Tags Class

Post Tagging & Taxonomy Class

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The Tags class is a specialized extension of the GeniXCMS taxonomy system. While it leverages the underlying table structure of the Categories class, it provides specific logic for managing flat descriptors (Tags), batch parsing, existence checks, and the dynamic generation of "Tag Cloud" UI components for your themes.

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⚡ Data Manipulation

Tags::add(string $tags_list)

Parses and commits a collection of tag entities to the database from a comma-separated string.

• De-duplication: Checks existence with Tags::exist() before performing an INSERT.
• Slug Generation: Auto-generates a URL slug via Typo::slugify().
• Type Assignment: All entries are automatically assigned type = 'tag' in the cat table.

// Batch insert newly discovered tags
Tags::add("industrial, premium, latte, vite");

Tags::exist(string $tag)

Checks if a tag already exists in the database (by name or slug). Returns true or false.

Tags::delete(int $tag_id)

Permanently removes a tag and its associated metadata from the system.

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🔍 Search

Tags::search(string $q)

Returns an array of tag objects matching a partial name query (used for autocomplete). Results are limited to 10.

// Used by the AJAX tag autocomplete endpoint
$results = Tags::search('ph'); // Returns matches like 'php', 'phpunit'

Tags::count(string $tag)

Returns the number of posts associated with a specific tag name.

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🎨 UI & Presentation Logic

Tags::cloud()

Generates a semantic HTML Tag Cloud suitable for theme sidebars or footer widgets.

• Process: Fetches all entities of type tag, calculates the frequency of each using Tags::count(), sorts by frequency descending, and returns linked items.
• Output: Anchor tags with .tag-item class and post count in .tag-count span.

{* In your theme sidebar *}
<div class="widget tag-cloud">
    {Tags::cloud()|noescape}
</div>

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🏗️ Technical Architecture & Wrapper Methods

The Tags class acts as a high-level wrapper for several Categories Class utilities, pre-configured for the tag context.

Method	Role	Logic
dropdown($vars)	Selection UI	Generates a <select> list of all active tags.
lists($vars)	Collection	Returns a raw array of all tag objects.
name($id)	Identity	Resolves the plain-text name for a specific tag ID.
slug($id)	Routing	Returns the SEO-friendly URL slug for the tag.
id($name)	Lookup	Returns the database ID for a given tag name.
type($id)	Metadata	Returns the type field value for a given ID.
getParent($id)	Hierarchy	Returns parent data (always 0 for flat tags).

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📂 Database Schema

Tags are stored in the core cat table, distinguished by the type field value set to 'tag'. This unified architecture allows tags to benefit from the same slug-generation and URL routing as standard categories.

Column	Value for Tags
name	The display label (e.g., PHP)
slug	URL-safe version (e.g., php)
parent	Always 0 (flat, no hierarchy)
type	Always 'tag'

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See Also

• Categories Class — The underlying taxonomy engine.
• Posts Class — How tags are associated with content records.
• User Guide: Categories — Managing your site's taxonomy in the dashboard.