BaseControl Class

BaseControl Class

The BaseControl is an abstract class that serves as the foundation for all frontend and backend controller classes in GeniXCMS. It provides a standardized way to initialize the Latte templating engine, populate common global data, and render theme views.

Constructor

When a controller extends BaseControl, the constructor automatically performs two tasks:

1. initLatte(): Sets up the Latte template engine instance, including language support and custom filters.
2. initCommonData(): Populates the $this->data array with global variables available to every template.

Template Engine (Latte)

The initLatte() method configures the Latte engine with:

• RawPhpExtension: Allows raw PHP execution in templates.
• TranslatorExtension: Hooks into the Typo::translate() function for i18n support.
• nl2br filter: Converts newlines to HTML <br> tags.
• stripHtml filter: Strips HTML tags from a string.
• Temp Directory: Compiled templates are cached in GX_CACHE/temp.

Common Data (initCommonData)

The following variables are automatically available in every Latte template:

Render Method

Usage: $this->render(string $view, array $data = []);

This is the core output method for any controller extending BaseControl. It:

1. Merges controller-specific $data with the common data array.
2. Generates SEO meta tags via Site::meta($this->data).
3. Starts the Cache buffer.
4. Renders the theme's header.php, then the specified $view.php, then footer.php using Latte.
5. Ends the Cache buffer, storing the output if caching is enabled.

class FrontControl extends BaseControl
{
    public function index($data)
    {
        $data['p_type'] = 'index';
        $this->render('index', $data);
    }
}