         $result['sub_cat4'] = $CI->Categories_model->get_photography()->result(); 
         return $result;

}

EDIT:

In order to load the variable into the view:

$data['view_data'] = $this->view_data;
$this->load->view('MY_VIEW', $data);

In the view you can access it like this: $view_data.