Using XML code in PHP scripts with XHP

Intertwined

Article from Issue 157/2013
Author(s):

The PHP XHP extension lets you use HTML and XML tags directly in the PHP code.

PHP scripts typically output HTML code that a browser then displays. Because many variables exist in the PHP code, the code itself can look kind of cryptic, as you can see in Listing 1. The code in Listing 1 dumps the contents of the $url variable in the <a> tag's href attribute, thus constructing a link to the ADMIN magazine website (Figure 1). The people who suffer most from this alphabet soup are template system developers who have difficulty identifying variables even in simple templates.

Figure 1: XHP generating a simple HTML link.

A PHP extension called XHP makes the code easier to read by letting you just add the HTML to the script and embed the PHP variables, as shown in Listing 2. XHP converts XML (and thus, HTML) blocks into valid PHP expressions. The resulting short notation reduces the error rate and helps programmers maintain an overview.

[...]

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).

Buy this article as PDF

Download Article PDF now with Express Checkout
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subscriptions
Digital Subscriptions

Related content

  • CSS Tricks

    Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can do much more than define the color and font of your web text. We'll show you how to build the power of CSS into your web creations.

    more »
  • Cascading Style Sheets

    Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) help you polish up your websites without taking a crash course in programming.

    more »
  • Hidden Meaning: Working with Microformats

    Programs aren’t as smart as humans when it comes to interpreting the meaning of web information. If you want to maximize your search rank, you might want to dress up your HTML documents with microformats and microdata.

    more »
  • Perl: AJAX

    AJAX technology adds dynamic elements to enhance sluggish websites. All it takes is a server-side Perl program and some client-side JavaScript code.

    more »
  • Mindmapping

    View Your Mind lets you draw and manage mind maps that can help you structure your thoughts and ideas and record notes.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Desktop Events Hardware Linux Mobile Programming Security Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source