LatteView for CakePHP

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Getting started ​

This guide will walk you through integrating Latte templating engine with your CakePHP application. Before proceeding, we recommend familiarizing yourself with Latte syntax to get the most out of this integration.

TL;DR ​

This plugin replaces CakePHP's default templating engine with Latte, a modern and secure template engine from the Nette framework.

Key differences from CakePHP templates:

  • Uses .latte files instead of .php templates
  • Latte's native features replace some CakePHP view methods:
    • {include} and {block} replace $this->element() and $this->start()/$this->end()
    • Template inheritance with {layout} replaces $this->extend()
  • $this->fetch() is still available to maintain compatibility with existing helpers that manipulate view blocks
  • All CakePHP helpers remain fully functional

Requirements ​

  • PHP: 8.2 or higher
  • CakePHP: 5.x
  • DebugKit: 5.2 or higher (development dependency)

Installation ​

bash
composer require josbeir/cakephp-latte-view

Usage ​

Enable the plugin in your Application.php or in plugins.php:

php
use LatteView\LatteViewPlugin;

$this->addPlugin(LatteViewPlugin::class);

Extend your AppView:

php
use LatteView\View\LatteView;

class AppView extends LatteView
{
    public function initialize()
    {
        parent::initialize();,

        // See configuration options below.
        $this->setConfig([]);
    }
}

Layout files ​

Create a layout template: templates/layout/default.latte

latte
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>{block title}Default title{/block} - My cool app</title>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="content">
        {include content}
    </div>
    <div id="footer">
        {block footer}&copy; Copyright 2008{/block}
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Create a child template for your controller action with the default layout templates/Controller/action.latte:

latte
{block title}My page title{/block}
{block content}
    My page content {$variable}
{/block}

Using another layout:

latte
{layout '/layout/custom'}
...

Using a plugin template/layout:

latte
{layout '@myPlugin./layout/custom'}
{layout '@myPlugin./Pages/index'}
...