Best way to conditionally show large blocks of HTML

[lister]

Hi,

I have a situation where I have a large block of HTML code that is
conditionally displayed. In effect I have:

html page
some html

<?php
if (bShowBlock)
{
//LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
}
else
{
//SOME OTHER LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
}

some more html

What is the quickest and easiest way to do this? Echoing is not an
option as I would have to escape eveything in the HTML blocks.

Thanks,
Lister

[Kimmo Laine]

Re: Best way to conditionally show large blocks of HTML

"lister" <listerofsmeg01 @hotmail.comwro te in message
news:1169116479 .055045.279380@ v45g2000cwv.goo glegroups.com.. .

Hi,
>
I have a situation where I have a large block of HTML code that is
conditionally displayed. In effect I have:
>
html page
some html
>

I usually do it like so:

<?php if (bShowBlock){ ?>

LARGE BLOCK OF HTML

<?php } else { ?>

SOME OTHER LARGE BLOCK OF HTML

<? } ?>

--
"Ohjelmoija on organismi joka muuttaa kofeiinia koodiksi" - lpk
http://outolempi.net/ahdistus/ - Satunnaisesti päivittyvä nettisarjis
spam@outolempi. net | rot13(xvzzb@bhg byrzcv.arg)

[Erwin Moller]

Re: Best way to conditionally show large blocks of HTML

lister wrote:

Hi,
>
I have a situation where I have a large block of HTML code that is
conditionally displayed. In effect I have:
>
html page
some html
>
<?php
if (bShowBlock)
{
//LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
}
else
{
//SOME OTHER LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
}
>
some more html
>
What is the quickest and easiest way to do this? Echoing is not an
option as I would have to escape eveything in the HTML blocks.
>
Thanks,
Lister

Hi Lister,

Just jump out of PHP, like this:

<?php
if (bShowBlock) {
?>
Use plain html here
<?php
} else {
?>
Use plain html here
<?php
}
?>

Alternatively you can include a file that contains the large piece of html,
in which case you just use something like :
require 'myLargeHTML1.h tml';


Regards,
Erwin Moller

[lister]

Re: Best way to conditionally show large blocks of HTML

D'oh!

Thanks guys.

For some reason I thought I wouldn't be able to drop out of PHP half
way through a conditional.
Many thanks.

[Toby Inkster]

Re: Best way to conditionally show large blocks of HTML

Kimmo Laine wrote:

<?php if (bShowBlock){ ?>
>
LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
>
<?php } else { ?>
>
SOME OTHER LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
>
<? } ?>

Personally, I've never found that very aesthetically pleasing. I prefer
things between '<?php' and '?>' to seem to make sense on their own (even
if they do, say, access functions or variables defined elsewhere).

Slightly nicer looking are:

<?php
include (bShowBlock ? 'foo.html' : 'bar.html');
?>

or, if you don't want to have the blocks of HTML stored in external files,
you could use output buffering, like so:

<?php
ob_start();
?>
LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
<?php
$foo = ob_get_clean();
ob_start();
?>
SOME OTHER LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
<?php
$bar = ob_get_clean();

print (bShowBlock ? $foo : $bar);
?>

However, if the "large blocks of HTML" actually contain some PHP code, be
aware that the latter of these two will execute both sets of code fully.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact

[mark Bannister]

Re: Best way to conditionally show large blocks of HTML

lister wrote:

Hi,
>
I have a situation where I have a large block of HTML code that is
conditionally displayed. In effect I have:
>
html page
some html
>
<?php
if (bShowBlock)
{
//LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
}
else
{
//SOME OTHER LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
}
>
some more html
>
What is the quickest and easiest way to do this? Echoing is not an
option as I would have to escape eveything in the HTML blocks.
>
Thanks,
Lister
>

If you wish to stay in PHP:

echo <<<endofecho
//LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
//does not have to be escaped
// and php vars work
endofecho;

The endofecho must appear on a line by itself without any whitespace and
is case sensitve. It can be hard to debug an error if you have a typo
in the end marker.
Mark B.

[boclair]

Re: Best way to conditionally show large blocks of HTML

lister wrote:

Hi,
>
I have a situation where I have a large block of HTML code that is
conditionally displayed. In effect I have:
>
html page
some html
>
<?php
if (bShowBlock)
{
//LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
}
else
{
//SOME OTHER LARGE BLOCK OF HTML
}
>
some more html
>
What is the quickest and easiest way to do this? Echoing is not an
option as I would have to escape eveything in the HTML blocks.
>

A further method that can be useful is to use conditionals on the css
display property. e.g

<?php if(conditionA){ $display="block ;"}
elseif (conditionB) {$display="none ;"}
?>
<div style="<php echo $display;?>">
BLOCK OF MARKUP
</div>

Louise

[Toby Inkster]

Re: Best way to conditionally show large blocks of HTML

boclair wrote:

A further method that can be useful is to use conditionals on the css
display property. e.g
>
<?php if(conditionA){ $display="block ;"}
elseif (conditionB) {$display="none ;"}
?>
<div style="<php echo $display;?>">
BLOCK OF MARKUP
</div>

Doesn't work in non-CSS aware browsers. e.g. older browsers, text
browsers, search engine spiders, many mobile phones. And you waste
bandwidth.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact