Custom Helpers

CodeIgniter helpers are great, but that are some cool functions that we would love to have. Here is a list of custom helpers we have added:

admin_helper.php

This helper is loaded once on the dashboard section. It contains only one function for the moment but we will create other if needed.

label_condition: displays a Bootstrap label component depending of the provided condition status.

$cond = true;
echo label_condition($cond, 'lang:active', 'lang:inactive'); // Yes, it handles translations.

KB_array_helper.php

Few functions have been added and more to come if needed:

  • array_keys_exist: Takes an array of keys and make sure they all exist in the array.
  • keys_in_array: Takes an array of keys and check in at least one of them is present..
array_keys_exist($keys, $array);
keys_in_array($keys, $array);

KB_directory_helper.php

We added only two functions but, if needed, we may add more in the future:

  • directory_delete: Delete all directory's files and subdirectories.
  • directory_files: Returns a list of all files in the selected directory and all its subdirectories up to 100 levels deep.

KB_file_helper.php

For the sake for security and functionality, we have added several functions:

  • validate_file: validates a file name and path against an allowed set of rules.
  • check_file_md5: Calculates the MD5 of the selected file then compares it to the expected value.
  • get_file_data: Retrieve metadata from the selected file. It is used to retrieve themes and plugins details and any thing you may developer in the future.
  • unzip_file: (thank your WordPress) this function is used by themes and plugins modules to upload ZIP archives and install files. If you develop something that may use this function.

The unzip_file is automatic and should be used. In fact, it only checks if the ZipArchive to use it via the _unzip_file_ziparchive function. If the class does not exists, if will use a third party library PclZip via the _unzip_file_pclzip function.

KB_form_helper.php

It contains only three functions new functions created for the purpose of Skeleton project, and two more to extend CodeIgniter functions.

  • print_input: Prints a form input with possibility to add extra attributes instead of using array_merge on views.
  • validation_errors_list: Return form validation errors in custom HTML list. Default: unordered list.
  • _translate: Used by print_input, This function simply attempts to translate a string if it finds "lang:" at the start of it.

Functions that extend CodeIgniter are:

  • safe_form_open: Function for creating the opening portion of the form, but with a secured action using "safe_url" from KB_url_helper.
  • safe_form_open_multipart: Function for creating the opening portion of the form, but with "multipart/form-data" and a secured action using "safe_url".

KB_html_helper.php

It contains three functions:

  • img: that simply inverts $attributes and $index_page of the original CodeIgniter img function.
  • html_tag: it generates any type of HTML tags within your PHP code.
  • build_list (experimental): created to be used later for the menu builder, it is right there for the moment until we fully develop it. It takes and array and built a <ul> list.

KB_security_helper.php

  • sanitize: Sanitizes the given string using strip_slashes and xss_clean functions.
  • generate_safe_token: Generates the safe token token used by other function that start with safe_.

KB_string_helper.php

  • readable_random_string: it does the same thing as Codeigniter random_string function, except that the result is a human-readable random string.
  • mask_string: yes, it mask a given string. For instance, you want to hide email addresses and keep only few characters at the beginning and the end, you can use it:
echo mask_string('myemail@address.com', 2, 2, '*');
// Outputs: my***************om

KB_url_helper.php

For the sake of this project, several functions were added and some were added to override CodeIgniter functions:

  • anchor: override default function in order to translate $title if it starts with lang:.... Example: echo anchor('uri', 'lang:home');
  • anchor_popup: same as the one above it, it override default function to automatically translate titles.

  • current_url: overrides CodeIgniter default function so we can add $_GET parameters.

  • trace_url and trace_anchor: they simply append a $_GET parameter to URLs so you can use them for tracking purposes. Outputs something like ..com/whetever?trk=form_btn.

  • safe_url and safe_anchor: use a lot in the project for security purposes, their URLs contain extra $_GET parameters token and ts that you can check on the next request for security using the check_safe_url function.

For the other functions, we will use x that will refer to : admin, ajax, process and api.

  • x_url and x_anchor.
  • safe_x_url and safe_x_anchor.

The last function is build_safe_url used to generate tokens for function with safe_ at the beginning.