Good Programming Practices With PHP With Concatenating HTML

Question

I'm trying to concatenate PHP with HTML and I was wondering what the best practice for it is. So far, I have approached it like so: --EDITED TO DISPLAY FULL SCRIPT--

<?php include("header.php"); ?>


<div id="main">
    <table id="mainTable">
        <tr>
            <td id="leftPane">
                <div class="pgbody">

                    <div class="subblock">
                        <form action="<?php echo htmlentities($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); ?>" method="post">
                        <table width="100%" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0">
                                <tr>
                                    <td colspan="3" style="width:99%">
                                    <label for="isVersion">InstallShield Version</label><br />
                                    <select name="isVersion" onchange="javascript:setTimeout('__doPostBack(\'ddlVersion\',\'\')', 0)" id="isVersion" class="box">
                                        <option value="2012Spring">2012 Spring</option>
                                        <option value="2012">2012</option>
                                        <option value="2011">2011</option>
                                        <option value="2010">2010</option>
                                        <option value="2009">2009</option>
                                        <option value="2009 Express">2009 Express</option>
                                        <option value="IS2008">2008</option>
                                        <option value="IS2008 Express">2008 Express</option>
                                    </select>

                                    <tr>
                                        <td colspan="3" style="width:99%">
                                            <br />
                                            <input type="checkbox" name="no_internet" value="no_internet"> no_internet
                                        </td>
                                    </tr>

                                    <tr>
                                        <td colspan="3" style="width:99%">
                                        <br />
                                        <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit">
                                        </td>
                                    </tr>
                                </tr></table>
                        <?php

                        if(isset($_POST['submit']))
                        {
                            echo "<h2>Response</h2><br />";
                            $isVersion = $_POST["isVersion"];
                            $output_script = "
                                    <p>Hello,  <br />
                                    To activate InstallShield, please follow the steps below:<br /><br />

                                    1. Launch a Command Prompt window and browse to the directory - 'C:\Program Files\InstallShield\\$isVersion\System' (or 'Program Files (x86)' on a 64 bit machine)<br />
                                    2. You will need to pass the parameter '/return' to the executable 'TSconfig' as below<br />
                                    'C:\Program Files\InstallShield\\$isVersion\System\TSconfig.exe /return'<br />
                                    3. Providing the machine has a valid internet connection the license will deactivate and the message in the dialog will reflect this<br />
                                    4. Re-launch InstallShield.exe and you will be presented with the same activation dialog as before<br />
                                    5. Proceed with the activation normally<br />
                                    6. The dialog should show a successful activation message and the product should remain activated at this stage.<br />
                                     </p>";
                        ?>

                        <div class="ResponseBox" style="background-position: 0 0;">
                            <div class="ResponseText">
                                <?php echo $output_script;
                        }
                                 ?>
                        <?php
                        elseif(isset($_POST['submit']) && $_POST['no_internet'])
                        {
                            echo "<h2>Response</h2><br />";
                            $isVersion = $_POST["isVersion"];
                            $no_internet = $_POST["no_internet"];
                            $output_script = "
                                    <p>Hello,  <br />
                                    To activate InstallShield, please follow the steps below:<br /><br />

                                    1. Launch a Command Prompt window and browse to the directory - 'C:\Program Files\InstallShield\\$isVersion\System' (or 'Program Files (x86)' on a 64 bit machine)<br />
                                    2. You will need to pass the parameter '/return' to the executable 'TSconfig' as below<br />
                                    'C:\Program Files\InstallShield\\$isVersion\System\TSconfig.exe /return /$no_internet'<br />
                                    3. Providing the machine has a valid internet connection the license will deactivate and the message in the dialog will reflect this<br />
                                    4. Re-launch InstallShield.exe and you will be presented with the same activation dialog as before<br />
                                    5. Proceed with the activation normally<br />
                                    6. The dialog should show a successful activation message and the product should remain activated at this stage.<br />
                                     </p>";
                        ?>
                        <div class="ResponseBox" style="background-position: 0 0;">
                            <div class="ResponseText">
                                <?php echo $output_script;
                        }
                                 ?>
                            </div>
                        </div>    
                    </div>
            </td>

            <td id="rightPane">
                <div class="PromoBox" style="background-position: 0 0;">
                    <div class="PromoText">
                            <?php
                            echo "<h2>Related KB Article: </h2><br />";
                            echo "<h3>Deactivation of IS - Q201081</h3>";
                            ?>
                    </div>
                </div>
            </td>
                                </tr>
        </tr>
    </table>
</div>

As you can see the PHP and HTML concatenate one another as and when it is required. I am wondering, however if this is actually the best approach and should I use PHP to echo everything rather than doing it like above?
I am also trying to write an elseif block below this which gives me an error which states the elseif is unexpected, which is what makes me think that I'm approaching this whole thing wrong.

When I look at huge projects that people have made, I've noticed that barely anything is within each file, and most certainly not a lot of HTML is visible. Am I correct in assuming that most of it goes within objects or classes? Any suggestions or references will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

An approach like this is both clean and tidy, i'd say keep it like so — Daryl Gill
– Daryl Gill, Commented May 9, 2013 at 22:17
In my opinion, never echo HTML. In your template files you should have mostly HTML, with some PHP variables printed at the right place. PHP is a templating language, all control structures have a templating version (if () : ... endif; for example) and you can even use shorthand PHP blocks (like <?=$x?> to print the value of $x) if they are turned on in the server. By the way, I voted close, the question is too broad and will invoke debate. — kapa
– kapa, Commented May 9, 2013 at 22:17
Here I was thinking PHP was a serverside language with lots of available templating engines, and that the shorthand tags was about to be deprecated ? — adeneo
– adeneo, Commented May 9, 2013 at 22:20
It's not a good practice to mix your PHP logic with your HTML if you don't want to end up with a spaghetti code mess. You should use PHP in HTML to print dynamic values and control structures: php.net/manual/en/control-structures.alternative-syntax.php. — mpj.dev
– mpj.dev, Commented May 9, 2013 at 22:20
@adeneo Hm, I don't know about that. AFAIK in 5.4 <?= even works if short tags are off, seems like it's encouraged instead. I don't see the reason to deprecate the templating versions of the control structures either. I think I've read something about ASP-style and script PHP tags being deprecated, but never used those anyways... — kapa
– kapa, Commented May 9, 2013 at 22:27

Explosion Pills · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-09 22:18:49Z

You'll probably get a different description of "best practices" from different people. I would go with the PSR-1 code formatting standards, which includes the important point:

Files SHOULD either declare symbols (classes, functions, constants, etc.) or cause side-effects (e.g. generate output, change .ini settings, etc.) but SHOULD NOT do both.

I would also recommend that your php code not print out any HTML directly at all but use templates instead. I'm a big fan of templating engines, and there are a ton of them out there. People will also say that "php itself is a templating engine," and you could use it for that if you wanted. Keep as much logic out of the template (display) as possible.

Decide on your standards ahead of time with your team and stick with them. There may be a variance in opinion about whether echo or ?> is better, but once you have decided, be consistent. It's important to keep indentation consistent too. If you do that, you'll probably be able to find the missing brace that makes your elseif incorrect.

Explosion Pills · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-09 22:44:25Z

2

Like batmegakapa already explained, execution logic/content generation and viewing are two different tasks. The complexity of modern web applications often demand that approach to keep code readable and understandable, as well as maybe reusable.

That is (roughly) the reason, why the MVC pattern (model/view/controller) and templating systems are components of most frameworks today.

Of course, it is not possible to give the one solution, because it depends on personal preference, and the requirements - which make this question debatable, too localized, and not fitting Q&A-style.

However, when following the rule to not mix logic and content, you would most likely do it like this (basic aproach):

no_internet_form.php:

<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit']) && $_POST['no_internet'])
{
    //echo "<h2>Response</h2><br />";
    $Version = $_POST["isVersion"];
    $no_internet = $_POST["no_internet"];
    $script_result = execute_the_incredibly long_script($Version, $no_internet);
}

// more business logic ...

include 'views/no_internet_form.html.php';
?>

views/no_internet_form.html.php:

<?php if(isset($script_result)): ?>
<div class="ResponseBox" style="background-position: 0 0;">
    <div class="ResponseText">
        <?php echo $script_result; ?>
    </div>
</div>
<?php endif; //isset($script_result) ?>

Another thing just by the way: I had doubts what part of the code you provided actually belongs into the if block, because it was not obvious to me. The HTML code of your example just somehow doesn't make much sense.

It might be only for demonstration, but it took some seconds to really get the meaning of your example in my head. This should be more readable - especially in large projects.

edited May 9, 2013 at 22:44

Explosion Pills

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answered May 9, 2013 at 22:38

Lukas

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3 Comments

Lukas Over a year ago

@Explosion-Pills Thanks for the code edit. I'm just too used to using the Twig template engine by now. It is definitely worth looking at it once plain PHP "templates" don't fit one's needs anymore.

Dave Melia Over a year ago

@Explosion-Pills Okay, I will post the original. I've edited the original post with the full script. Can you figure out why I cannot use an elseif statement because it keeps saying it's unexpected.

Lukas Over a year ago

@DaveMelia There may be no statement between the end if the if block and the elseif token. Closing and opening PHP tags do count as such a "statement" and are not allowed.

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