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CodeIgniter - Quick Guide

CodeIgniter - Overview
CodeIgniter is an application development framework, which can be used to develop
websites, using PHP. It is an Open Source framework. It has a very rich set of functionality,
which will increase the speed of website development work.

If you know PHP well, then CodeIgniter will make your task easier. It has a very rich set of
libraries and helpers. By using CodeIgniter, you will save a lot of time, if you are developing
a website from scratch. Not only that, a website built in CodeIgniter is secure too, as it has
the ability to prevent various attacks that take place through websites.

CodeIgniter Features
Some of the important features of CodeIgniter are listed below −

Model-View-Controller Based System

Extremely Light Weight

Full Featured database classes with support for several platforms.

Query Builder Database Support

Form and Data Validation

Security and XSS Filtering

Session Management

Email Sending Class. Supports Attachments, HTML/Text email, multiple protocols

(sendmail, SMTP, and Mail) and more.

Image Manipulation Library (cropping, resizing, rotating, etc.). Supports GD,

ImageMagick, and NetPBM

File Uploading Class

FTP Class

Localization

Pagination

Data Encryption

Benchmarking

Full Page Caching

Error Logging

Application Profiling

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Calendaring Class

User Agent Class

Zip Encoding Class

Template Engine Class

Trackback Class

XML-RPC Library

Unit Testing Class

Search-engine Friendly URLs

Flexible URI Routing

Support for Hooks and Class Extensions

Large library of “helper” functions

CodeIgniter - Installing
It is very easy to install CodeIgniter. Just follow the steps given below −

Step-1 − Download the CodeIgniter from the link CodeIgniter

Step-2 − Unzip the folder.

Step-3 − Upload all files and folders to your server.

Step-4 − After uploading all the files to your server, visit the URL of your server,
e.g., www.domain-name.com.

On visiting the URL, you will see the following screen −

CodeIgniter - Application Architecture

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The architecture of CodeIgniter application is shown below.

As shown in the figure, whenever a request comes to CodeIgniter, it will first go to

index.php page.

In the second step, Routing will decide whether to pass this request to step-3 for
caching or to pass this request to step-4 for security check.

If the requested page is already in Caching, then Routing will pass the request to
step-3 and the response will go back to the user.

If the requested page does not exist in Caching, then Routing will pass the
requested page to step-4 for Security checks.

Before passing the request to Application Controller, the Security of the

submitted data is checked. After the Security check, the Application Controller
loads necessary Models, Libraries, Helpers, Plugins and Scripts and pass it on
to View.

The View will render the page with available data and pass it on for Caching. As
the requested page was not cached before so this time it will be cached in
Caching, to process this page quickly for future requests.

Directory Structure
The image given below shows the directory structure of the CodeIgniter.

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CodeIgniter directory structure is divided into 3 folders −

Application
System

User_guide

Application

As the name indicates the Application folder contains all the code of your application that
you are building. This is the folder where you will develop your project. The Application
folder contains several other folders, which are explained below −

Cache − This folder contains all the cached pages of your application. These
cached pages will increase the overall speed of accessing the pages.

Config − This folder contains various files to configure the application. With the help
of config.php file, user can configure the application. Using database.php file, user
can configure the database of the application.

Controllers − This folder holds the controllers of your application. It is the basic
part of your application.
Core − This folder will contain base class of your application.

Helpers − In this folder, you can put helper class of your application.
Hooks − The files in this folder provide a means to tap into and modify the inner
workings of the framework without hacking the core files.

Language − This folder contains language related files.

Libraries − This folder contains files of the libraries developed for your application.

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Logs − This folder contains files related to the log of the system.

Models − The database login will be placed in this folder.

Third_party − In this folder, you can place any plugins, which will be used for your
application.

Views − Application’s HTML files will be placed in this folder.

System

This folder contains CodeIgniter core codes, libraries, helpers and other files, which help
make the coding easy. These libraries and helpers are loaded and used in web app
development.

This folder contains all the CodeIgniter code of consequence, organized into various folders
−

Core − This folder contains CodeIgniter’s core class. Do not modify anything here.
All of your work will take place in the application folder. Even if your intent is to
extend the CodeIgniter core, you have to do it with hooks, and hooks live in the
application folder.

Database − The database folder contains core database drivers and other
database utilities.

Fonts − The fonts folder contains font related information and utilities.

Helpers − The helpers folder contains standard CodeIgniter helpers (such as date,
cookie, and URL helpers).

Language − The language folder contains language files. You can ignore it for now.
Libraries − The libraries folder contains standard CodeIgniter libraries (to help you
with e-mail, calendars, file uploads, and more). You can create your own libraries or
extend (and even replace) standard ones, but those will be saved in the
application/libraries directory to keep them separate from the standard
CodeIgniter libraries saved in this particular folder.

User_guide

This is your user guide to CodeIgniter. It is basically, the offline version of user guide on
CodeIgniter website. Using this, one can learn the functions of various libraries, helpers and
classes. It is recommended to go through this user guide before building your first web app
in CodeIgniter.

Beside these three folders, there is one more important file named “index.php”. In this file,
we can set the application environment and error level and we can define system and

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application folder name. It is recommended, not to edit these settings if you do not have
enough knowledge about what you are going to do.

CodeIgniter - MVC Framework

CodeIgniter is based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) development pattern. MVC
is a software approach that separates application logic from presentation. In practice, it
permits your web pages to contain minimal scripting since the presentation is separate
from the PHP scripting.

The Model represents your data structures. Typically, your model classes will
contain functions that help you retrieve, insert and update information in your
database.

The View is information that is being presented to a user. A View will normally be a
web page, but in CodeIgniter, a view can also be a page fragment like a header or
footer. It can also be an RSS page, or any other type of “page”.

The Controller serves as an intermediary between the Model, the View, and any
other resources needed to process the HTTP request and generate a web page.

CodeIgniter - Basic Concepts

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Controllers
A controller is a simple class file. As the name suggests, it controls the whole application by
URI.

Creating a Controller
First, go to application/controllers folder. You will find two files there, index.html and
Welcome.php. These files come with the CodeIgniter.

Keep these files as they are. Create a new file under the same path named “Test.php”.
Write the following code in that file −

<?php
class Test extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

echo "Hello World!";
}
}
?>

The Test class extends an in-built class called CI_Controller. This class must be extended
whenever you want to make your own Controller class.

Calling a Controller

The above controller can be called by URI as follows −

http://www.your-domain.com/index.php/test

Notice the word “test” in the above URI after index.php. This indicates the class name of
controller. As we have given the name of the controller “Test”, we are writing “test” after
the index.php. The class name must start with uppercase letter but we need to write
lowercase letter when we call that controller by URI. The general syntax for calling the
controller is as follows −

http://www.your-domain.com/index.php/controller/method-name

Creating & Calling Constructor Method

Let us modify the above class and create another method named “hello”.

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<?php
class Test extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

echo "This is default function.";
}

public function hello() {

echo "This is hello function.";
}
}
?>

We can execute the above controller in the following three ways −

http://www.your-domain.com/index.php/test
http://www.your-domain.com/index.php/test/index

http://www.your-domain.com/index.php/test/hello

After visiting the first URI in the browser, we get the output as shown in the picture given
below. As you can see, we got the output of the method “index”, even though we did not
pass the name of the method the URI. We have used only controller name in the URI. In
such situations, the CodeIgniter calls the default method “index”.

Visiting the second URI in the browser, we get the same output as shown in the above
picture. Here, we have passed method’s name after controller’s name in the URI. As the
name of the method is “index”, we are getting the same output.

Visiting the third URI in the browser, we get the output as shown in picture given below. As
you can see, we are getting the output of the method “hello” because we have passed
“hello” as the method name, after the name of the controller “test” in the URI.

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Points to Remember

The name of the controller class must start with an uppercase letter.

The controller must be called with lowercase letter.

Do not use the same name of the method as your parent class, as it will override
parent class’s functionality.

Views
This can be a simple or complex webpage, which can be called by the controller. The
webpage may contain header, footer, sidebar etc. View cannot be called directly. Let us
create a simple view. Create a new file under application/views with name “test.php”
and copy the below given code in that file.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter View Example</title>
</head>

<body>
CodeIgniter View Example
</body>

</html>

Change the code of application/controllers/test.php file as shown in the below.

Loading the View

The view can be loaded by the following syntax −

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$this->load->view('name');

Where name is the view file, which is being rendered. If you have planned to store the view
file in some directory then you can use the following syntax −

$this->load->view('directory-name/name');

It is not necessary to specify the extension as php, unless something other than .php is
used.

The index() method is calling the view method and passing the “test” as argument to
view() method because we have stored the html coding in “test.php” file under
application/views/test.php.

<?php
class Test extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

$this->load->view('test');
}
}
?>

Here is the output of the above code −

The following flowchart illustrates of how everything works −

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Models
Models classes are designed to work with information in the database. As an example, if
you are using CodeIgniter to manage users in your application then you must have model
class, which contains functions to insert, delete, update and retrieve your users’ data.

Creating Model Class

Model classes are stored in application/models directory. Following code shows how to
create model class in CodeIgniter.

<?php
Class Model_name extends CI_Model {

Public function __construct() {

parent::__construct();
}
}
?>

Where Model_name is the name of the model class that you want to give. Each model
class must inherit the CodeIgniter’s CI_Model class. The first letter of the model class must
be in capital letter. Following is the code for users’ model class.

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<?php
Class User_model extends CI_Model {

Public function __construct() {

parent::__construct();
}

}
?>

The above model class must be saved as User_model.php. The class name and file name
must be same.

Loading Model
Model can be called in controller. Following code can be used to load any model.

$this->load->model('model_name');

Where model_name is the name of the model to be loaded. After loading the model you
can simply call its method as shown below.

$this->model_name->method();

Auto-loading Models
There may be situations where you want some model class throughout your application.
In such situations, it is better if we autoload it.

/*
| ---------------------------------------------------------------
| Auto-Load Models
| ---------------------------------------------------------------
| Prototype:
|
| $autoload['model'] = array('first_model', 'second_model');
|
| You can also supply an alternative model name to be assigned
| in the controller:
|
| $autoload['model'] = array('first_model' => 'first');

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*/
$autoload['model'] = array();

As shown in the above figure, pass the name of the model in the array that you want to
autoload and it will be autoloaded, while system is in initialization state and is accessible
throughout the application.

Helpers
As the name suggests, it will help you build your system. It is divided into small functions
to serve different functionality. A number of helpers are available in CodeIgniter, which are
listed in the table below. We can build our own helpers too.

Helpers are typically stored in your system/helpers, or application/helpers directory.

Custom helpers are stored in application/helpers directory and systems’ helpers are
stored in system/helpers directory. CodeIgniter will look first in your
application/helpers directory. If the directory does not exist or the specified helper is
not located, CodeIgniter will instead, look in your global system/helpers/ directory.
Each helper, whether it is custom or system helper, must be loaded before using it.

Given below are the most commonly used Helpers.

S.N. Helper Name & Description

Array Helper
1
The Array Helper file contains functions that assist in working with arrays.

CAPTCHA Helper

2 The CAPTCHA Helper file contains functions that assist in creating CAPTCHA
images.

Cookie Helper
3
The Cookie Helper file contains functions that assist in working with cookies.

Date Helper
4
The Date Helper file contains functions that help you work with dates.

Directory Helper
5
The Directory Helper file contains functions that assist in working with directories.

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Download Helper
6
The Download Helper lets you download data to your desktop.

Email Helper

7 The Email Helper provides some assistive functions for working with Email. For a
more robust email solution, see CodeIgniter’s Email Class.

File Helper
8
The File Helper file contains functions that assist in working with files.

Form Helper
9
The Form Helper file contains functions that assist in working with forms.

HTML Helper
10
The HTML Helper file contains functions that assist in working with HTML.

Inflector Helper

11 The Inflector Helper file contains functions that permits you to change words to
plural, singular, camel case, etc.

Language Helper

12 The Language Helper file contains functions that assist in working with language
files.

Number Helper
13
The Number Helper file contains functions that help you work with numeric data.

Path Helper

14 The Path Helper file contains functions that permits you to work with file paths on
the server.

Security Helper
15
The Security Helper file contains security related functions.

Smiley Helper

16 The Smiley Helper file contains functions that let you manage smileys
(emoticons).

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String Helper
17
The String Helper file contains functions that assist in working with strings.

Text Helper
18
The Text Helper file contains functions that assist in working with text.

Typography Helper

19 The Typography Helper file contains functions that help your format text in
semantically relevant ways.

URL Helper
20
The URL Helper file contains functions that assist in working with URLs.

XML Helper
21
The XML Helper file contains functions that assist in working with XML data.

Loading a Helper
A helper can be loaded as shown below −

$this->load->helper('name');

Where name is the name of the helper. For example, if you want to load the URL Helper,
then it can be loaded as −

$this->load->helper('url');

Routing
CodeIgniter has user-friendly URI routing system, so that you can easily re-route URL.
Typically, there is a one-to-one relationship between a URL string and its corresponding
controller class/method. The segments in a URI normally follow this pattern −

your-domain.com/class/method/id/

The first segment represents the controller class that should be invoked.

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The second segment represents the class function, or method, that should be
called.

The third, and any additional segments, represent the ID and any variables that will
be passed to the controller.

In some situations, you may want to change this default routing mechanism. CodeIgniter
provides facility through which you can set your own routing rules.

Customize Routing Rules

There is a particular file where you can handle all these. The file is located at
application/config/routes.php. You will find an array called $route in which you can
customize your routing rules. The key in the $route array will decide what to route and the
value will decide where to route. There are three reserved routes in CodeIgniter.

S.N. Reserved Routes & Description

$route['default_controller']
This route indicates which controller class should be loaded, if the URI contains no
1 data, which will be the case when people load your root URL. You are encouraged
to have a default route otherwise a 404 page will appear, by default. We can set
home page of website here so it will be loaded by default.

$route['404_override']
This route indicates which controller class should be loaded if the requested
2 controller is not found. It will override the default 404 error page. It won’t affect
to the show_404() function, which will continue loading the default
error_404.php file in application/views/errors/error_404.php.

$route['translate_uri_dashes']
As evident by the Boolean value, this is not exactly a route. This option enables
you to automatically replace dashes (‘-‘) with underscores in the controller and
3
method URI segments, thus saving you additional route entries if you need to do
that. This is required because the dash is not a valid class or method-name
character and will cause a fatal error, if you try to use it.

Routes can be customized by wildcards or by using regular expressions but keep in

mind that these customized rules for routing must come after the reserved rules.

Wildcards
We can use two wildcard characters as explained below −

(:num) − It will match a segment containing only numbers.

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(:any) − It will match a segment containing any character.

Example

$route['product/:num']='catalog/product_lookup';

In the above example, if the literal word “product” is found in the first segment of the URL,
and a number is found in the second segment, the “catalog” class and the
“product_lookup” method are used instead.

Regular Expressions
Like wildcards, we can also use regular expressions in $route array key part. If any URI
matches with regular expression, then it will be routed to the value part set into $route
array.

Example

$route['products/([a-z]+)/(\d+)']='$1/id_$2';

In the above example, a URI similar to products/shoes/123 would instead call the “shoes”
controller class and the “id_123” method.

CodeIgniter - Configuration
After setting up the site, the next thing that we should do is to configure the site. The
application/config folder contains a group of files that set basic configuration of your site.

Configuring Base URL

The base URL of the site can be configured in application/config/config.php file. It is URL to
your CodeIgniter root. Typically, this will be your base URL, with a trailing slash e.g.

http://example.com/

If this is not set, then CodeIgniter will try to guess the protocol, domain and path to your
installation. However, you should always configure this explicitly and never rely on
autoguessing, especially in production environments. You can configure the base URL in the
$config array with key “base_url” as shown below −

$config['base_url'] = 'http://your-domain.com';

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Database Configuration
The database of the site can be configured in application/config/database.php file. Often we
need to set up database for different environment like development and production. With
the multidimensional array provided in the CodeIgniter, we can setup database for different
environment. The configuration settings are stored in the array as shown below −

$db['default'] = array(
'dsn' => '',
'hostname' => 'localhost',
'username' => 'root',
'password' => '',
'database' => 'database_name',
'dbdriver' => 'mysqli',
'dbprefix' => '',
'pconnect' => TRUE,
'db_debug' => TRUE,
'cache_on' => FALSE,
'cachedir' => '',
'char_set' => 'utf8',
'dbcollat' => 'utf8_general_ci',
'swap_pre' => '',
'encrypt' => FALSE,
'compress' => FALSE,
'stricton' => FALSE,
'failover' => array()
);

You can leave few options to their default values except hostname, username, password,
database and dbdriver.

hostname − Specify location of your database here e.g. localhost or IP address

username − Set username of your database here.

password − Set password of your database here.

database − Set name of the database here.

dbdriver − Set type of database that you are using e.g. MySQL, MySQLi, Postgre
SQL, ODBC, and MS SQL.

By changing the key of the array $db, you can set other configuration of database as
shown below. Here, we have set the key to ‘test’ to set the database for testing
environment, by keeping the other database environment as it is.

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$db['test'] = array(
'dsn' => '',
'hostname' => 'localhost',
'username' => 'root',
'password' => '',
'database' => 'database_name',
'dbdriver' => 'mysqli',
'dbprefix' => '',
'pconnect' => TRUE,
'db_debug' => TRUE,
'cache_on' => FALSE,
'cachedir' => '',
'char_set' => 'utf8',
'dbcollat' => 'utf8_general_ci',
'swap_pre' => '',
'encrypt' => FALSE,
'compress' => FALSE,
'stricton' => FALSE,
'failover' => array()
);

You can simply switch to different environment by changing the value of a variable as
shown below −

$active_group = ‘default’; //This will set the default environment

$active_group = ‘test’; //This will set the test environment

Autoload Configuration
This file specifies, by default, which systems should be loaded. In order to keep the
framework as light-weight as possible, only the absolute minimal resources are loaded by
default. One should autoload the frequently used system, rather than loading it at local
level, repeatedly. Following are the things you can load automatically −

Libraries − It is a list of libraries, which should be auto loaded. Provide a list of

libraries in an array as shown below to be autoloaded by CodeIgniter. In this
example, we are auto loading database, email and session libraries.

$autoload['libraries'] = array('database', 'email', 'session');

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Drivers − These classes are located in system/libraries/ or in your

application/libraries/ directory, but are also placed inside their own subdirectory and
they extend the CI_Driver_Library class. They offer multiple interchangeable driver
options. Following is an example to autoload cache drivers.

$autoload['drivers'] = array('cache');

Helper files − It is a list of helper files, to be autoloaded. Provide a list of libraries in

the array, as shown below, to be autoloaded by CodeIgniter. In the given example,
we are autoloading URL and file helpers.

$autoload['helper'] = array('url', 'file');

Custom config files − These files are intended for use, only if you have created
custom config files. Otherwise, leave it blank. Following is an example of how to
autoload more than one config files.

$autoload['config'] = array('config1', 'config2');

Language files − It is a list of language files, which should be auto loaded. Look at
the example given below. Provide a list of languages in an array as shown below to
be auto loaded by CodeIgniter. Keep in mind that do not include the "_lang" part of
your file. For example, "codeigniter_lang.php" would be referenced as
array('codeigniter');

Models − It is a list of models file, which should be autoloaded. Provide a list of

models in an array as shown below to be autoloaded by CodeIgniter. Following is
the example of how to auto load more than one models files.

$autoload['model'] = array('first_model', 'second_model');

CodeIgniter - Working with Database

Like any other framework, we need to interact with the database very often and
CodeIgniter makes this job easy for us. It provides rich set of functionalities to interact

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with database.

In this section, we will understand how the CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) functions
work with CodeIgniter. We will use stud table to select, update, delete, and insert the data
in stud table.

Table Name: stud

roll_no int(11)

name varchar(30)

Connecting to a Database
We can connect to database in the following two way −

Automatic Connecting − Automatic connection can be done by using the file

application/config/autoload.php. Automatic connection will load the database for
each and every page. We just need to add the database library as shown below −

$autoload['libraries'] = array(‘database’);

Manual Connecting − If you want database connectivity for only some of the
pages, then we can go for manual connecting. We can connect to database
manually by adding the following line in any class.

$this->load->database();

Here, we are not passing any argument because everything is set in the database config
file application/config/database.php

Inserting a Record
To insert a record in the database, the insert() function is used as shown in the following
table −

Syntax insert([$table = ''[, $set = NULL[, $escape = NULL]]])

Parameters

$table (string) − Table name

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$set (array) − An associative array of field/value pairs

$escape (bool) − Whether to escape values and identifiers

Returns TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

Return Type bool

The following example shows how to insert a record in stud table. The $data is an array in
which we have set the data and to insert this data to the table stud, we just need to pass
this array to the insert function in the 2 nd argument.

$data = array(
'roll_no' => ‘1’,
'name' => ‘Virat’
);

$this->db->insert("stud", $data);

Updating a Record
To update a record in the database, the update() function is used along with set() and
where() functions as shown in the tables below. The set() function will set the data to be
updated.

Syntax set($key[, $value = ''[, $escape = NULL]])

$key (mixed) − Field name, or an array of field/value pairs

Parameters
$value (string) − Field value, if $key is a single field

$escape (bool) − Whether to escape values and identifiers

Returns CI_DB_query_builder instance (method chaining)

Return Type CI_DB_query_builder

The where() function will decide which record to update.

Syntax where($key[, $value = NULL[, $escape = NULL]])

Parameters

$key (mixed) − Name of field to compare, or associative

array

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$value (mixed) − If a single key, compared to this value

$escape (bool) − Whether to escape values and identifiers

Returns DB_query_builder instance

Return Type object

Finally, the update() function will update data in the database.

update([$table = ''[, $set = NULL[, $where = NULL[, $limit =

Syntax
NULL]]]])

$table (string) − Table name

Parameters $set (array) − An associative array of field/value pairs

$where (string) − The WHERE clause

$limit (int) − The LIMIT clause

Returns TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

Return Type bool

$data = array(
'roll_no' => ‘1’,
'name' => ‘Virat’
);

$this->db->set($data);
$this->db->where("roll_no", ‘1’);
$this->db->update("stud", $data);

Deleting a Record
To delete a record in the database, the delete() function is used as shown in the following
table −

delete([$table = ''[, $where = ''[, $limit = NULL[, $reset_data =

Syntax
TRUE]]]])

Parameters

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$table (mixed) − The table(s) to delete from; string or

array

$where (string) − The WHERE clause

$limit (int) − The LIMIT clause

$reset_data (bool) − TRUE to reset the query “write”

clause

Returns CI_DB_query_builder instance (method chaining) or FALSE on failure

Return Type mixed

Use the following code to to delete a record in the stud table. The first argument indicates
the name of the table to delete record and the second argument decides which record to
delete.

$this->db->delete("stud", "roll_no = 1");

Selecting a Record
To select a record in the database, the get function is used, as shown in the following table
−

Syntax get([$table = ''[, $limit = NULL[, $offset = NULL]]])

$table (string) − The table to query array

Parameters
$limit (int) − The LIMIT clause

$offset (int) − The OFFSET clause

Returns CI_DB_result instance (method chaining)

Return Type CI_DB_result

Use the following code to get all the records from the database. The first statement
fetches all the records from “stud” table and returns the object, which will be stored in
$query object. The second statement calls the result() function with $query object to get
all the records as array.

$query = $this->db->get("stud");
$data['records'] = $query->result();

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Closing a Connection
Database connection can be closed manually, by executing the following code −

$this->db->close();

Example
Create a controller class called Stud_controller.php and save it at
application/controller/Stud_controller.php

Here is a complete example, wherein all of the above-mentioned operations are

performed. Before executing the following example, create a database and table as
instructed at the starting of this chapter and make necessary changes in the database
config file stored at application/config/database.php

<?php
class Stud_controller extends CI_Controller {

function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
$this->load->helper('url');
$this->load->database();
}

public function index() {

$query = $this->db->get("stud");
$data['records'] = $query->result();

$this->load->helper('url');
$this->load->view('Stud_view',$data);
}

public function add_student_view() {

$this->load->helper('form');
$this->load->view('Stud_add');
}

public function add_student() {

$this->load->model('Stud_Model');

$data = array(
'roll_no' => $this->input->post('roll_no'),
'name' => $this->input->post('name')

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);

$this->Stud_Model->insert($data);

$query = $this->db->get("stud");
$data['records'] = $query->result();
$this->load->view('Stud_view',$data);
}

public function update_student_view() {

$this->load->helper('form');
$roll_no = $this->uri->segment('3');
$query = $this->db->get_where("stud",array("roll_no"=>$roll_no));
$data['records'] = $query->result();
$data['old_roll_no'] = $roll_no;
$this->load->view('Stud_edit',$data);
}

public function update_student(){

$this->load->model('Stud_Model');

$data = array(
'roll_no' => $this->input->post('roll_no'),
'name' => $this->input->post('name')
);

$old_roll_no = $this->input->post('old_roll_no');
$this->Stud_Model->update($data,$old_roll_no);

$query = $this->db->get("stud");
$data['records'] = $query->result();
$this->load->view('Stud_view',$data);
}

public function delete_student() {

$this->load->model('Stud_Model');
$roll_no = $this->uri->segment('3');
$this->Stud_Model->delete($roll_no);

$query = $this->db->get("stud");
$data['records'] = $query->result();
$this->load->view('Stud_view',$data);
}
}
?>

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Create a model class called Stud_Model.php and save it in

application/models/Stud_Model.php

<?php
class Stud_Model extends CI_Model {

function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
}

public function insert($data) {

if ($this->db->insert("stud", $data)) {
return true;
}
}

public function delete($roll_no) {

if ($this->db->delete("stud", "roll_no = ".$roll_no)) {
return true;
}
}

public function update($data,$old_roll_no) {

$this->db->set($data);
$this->db->where("roll_no", $old_roll_no);
$this->db->update("stud", $data);
}
}
?>

Create a view file called Stud_add.php and save it in application/views/Stud_add.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>Students Example</title>
</head>

<body>
<form method = "" action = "">

<?php

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echo form_open('Stud_controller/add_student');
echo form_label('Roll No.');
echo form_input(array('id'=>'roll_no','name'=>'roll_no'));
echo "<br/>";

echo form_label('Name');
echo form_input(array('id'=>'name','name'=>'name'));
echo "<br/>";

echo form_submit(array('id'=>'submit','value'=>'Add'));
echo form_close();
?>

</form>
</body>

</html>

Create a view file called Stud_edit.php and save it in application/views/Stud_edit.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>Students Example</title>
</head>

<body>
<form method = "" action = "">

<?php
echo form_open('Stud_controller/update_student');
echo form_hidden('old_roll_no',$old_roll_no);
echo form_label('Roll No.');
echo form_input(array('id'⇒'roll_no',
'name'⇒'roll_no','value'⇒$records[0]→roll_no));
echo "
";

echo form_label('Name');
echo form_input(array('id'⇒'name','name'⇒'name',
'value'⇒$records[0]→name));
echo "

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";

echo form_submit(array('id'⇒'sub mit','value'⇒'Edit'));

echo form_close();
?>

</form>
</body>

</html>

Create a view file called Stud_view.php and save it in

application/views/Stud_view.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>Students Example</title>
</head>

<body>
<a href = "<?php echo base_url(); ?>
index.php/stud/add_view">Add</a>

<table border = "1">

<?php
$i = 1;
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>Sr#</td>";
echo "<td>Roll No.</td>";
echo "<td>Name</td>";
echo "<td>Edit</td>";
echo "<td>Delete</td>";
echo "<tr>";

foreach($records as $r) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>".$i++."</td>";
echo "<td>".$r->roll_no."</td>";
echo "<td>".$r->name."</td>";
echo "<td><a href = '".base_url()."index.php/stud/edit/"
.$r->roll_no."'>Edit</a></td>";

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echo "<td><a href = '".base_url()."index.php/stud/delete/"

.$r->roll_no."'>Delete</a></td>";
echo "<tr>";
}
?>
</table>

</body>

</html>

Make the following change in the route file at application/config/routes.php and add the
following line at the end of file.

$route['stud'] = "Stud_controller";
$route['stud/add'] = 'Stud_controller/add_student';
$route['stud/add_view'] = 'Stud_controller/add_student_view';
$route['stud/edit/(\d+)'] = 'Stud_controller/update_student_view/$1';
$route['stud/delete/(\d+)'] = 'Stud_controller/delete_student/$1';

Now, let us execute this example by visiting the following URL in the browser. Replace the
yoursite.com with your URL.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/stud

CodeIgniter - Libraries
The essential part of a CodeIgniter framework is its libraries. It provides a rich set of
libraries, which indirectly increase the speed of developing an application. The system
library is located at system/libraries. All we need to do is to load the library that we want
to use. The library can be loaded as shown below −

$this->load->library('class name');

Where class name is the name of the library that we want to load. If we want to load
multiple libraries, then we can simply pass an array as argument to library() function as
shown below −

$this->load->library(array('email', 'table'));

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Library Classes
The library classes are located in system/libraries. Each class has various functions to
simplify the developing work. Following table shows the names of the library class and its
description.

Given below are the most commonly used Library Classes.

S.N. Library Class & Description

Benchmarking Class

1 Benchmarking class is always active, enabling the time difference between any
two marked points to be calculated.

Caching Class
2
This class will cache the pages, to quickly access the page speed.

Calendaring Class
3
Using this class, you can dynamically create calendars.

Shopping Cart Class

4 Using this class, you can add or remove item from Shopping Cart. The items are
saved in session and will remain active until the user is browsing the site.

Config Class

5 Configuration preferences can be retrieved, using this class. This class is initialized
automatically.

Email Class
6
This class provides email related functionality, like send or reply to email.

Encryption Class
7
This class provides two-way data encryption functionality.

File Uploading Class

8 This class provides functionalities related to file uploading. You can set various
preferences like type of file to be uploaded, size of the files etc.

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Form Validation Class

9
This class provides various functions to validate form.

FTP Class

10 This class provides various FTP related functions like transferring files to remove
server, moving, renaming or deleting files on server.

Image Manipulation Class

11 Manipulation of image like resize, thumbnail creation, cropping, rotating,

watermarking can be done with the help of this class.

Input Class
12
This class pre-processes the input data for security reason.

Language Class
13
This class is used for internationalization.

Loader Class
14
This class loads elements like View files, Drivers, Helpers, Models etc.

Migrations Class
15
This class provides functionalities related to database migrations.

Output Class
16
This class sends the output to browser and also, caches that webpage.

Pagination Class
17
This class adds pagination functionalities to web page.

Template Parser Class

The Template Parser Class can perform simple text substitution for pseudo-
18
variables contained within your view files. It can parse simple variables or variable
tag pairs.

Security Class
19
This class contains security related functions like XSS Filtering, CSRF etc.

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Session Library
20
This class provides functionalities to maintain session of your application.

HTML Table
21
This class is used to auto-generate HTML tables from array or database results.

Trackback Class

22 The Trackback Class provides functions that enable you to send and receive
Trackback data.

Typography Class
23
The Typography Class provides methods that help to format text.

Unit Testing Class

24 This class provides functionalities to unit test your application and generate the
result.

URI Class

The URI Class provides methods that help you retrieve information from your URI
25
strings. If you use URI routing, you can also retrieve information about the
rerouted segments.

User Agent Class

The User Agent Class provides functions that help identify information about the
26
browser, mobile device, or robot visiting your site. In addition, you can get
referrer information as well as language and supported character-set information.

XML-RPC and XML-RPC Server Classes

27 CodeIgniter’s XML-RPC classes permit you to send requests to another server, or

set up your own XML-RPC server to receive requests.

Zip Encoding Class

28
This class is used to create zip archives of your data.

Creating Libraries
CodeIgniter has rich set of libraries, which you can find in system/libraries folder but
CodeIgniter is not just limited to system libraries, you can create your own libraries too,

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which can be stored in application/libraries folder. You can create libraries in three ways.

Create new library

Extend the native library

Replace the native library

Create New Library

While creating new library one should keep in mind, the following things −

The name of the file must start with a capital letter e.g. Mylibrary.php

The class name must start with a capital letter e.g. class Mylibrary

The name of the class and name of the file must match.

Mylibrary.php

<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

class Mylibrary {

public function some_function() {

}
}

/* End of file Mylibrary.php */

Loading the Custom Library

The above library can be loaded by simply executing the following line in your controller.

$this->load->library(‘mylibrary’);

mylibrary is the name of your library and you can write it in lowercase as well as uppercase
letters. Use the name of the library without “.php” extension. After loading the library, you
can also call the function of that class as shown below.

$this->mylibrary->some_function();

Extend the Native Library

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Sometimes, you may need to add your own functionality to the library provided by
CodeIgniter. CodeIgniter provides facility by which you can extend the native library and
add your own functions. To achieve this, you must extend the class of native library class.
For example if you want to extend the Email library then it can be done as shown below −

Class MY_Email extends CI_Email {

}

Here, in the above example, MY_Email class is extending the native library’s email class
CI_Email. This library can be loaded by the standard way of loading email library. Save the
above code in file My_Email.php

Replace the Native Library

In some situations, you do not want to use the native library the way it works and want to
replace it with your own way. This can be done by replacing the native library. To achieve
this, you just need to give the same class name as it is named in native library. For
example, if you want to replace the Email class, then use the code as shown below. Save
your file name with Email.php and give a class name to CI_Email.

Email.php

Class CI_Email {
}

CodeIgniter - Error Handling

Many times, while using application, we come across errors. It is very annoying for the
users if the errors are not handled properly. CodeIgniter provides an easy error handling
mechanism.

You would like the messages to be displayed, when the application is in developing mode
rather than in production mode as the error messages can be solved easily at the
developing stage.

The environment of your application can be changed, by changing the line given below
from index.php file. This can be set to anything but normally there are three values
(development, test, production) used for this purpose.

define('ENVIRONMENT', isset($_SERVER['CI_ENV']) ? $_SERVER['CI_ENV'] : 'developmen

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Different environment will require different levels of error reporting. By default,

development mode will display errors and testing and live mode will hide them. CodeIgniter
provides three functions as shown below to handle errors.

show_error() function displays errors in HTML format at the top of the screen.

show_error($message, $status_code, $heading = 'An Error Was

Syntax
Encountered')

$message (mixed) − Error message

Parameters
$status_code (int) − HTTP Response status code
$heading (string) − Error page heading

Return Type mixed

show_404() function displays error if you are trying to access a page which does
not exist.

Syntax show_404($page = '', $log_error = TRUE)

Parameters $page (string) – URI string

$log_error (bool) – Whether to log the error

Return Type void

log_message() function is used to write log messages. This is useful when you
want to write custom messages.

Syntax log_message($level, $message, $php_error = FALSE)

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$level (string) − Log level: ‘error’, ‘debug’ or ‘info’

Parameters $message (string) − Message to log

$php_error (bool) − Whether we’re logging a native PHP

error message

Return Type void

Logging can be enabled in application/config/config.php file. Given below is the

screenshot of config.php file, where you can set threshold value.

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Error Logging Threshold
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| You can enable error logging by setting a threshold over zero. The
| threshold determines what gets logged. Threshold options are:
|
| 0 = Disable logging, Error logging TURNED OFF
| 1 = Error Message (including PHP errors)
| 2 = Debug Message
| 3 = Informational Messages
| 4 = All Messages
|
| You can also pass an array with threshold levels to show individual error types
|
| array(2) = Debug Message, without Error Messages
| For a live site you'll usually only enable Errors (1) to be logged otherwise
| your log files will fill up very fast.
|
*/
$config['log_threshold'] = 0;

You can find the log messages in application/log/. Make sure that this directory is
writable before you enable log files.

Various templates for error messages can be found in application/views/errors/cli or

application/views/errors/html.

CodeIgniter - File Uploading

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Using File Uploading class, we can upload files and we can also, restrict the type and size of
the file to be uploaded. Follow the steps shown in the given example to understand the file
uploading process in CodeIgniter.

Example
Copy the following code and store it at application/view/Upload_form.php.

<html>

<head>
<title>Upload Form</title>
</head>

<body>
<?php echo $error;?>
<?php echo form_open_multipart('upload/do_upload');?>

<form action = "" method = "">

<input type = "file" name = "userfile" size = "20" />
<br /><br />
<input type = "submit" value = "upload" />
</form>

</body>

</html>

Copy the code given below and store it at application/view/Upload_success.php

<html>

<head>
<title>Upload Form</title>
</head>

<body>
<h3>Your file was successfully uploaded!</h3>

<ul>
<?phpforeach ($upload_data as $item => $value):?>
<li><?php echo $item;?>: <?php echo $value;?></li>
<?phpendforeach; ?>
</ul>

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<p><?php echo anchor('upload', 'Upload Another File!'); ?></p>

</body>

</html>

Copy the code given below and store it at application/controllers/Upload.php. Create

“uploads” folder at the root of CodeIgniter i.e. at the parent directory of application folder.

<?php

class Upload extends CI_Controller {

public function __construct() {

parent::__construct();
$this->load->helper(array('form', 'url'));
}

public function index() {

$this->load->view('upload_form', array('error' => ' ' ));
}

public function do_upload() {

$config['upload_path'] = './uploads/';
$config['allowed_types'] = 'gif|jpg|png';
$config['max_size'] = 100;
$config['max_width'] = 1024;
$config['max_height'] = 768;
$this->load->library('upload', $config);

if ( ! $this->upload->do_upload('userfile')) {
$error = array('error' => $this->upload->display_errors());
$this->load->view('upload_form', $error);
}

else {
$data = array('upload_data' => $this->upload->data());
$this->load->view('upload_success', $data);
}
}
}
?>

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Make the following change in the route file in application/config/routes.php and add the
following line at the end of file.

$route['upload'] = 'Upload';

Now let us execute this example by visiting the following URL in the browser. Replace the
yoursite.com with your URL.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/upload

It will produce the following screen −

After successfully uploading a file, you will see the following screen −

CodeIgniter - Sending Email

Sending email in CodeIgniter is much easier. You also configure the preferences regarding
email in CodeIgniter. CodeIgniter provides following features for sending emails −

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Multiple Protocols − Mail, Sendmail, and SMTP

TLS and SSL Encryption for SMTP

Multiple recipients

CC and BCCs

HTML or Plaintext email

Attachments

Word wrapping

Priorities

BCC Batch Mode, enabling large email lists to be broken into small BCC batches.

Email Debugging tools

Email class has the following functions to simplify the job of sending emails.

Return
S.N. Syntax Parameters Return
Type

$from (string) − “From” e-

mail address
$name (string) − “From” CI_Email
from($from[, $name = ''[, display name instance
1 CI_Email
$return_path = NULL]]) $return_path (string) − (method
Optional email address to chaining)
redirect undelivered e-mail
to

$replyto (string) − E-mail

CI_Email
address for replies
reply_to($replyto[, $name = instance
2 $name (string) − Display CI_Email
'']) (method
name for the reply-to e-mail
chaining)
address

CI_Email
$to (mixed) − Comma-
instance
2 to($to) delimited string or an array CI_Email
(method
of e-mail addresses
chaining)

CI_Email
$cc (mixed) − Comma-
instance
3 cc($cc) delimited string or an array CI_Email
(method
of e-mail addresses
chaining)

4 bcc($bcc[, $limit = '']) $bcc (mixed) − Comma- CI_Email CI_Email

delimited string or an array instance
of e-mail addresses (method
$limit (int) − Maximum chaining)
number of e-mails to send

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per batch

CI_Email
$subject (string) − E-mail instance
5 subject($subject) CI_Email
subject line (method
chaining)

CI_Email
$body (string) − E-mail instance
6 message($body) CI_Email
message body (method
chaining)

CI_Email
$str (string) − Alternative instance
7 set_alt_message($str) CI_Email
e-mail message body (method
chaining)

$header (string) − Header CI_Email

name instance
8 set_header($header, $value) CI_Email
$value (string) − Header (method
value chaining)

CI_Email
$clear_attachments (bool)
clear([$clear_attachments = instance
9 – Whether or not to clear CI_Email
FALSE]) (method
attachments
chaining)

CI_Email
$auto_clear (bool) −
instance
10 send([$auto_clear = TRUE]) Whether to clear message CI_Email
(method
data automatically
chaining)

$filename (string) − File

name
$disposition (string) −
‘disposition’ of the
attachment. Most email
clients make their own
attach($filename[, CI_Email
decision regardless of the
$disposition = ''[, instance
11 MIME specification used CI_Email
$newname = NULL[, $mime (method
here.iana
= '']]]) chaining)
$newname (string) −
Custom file name to use in
the e-mail
$mime (string) − MIME
type to use (useful for
buffered data)

12 attachment_cid($filename) $filename (string) − Attachment string

Existing attachment Content-ID
filename

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or FALSE if
not found

Sending an Email
To send an email using CodeIgniter, first you have to load email library using the following
−

$this->load->library('email');

After loading the library, simply execute the following functions to set necessary elements
to send an email. The from() function is used to set − from where the email is being sent
and to() function is used − to whom the email is being sent. The subject() and
message() function is used to set the subject and message of the email.

$this->email->from('[email protected]', 'Your Name');

$this->email->to('[email protected]');

$this->email->subject('Email Test');
$this->email->message('Testing the email class.');

After that, execute the send() function as shown below to send an email.

$this->email->send();

Example
Create a controller file Email_controller.php and save it in
application/controller/Email_controller.php.

<?php
class Email_controller extends CI_Controller {

function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
$this->load->library('session');
$this->load->helper('form');
}

public function index() {

$this->load->helper('form');

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$this->load->view('email_form');
}

public function send_mail() {

$from_email = "[email protected]";
$to_email = $this->input->post('email');

//Load email library

$this->load->library('email');

$this->email->from($from_email, 'Your Name');

$this->email->to($to_email);
$this->email->subject('Email Test');
$this->email->message('Testing the email class.');

//Send mail
if($this->email->send())
$this->session->set_flashdata("email_sent","Email sent successfully.");
else
$this->session->set_flashdata("email_sent","Error in sending Email.");
$this->load->view('email_form');
}
}
?>

Create a view file called email_form.php and save it at

application/views/email_form.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter Email Example</title>
</head>

<body>
<?php
echo $this->session->flashdata('email_sent');
echo form_open('/Email_controller/send_mail');
?>

<input type = "email" name = "email" required />

<input type = "submit" value = "SEND MAIL">

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<?php
echo form_close();
?>
</body>

</html>

Make the changes in the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php and add the
following line at the end of the file.

$route['email'] = 'Email_Controller';

Execute the above example by visiting the following link. Replace the yoursite.com with the
URL of your site.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/email

CodeIgniter - Form Validation

Validation is an important process while building web application. It ensures that the data
that we are getting is proper and valid to store or process. CodeIgniter has made this task
very easy. Let us understand this process with a simple example.

Example
Create a view file myform.php and save the below code it in
application/views/myform.php. This page will display form where user can submit his
name and we will validate this page to ensure that it should not be empty while submitting.

<html>

<head>
<title>My Form</title>
</head>

<body>
<form action = "" method = "">
<?php echo validation_errors(); ?>
<?php echo form_open('form'); ?>
<h5>Name</h5>
<input type = "text" name = "name" value = "" size = "50" />

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<div><input type = "submit" value = "Submit" /></div>

</form>
</body>

</html>

Create a view file formsuccess.php and save it in application/views/formsuccess.php.

This page will be displayed if the form is validated successfully.

<html>

<head>
<title>My Form</title>
</head>

<body>
<h3>Your form was successfully submitted!</h3>
<p><?php echo anchor('form', 'Try it again!'); ?></p>
</body>

</html>

Create a controller file Form.php and save it in application/controller/Form.php. This

form will either, show errors if it is not validated properly or redirected to
formsuccess.php page.

<?php

class Form extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

/* Load form helper */
$this->load->helper(array('form'));

/* Load form validation library */

$this->load->library('form_validation');

/* Set validation rule for name field in the form */

$this->form_validation->set_rules('name', 'Name', 'required');

if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE) {
$this->load->view('myform');
}
else {

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$this->load->view('formsuccess');
}
}
}
?>

Add the following line in application/config/routes.php.

$route['validation'] = 'Form';

Let us execute this example by visiting the following URL in the browser. This URL may be
different based on your site.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/validation

It will produce the following screen −

We have added a validation in the controller − Name is required field before submitting the
form. So, if you click the submit button without entering anything in the name field, then
you will be asked to enter the name before submitting as shown in the screen below.

After entering the name successfully, you will be redirected to the screen as shown below.

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In the above example, we have used the required rule setting. There are many rules
available in the CodeIgniter, which are described below.

Validation Rule Reference

The following is a list of all the native rules that are available to use −

Given below are the most commonly used list of native rules available to use.

Rule Parameter Description Example

required Returns FALSE if the

No
form element is empty.

Returns FALSE if the

matches form element does not
Yes matches[form_item]
match the one in the
parameter.

Returns FALSE if the

regex_match form element does not
Yes regex_match[/regex/]
match the regular
expression.

Returns FALSE if the

differs form element does not
Yes differs[form_item]
differ from the one in
the parameter.

Returns FALSE if the

form element is not
unique to the table and
is_unique field name in the
Yes is_unique[table.field]
parameter. Note − This
rule requires Query
Builder to be enabled
in order to work.

Returns FALSE if the

min_length form element is
Yes min_length[3]
shorter than the
parameter value.

Returns FALSE if the

max_length form element is longer
Yes max_length[12]
than the parameter
value.

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Returns FALSE if the

exact_length form element is not
Yes exact_length[8]
exactly the parameter
value.

Returns FALSE if the

form element is less
greater_than Yes than or equal to the greater_than[8]
parameter value or not
numeric.

Returns FALSE if the

greater_than_equal_to form element is less
Yes greater_than_equal_to[8]
than the parameter
value, or not numeric.

Returns FALSE if the

form element is greater
less_than Yes than or equal to the less_than[8]
parameter value or not
numeric.

Returns FALSE if the

less_than_equal_to form element is greater
Yes less_than_equal_to[8]
than the parameter
value, or not numeric.

Returns FALSE if the

in_list form element is not
Yes in_list[red,blue,green]
within a predetermined
list.

Returns FALSE if the

alpha form element contains
No
anything other than
alphabetical characters.

Returns FALSE if the

form element contains
alpha_numeric No anything other than
alphanumeric
characters.

Returns FALSE if the

form element contains
anything other than
alpha_numeric_spaces alphanumeric
No
characters or spaces.
Should be used after
trim to avoid spaces at
the beginning or end

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Returns FALSE if the

form element contains
anything other than
alpha_dash No alphanumeric
characters,
underscores or
dashes.

Returns FALSE if the

numeric form element contains
No
anything other than
numeric characters.

Returns FALSE if the

integer form element contains
No
anything other than an
integer.

Returns FALSE if the

decimal form element contains
No
anything other than a
decimal number.

Returns FALSE if the

form element contains
is_natural No anything other than a
natural number − 0, 1,
2, 3, etc.

Returns FALSE if the

form element contains
is_natural_no_zero No anything other than a
natural number, but
not zero − 1, 2, 3, etc.

Returns FALSE if the

valid_url No form element does not
contain a valid URL.

Returns FALSE if the

valid_email form element does not
No
contain a valid email
address.

Returns FALSE if any

valid_emails value provided in a
No
comma-separated list
is not a valid email.

valid_ip No Returns FALSE if the

supplied IP is not valid.

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Accepts an optional
parameter of ‘ipv4’ or
‘ipv6’ to specify an IP
format.

Returns FALSE if the

supplied string
valid_base64 No contains anything
other than valid
Base64 characters.

CodeIgniter - Session Management

When building websites, we often need to track user’s activity and state and for this
purpose, we have to use session. CodeIgniter has session class for this purpose.

Initializing a Session
Sessions data are available globally through the site but to use those data we first need to
initialize the session. We can do that by executing the following line in constructor.

$this->load->library('session');

After loading the session library, you can simply use the session object as shown below.

$this->session

Add Session Data

In PHP, we simply use $_SESSION array to set any data in session as shown below.

$_SESSION[‘key’] = value;

Where ‘key’ is the key of array and value is assigned on right side of equal to sign.

The same thing can be done in CodeIgniter as shown below.

$this->session->set_userdata('some_name', 'some_value');

set_userdata() function takes two arguments. The first argument, some_name, is the
name of the session variable, under which, some_value will be stored.

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set_userdata() function also supports another syntax in which you can pass array to
store values as shown below.

$newdata = array(
'username' => 'johndoe',
'email' => '[email protected]',
'logged_in' => TRUE
);

$this->session->set_userdata($newdata);

Remove Session Data

In PHP, we can remove data stored in session using the unset() function as shown below.

unset($_SESSION[‘some_name’]);

Removing session data in CodeIgniter is very simple as shown below. The below version of
unset_userdata() function will remove only one variable from session.

$this->session->unset_userdata('some_name');

If you want to remove more values from session or to remove an entire array you can
use the below version of unset_userdata() function.

$this->session->unset_userdata($array_items);

Fetch Session Data

After setting data in session, we can also retrieve that data as shown below. Userdata()
function will be used for this purpose. This function will return NULL if the data you are
trying to access is not available.

$name = $this->session->userdata('name');

Example
Create a controller class called Session_controller.php and save it in
application/controller/Session_controller.php.

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<?php
class Session_controller extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

//loading session library
$this->load->library('session');

//adding data to session

$this->session->set_userdata('name','virat');

$this->load->view('session_view');
}

public function unset_session_data() {

//loading session library
$this->load->library('session');

//removing session data

$this->session->unset_userdata('name');
$this->load->view('session_view');
}

}
?>

Create a view file called session_view.php and save it in

application/views/session_view.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter Session Example</title>
</head>

<body>
Welcome <?php echo $this->session->userdata('name'); ?>
<br>
<a href = 'http://localhost:85/CodeIgniter-3.0.1/CodeIgniter3.0.1/index.php/s
Click Here</a> to unset session data.
</body>

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</html>

Make the changes in the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php and add the
following line at the end of the file.

$route['sessionex'] = 'Session_Controller';

Execute the above example by using the following address. Replace yoursite.com with
the URL of your site.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/sessionex

CodeIgniter - Flashdata
While building web application, we need to store some data for only one time and after
that we want to remove that data. For example, to display some error message or
information message. In PHP, we have to do it manually but CodeIgniter has made this job
simple for us. In CodeIgniter, flashdata will only be available until the next request, and it
will get deleted automatically.

Add Flashdata
We can simply store flashdata as shown below.

$this->session->mark_as_flash('item');

mark_as_flash() function is used for this purpose, which takes only one
argument of the value to be stored. We can also pass an array to store multiple
values.

set_flashdata() function can also be used, which takes two arguments, name
and value, as shown below. We can also pass an array.

$this->session->set_flashdata('item','value');

Retrieve Flashdata
Flashdata can be retrieved using the flashdata() function which takes one argument of the
item to be fetched as shown below. flashdata() function makes sure that you are getting
only flash data and not any other data.

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$this->session->flashdata('item');

If you do not pass any argument, then you can get an array with the same function.

Example

Create a class called FlashData_Controller.php and save it at

application/controller/FlashData_Controller.php.

<?php
class FlashData_Controller extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

//Load session library
$this->load->library('session');

//redirect to home page

$this->load->view('flashdata_home');
}

public function add() {

//Load session library
$this->load->library('session');
$this->load->helper('url');

//add flash data

$this->session->set_flashdata('item','item-value');

//redirect to home page

redirect('flashdata');
}
}
?>

Create a view file called flashdata_home.php and save it in application/views/

flashdata_home.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter Flashdata Example</title>

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</head>

<body>
Flash Data Example
<h2><?php echo $this->session->flashdata('item'); ?></h2>
<a href = 'flashdata/add'>Click Here</a> to add flash data.
</body>

</html>

Make the changes in the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php and add the
following line at the end of the file.

$route['flashdata'] = 'FlashData_Controller';
$route['flashdata/add'] = 'FlashData_Controller/add';

Execute the above example by visiting the following link. Replace the yoursite.com with the
URL of your site.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/flashdata

After visiting the above URL, you will see a screen as shown below.

Click on “Click Here” link and you will see a screen as shown below. Here, in this screen
you will see a value of flash data variable. Refresh the page again and you will see a screen
like above and flash data variable will be removed automatically.

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CodeIgniter - Tempdata
In some situations, where you want to remove data stored in session after some specific
time-period, this can be done using tempdata functionality in CodeIgniter.

Add Tempdata
To add data as tempdata, we have to use mark_as_tempdata() function. This function
takes two argument items or items to be stored as tempdata and the expiration time for
those items are as shown below.

// 'item' will be erased after 300 seconds(5 minutes)

$this->session->mark_as_temp('item',300);

You can also pass an array to store multiple data. All the items stored below will be expired
after 300 seconds.

$this->session->mark_as_temp(array('item','item2'),300);

You can also set different expiration time for each item as shown below.

// 'item' will be erased after 300 seconds, while 'item2'

// will do so after only 240 seconds

$this->session->mark_as_temp(array(
'item'=>300,
'item2'=>240
));

Retrieve Tempdata
We can retrieve the tempdata using tempdata() function. This function assures that you
are getting only tempdata and not any other data. Look at the example given below to
see how to retrieve tempdata. tempdata() function will take one argument of the item to
be fetched.

$this->session->tempdata('item');

If you omit the argument, then you can retrieve all the existing tempdata.

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Remove Tempdata
Tempdata is removed automatically after its expiration time but if you want to remove
tempdata before that, then you can do as shown below using the unset_tempdata()
function, which takes one argument of the item to be removed.

$this->session->unset_tempdata('item');

Example
Create a class called Tempdata_controller.php and save it in
application/controller/Tempdata_controller.php.

<?php
class Tempdata_controller extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

$this->load->library('session');
$this->load->view('tempdata_view');
}

public function add() {

$this->load->library('session');
$this->load->helper('url');

//tempdata will be removed after 5 seconds

$this->session->set_tempdata('item','item-value',5);

redirect('tempdata');
}
}
?>

Create a file called tempdata_view.php and save it in

application/views/tempdata_view.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter Tempdata Example</title>

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</head>

<body>
Temp Data Example
<h2><?php echo $this->session->tempdata('item'); ?></h2>
<a href = 'tempdata/add'>Click Here</a> to add temp data.
</body>

</html>

Make the changes in the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php and add the
following line at the end of the file.

$route['tempdata'] = "Tempdata_controller";
$route['tempdata/add'] = "Tempdata_controller/add";

Execute the above example by visiting the following link. Replace the yoursite.com with the
URL of your site.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/tempdata

After visiting the above URL, you will see a screen as shown below.

Click on “Click Here” link and you will see a screen as shown below.

Here, in this screen you will see a value of temp data variable. Refresh the same page after
five seconds again as we have set the temp data for five seconds and you will see a
screen like above and temp data variable will be removed automatically after five seconds.
If you refresh the same page before 5 seconds, then the temp data will not be removed,
as the time period is not over.

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Destroying a Session
In PHP, we are using the session_destroy() function to destroy the session and in
CodeIgniter we can destroy the function as shown below.

$this->session->sess_destroy();

After calling this function, all the session data including the flashdata and tempdata will be
deleted permanently and cannot be retrieved back.

CodeIgniter - Cookie Management

Cookie is a small piece of data sent from web server to store on client’s computer.
CodeIgniter has one helper called “Cookie Helper” for cookie management.

set_cookie($name[, $value = ''[, $expire = ''[, $domain = ''[,

Syntax $path = '/'[, $prefix = ''[, $secure = FALSE[, $httponly =
FALSE]]]]]]]])

Parameters

$name (mixed) − Cookie name or associative array of all of

the parameters available to this function

$value (string) − Cookie value

$expire (int) − Number of seconds until expiration

$domain (string) − Cookie domain (usually:

.yourdomain.com)

$path (string) − Cookie path

$prefix (string) − Cookie name prefix

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$secure (bool) − Whether to only send the cookie through

HTTPS

$httponly (bool) − Whether to hide the cookie from

JavaScript

Return Type void

In the set_cookie() function, we can pass all the values using two ways. In the first way,
only array can be passed and in the second way, individual parameters can also be passed.

Syntax get_cookie($index[, $xss_clean = NULL]])

$index (string) − Cookie name

Parameters
$xss_clean (bool) − Whether to apply XSS filtering to the
returned value

Return The cookie value or NULL if not found

Return Type mixed

The get_cookie() function is used to get the cookie that has been set using the
set_cookie() function.

Syntax delete_cookie($name[, $domain = ''[, $path = '/'[, $prefix = '']]]])

$name (string) − Cookie name

$domain (string) − Cookie domain (usually:

Parameters .yourdomain.com)

$path (string) − Cookie path

$prefix (string) − Cookie name prefix

Return Type void

The delete_cookie() function is used to delete the cookie().

Example
Create a controller called Cookie_controller.php and save it at
application/controller/Cookie_controller.php

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<?php
class Cookie_controller extends CI_Controller {

function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
$this->load->helper(array('cookie', 'url'));
}

public function index() {

set_cookie('cookie_name','cookie_value','3600');
$this->load->view('Cookie_view');
}

public function display_cookie() {

echo get_cookie('cookie_name');
$this->load->view('Cookie_view');
}

public function deletecookie() {

delete_cookie('cookie_name');
redirect('cookie/display');
}

}
?>

Create a view file called Cookie_view.php and save it at

application/views/Cookie_view.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter View Example</title>
</head>

<body>
<a href = 'display'>Click Here</a> to view the cookie.<br>
<a href = 'delete'>Click Here</a> to delete the cookie.
</body>

</html>

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Change the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php to add route for the above
controller and add the following line at the end of the file.

$route['cookie'] = "Cookie_controller";
$route['cookie/display'] = "Cookie_controller/display_cookie";
$route['cookie/delete'] = "Cookie_controller/deletecookie";

After that, you can execute the following URL in the browser to execute the example.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/cookie

It will produce an output as shown in the following screenshot.

CodeIgniter - Common Functions

CodeIgniter library functions and helper functions need to be initialized before they are
used but there are some common functions, which do not need to be initialized.

These common functions and their descriptions are given below.

Syntax is_php($version)

Parameters $version (string) − Version number

TRUE if the running PHP version is at least the one specified or FALSE
Return
if not

Return Type void

Determines if the PHP version being used is greater than the supplied
Description
version number.

Syntax is_really_writable($file)

Parameters $file (string) − File path

Return TRUE if the path is writable, FALSE if not

Return Type bool

Description checks to see if file is writable or not.

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Syntax config_item($key)

Parameters $key (string) − Config item key

Return Configuration key value or NULL if not found

Return Type mixed

Description This function is used to get the configuration item

Syntax set_status_header($code[, $text = ''])

$code (int) − HTTP Response status code

Parameters
$text (string) − A custom message to set with the status code

Return

Return Type void

Description This function permits you to manually set a server status header.

Syntax remove_invisible_characters($str[, $url_encoded = TRUE])

$str (string) − Input string

Parameters $url_encoded (bool) − Whether to remove URLencoded
characters as well

Return Sanitized string

Return Type string

This function prevents inserting NULL characters between ASCII

Description
characters

Syntax html_escape($var)

Parameters $var (mixed) − Variable to escape (string or array)

Return HTML escaped string(s)

Return Type mixed

Description This function acts as a native PHP htmlspecialchars() function.

Syntax get_mimes()

Return An associative array of file types

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Return Type array

This function returns a reference to the MIMEs array from

Description
application/config/mimes.php.

Syntax is_https()

Return TRUE if currently using HTTP-over-SSL, FALSE if not

Return Type bool

Returns TRUE if a secure (HTTPS) connection is used and FALSE in

Description
any other case (including non-HTTP requests).

Syntax is_cli()

Return TRUE if currently running under CLI, FALSE otherwise

Return Type bool

Returns TRUE if the application is run through the command line and
Description
FALSE if not.

Syntax function_usable($function_name)

Parameters $function_name (string) − Function name

Return Type bool

Description Returns TRUE if a function exists and is usable, FALSE otherwise.

Given below is an example, which demonstrates all of the above functions.

Example
Here we have created only one controller in which we will use the above functions. Copy
the below given code and save it at
application/controller/CommonFun_Controller.php.

<?php
class CommonFun_Controller extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

set_status_header(200);
echo is_php('5.3')."<br>";

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var_dump(is_really_writable('./Form.php'));

echo config_item('language')."<br>";
echo remove_invisible_characters('This is a ‌
test','UTF8')."<br>";

$str = '< This > is \' a " test & string';

echo html_escape($str)."<br>";
echo "is_https():".var_dump(is_https())."<br>";
echo "is_cli():".var_dump(is_cli())."<br>";

var_dump(function_usable('test'))."<br>";
echo "get_mimes():".print_r(get_mimes())."<br>";
}

public function test() {

echo "Test function";
}

}
?>

Change the routes.php file at application/config/routes.php to add route for the above
controller and add the following line at the end of the file.

$route['commonfunctions'] = 'CommonFun_Controller';

Type the following URL in the address bar of your browser to execute the example.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/commonfunctions

CodeIgniter - Page Caching

Caching a page will improve the page load speed. If the page is cached, then it will be
stored in its fully rendered state. Next time, when the server gets a request for the cached
page, it will be directly sent to the requested browser.

Cached files are stored in application/cache folder. Caching can be enabled on per page
basis. While enabling the cache, we need to set the time, until which it needs to remain in
cached folder and after that period, it will be deleted automatically.

Enable Caching
Caching can be enabled by executing the following line in any of the controller’s method.

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$this->output->cache($n);

Where $n is the number of minutes, you wish the page to remain cached between
refreshes.

Disable Caching
Cache file gets deleted when it expires but when you want to delete it manually, then you
have to disable it. You can disable the caching by executing the following line.

// Deletes cache for the currently requested URI

$this->output->delete_cache();

// Deletes cache for /foo/bar

$this->output->delete_cache('/foo/bar');

Example
Create a controller called Cache_controller.php and save it in
application/controller/Cache_controller.php

<?php
class Cache_controller extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

$this->output->cache(1);
$this->load->view('test');
}

public function delete_file_cache() {

$this->output->delete_cache('cachecontroller');
}
}
?>

Create a view file called test.php and save it in application/views/test.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">

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<title>CodeIgniter View Example</title>

</head>

<body>
CodeIgniter View Example
</body>

</html>

Change the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php to add route for the above
controller and add the following line at the end of the file.

$route['cachecontroller'] = 'Cache_controller';
$route['cachecontroller/delete'] = 'Cache_controller/delete_file_cache';

Type the following URL in the browser to execute the example.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/cachecontroller

After visiting the above URL, you will see that a cache file for this will be created in
application/cache folder. To delete the file, visit the following URL.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/cachecontroller/delete

CodeIgniter - Page Redirection

While building web application, we often need to redirect the user from one page to
another page. CodeIgniter makes this job easy for us. The redirect() function is used for
this purpose.

Syntax redirect($uri = '', $method = 'auto', $code = NULL)

$uri (string) − URI string

Parameters $method (string) − Redirect method (‘auto’, ‘location’ or

‘refresh’)

$code (string) − HTTP Response code (usually 302 or 303)

Return type void

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The first argument can have two types of URI. We can pass full site URL or URI segments
to the controller you want to direct.

The second optional parameter can have any of the three values from auto, location or
refresh. The default is auto.

The third optional parameter is only available with location redirects and it allows you to
send specific HTTP response code.

Example
Create a controller called Redirect_controller.php and save it in
application/controller/Redirect_controller.php

<?php
class Redirect_controller extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

/*Load the URL helper*/
$this->load->helper('url');

/*Redirect the user to some site*/

redirect('https://www.tutorialspoint.com');
}

public function computer_graphics() {

/*Load the URL helper*/
$this->load->helper('url');
redirect('https://www.tutorialspoint.com/computer_graphics/index.htm');
}

public function version2() {

/*Load the URL helper*/
$this->load->helper('url');

/*Redirect the user to some internal controller’s method*/

redirect('redirect/computer_graphics');
}

}
?>

Change the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php to add route for the above
controller and add the following line at the end of the file.

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$route['redirect'] = 'Redirect_controller';
$route['redirect/version2'] = 'Redirect_controller/version2';
$route['redirect/computer_graphics'] = 'Redirect_controller/computer_graphics';

Type the following URL in the browser, to execute the example.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/redirect

The above URL will redirect you to the tutorialspoint.com website and if you visit the
following URL, then it will redirect you to the computer graphics tutorial at
tutorialspoint.com.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/redirect/computer_graphics

CodeIgniter - Application Profiling

When building a web application, we are very much concerned about the performance of
the website in terms of how much time the controller took to execute and how much
memory is used. Not only the performance, but we also need to see the insights of data
like POST data, data of database queries, session data etc. for debugging purpose while
developing some application. CodeIgniter has made this job easier for us by profiling an
application.

Enable Profiling
To enable profiling of your application, simply execute the command given below in any of
the method of your controller.

$this->output->enable_profiler(TRUE);

The report of the profiling can be seen at the bottom of the page after enabling it.

Disable Profiling
To disable profiling of your application, simply execute the command given below in any of
the method of your controller.

$this->output->enable_profiler(FALSE);

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Enable / Disable Profiler Section

Profiling can be done on section basis. You can enable or disable profiling of a section by
setting a Boolean value TRUE or FALSE. If you want to set profiling on the application then
you can do in a file located in application/config/profiler.php

For example, the following command will enable profiling queries for the whole application.

$config['queries'] = TRUE;

In the following table, the key is the parameter, which can be set in the config array to
enable or disable a particular profile.

Key Description Default

Elapsed time of Benchmark points and total execution

benchmarks TRUE
time

config CodeIgniterConfig variables TRUE

controller_info The Controller class and method requested TRUE

get Any GET data passed in the request TRUE

http_headers The HTTP headers for the current request TRUE

Amount of memory consumed by the current

memory_usage TRUE
request, in bytes

post Any POST data passed in the request TRUE

Listing of all database queries executed, including

queries TRUE
execution time

uri_string The URI of the current request TRUE

session_data Data stored in the current session TRUE

The number of queries after which the query block will

query_toggle_count 25
default to hidden.

The profiler set in the file in application/config/profiler.php can be overridden by using

the set_profiler_sections() function in controllers as shown below.

$sections = array(
'config' => TRUE,

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'queries' => TRUE

);

$this->output->set_profiler_sections($sections);

CodeIgniter - Benchmarking
Setting Benchmark Points
If you want to measure the time taken to execute a set of lines or memory usage, you
can calculate it by using Benchmarking points in CodeIgniter. There is a separate
“Benchmarking” class for this purpose in CodeIgniter.

This class is loaded automatically; you do not have to load it. It can be used anywhere in
your controller, view, and model classes. All you have to do is to mark a start point and
end point and then execute the elapsed_time() function between these two marked
points and you can get the time it took to execute that code as shown below.

<?php
$this->benchmark->mark('code_start');

// Some code happens here

$this->benchmark->mark('code_end');

echo $this->benchmark->elapsed_time('code_start', 'code_end');

?>

To display the memory usage, use the function memory_usage() as shown in the
following code.

<?php
echo $this->benchmark->memory_usage();
?>

Example
Create a controller called Profiler_controller.php and save it in
application/controller/Profiler_controller.php

<?php
class Profiler_controller extends CI_Controller {

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public function index() {

//enable profiler
$this->output->enable_profiler(TRUE);
$this->load->view('test');
}

public function disable() {

//disable profiler
$this->output->enable_profiler(FALSE);
$this->load->view('test');
}

}
?>

Create a view file called test.php and save it at application/views/test.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter View Example</title>
</head>

<body>
CodeIgniter View Example
</body>

</html>

Change the routes.php file at application/config/routes.php to add route for the above
controller and add the following line at the end of the file.

$route['profiler'] = "Profiler_controller";
$route['profiler/disable'] = "Profiler_controller/disable"

After that, you can type the following URL in the address bar of your browser to execute
the example.

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http://yoursite.com/index.php/profiler

The above URL will enable the profiler and it will produce an output as shown in the
following screenshot.

To disable the profiling, execute the following URL.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/profiler/disable

CodeIgniter - Adding JS & CSS

Adding JavaScript and CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) file in CodeIgniter is very simple. You
have to create JS and CSS folder in root directory and copy all the .js files in JS folder and
.css files in CSS folder as shown in the figure.

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For example, let us assume, you have created one JavaScript file sample.js and one CSS
file style.css. Now, to add these files into your views, load URL helper in your controller as
shown below.

$this->load->helper('url');

After loading the URL helper in controller, simply add the below given lines in the view file,
to load the sample.js and style.css file in the view as shown below.

<link rel = "stylesheet" type = "text/css"

href = "<?php echo base_url(); ?>css/style.css">

<script type = 'text/javascript' src = "<?php echo base_url();

?>js/sample.js"></script>

Example
Create a controller called Test.php and save it in application/controller/Test.php

<?php
class Test extends CI_Controller {

public function index() {

$this->load->helper('url');
$this->load->view('test');
}

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}
?>

Create a view file called test.php and save it at application/views/test.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter View Example</title>
<link rel = "stylesheet" type = "text/css"
href = "<?php echo base_url(); ?>css/style.css">
<script type = 'text/javascript' src = "<?php echo base_url();
?>js/sample.js"></script>
</head>

<body>
<a href = 'javascript:test()'>Click Here</a> to execute the javascript functi
</body>

</html>

Create a CSS file called style.css and save it at css/style.css

body {
background:#000;
color:#FFF;
}

Create a JS file called sample.js and save it at js/sample.js

function test() {
alert('test');
}

Change the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php to add route for the above
controller and add the following line at the end of the file.

$route['profiler'] = "Profiler_controller";
$route['profiler/disable'] = "Profiler_controller/disable"

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Use the following URL in the browser to execute the above example.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/test

CodeIgniter - Internationalization
The language class in CodeIgniter provides an easy way to support multiple languages for
internationalization. To some extent, we can use different language files to display text in
many different languages.

We can put different language files in application/language directory. System language files
can be found at system/language directory, but to add your own language to your
application, you should create a separate folder for each language in application/language
directory.

Creating files Language

To create a language file, you must end it with _lang.php. For example, you want to
create a language file for French language, then you must save it with french_lang.php.
Within this file you can store all your language texts in key, value combination in $lang
array as shown below.

$lang[‘key’] = ‘val’;

Loading Language file

To use any of the language in your application, you must first load the file of that particular
language to retrieve various texts stored in that file. You can use the following code to load
the language file.

$this->lang->load('filename', 'language');

filename − It is the name of file you want to load. Don’t use extension of file here
but only name of file.

Language − It is the language set containing it.

Fetching Language Text

To fetch a line from the language file simply execute the following code.

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$this->lang->line('language_key');

Where language_key is the key parameter used to fetch value of the key in the loaded
language file.

Autoload Languages
If you need some language globally, then you can autoload it in
application/config/autoload.php file as shown below.

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Auto-load Language files
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Prototype:
| $autoload['config'] = array('config1', 'config2');
|
| NOTE: Do not include the "_lang" part of your file. For example
| "codeigniter_lang.php" would be referenced as array('codeigniter');
|
*/
$autoload['language'] = array();

Simply, pass the different languages to be autoloaded by CodeIgniter.

Example

Create a controller called Lang_controller.php and save it in

application/controller/Lang_controller.php

<?php
class Lang_controller extends CI_Controller {

public function index(){

//Load form helper
$this->load->helper('form');

//Get the selected language

$language = $this->input->post('language');

//Choose language file according to selected lanaguage

if($language == "french")
$this->lang->load('french_lang','french');
else if($language == "german")

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$this->lang->load('german_lang','german');
else
$this->lang->load('english_lang','english');

//Fetch the message from language file.

$data['msg'] = $this->lang->line('msg');

$data['language'] = $language;
//Load the view file
$this->load->view('lang_view',$data);
}
}
?>

Create a view file called lang_view.php and save it at application/views/

lang_view.php

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang = "en">

<head>
<meta charset = "utf-8">
<title>CodeIgniter Internationalization Example</title>
</head>

<body>
<?php
echo form_open('/lang');
?>

<select name = "language" onchange = "javascript:this.form.submit();">

<?php
$lang = array('english'=>"English",'french'=>"French",'german'=>"German

foreach($lang as $key=>$val) {
if($key == $language)
echo "<option value = '".$key."' selected>".$val."</option>";
else
echo "<option value = '".$key."'>".$val."</option>";
}

?>

</select>

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<br>

<?php
form_close();
echo $msg;
?>

</body>

</html>

Create three folders called English, French, and German in application/language as

shown in the figure below.

Copy the below given code and save it in english_lang.php file in

application/language/english folder.

<?php
$lang['msg'] = "CodeIgniter Internationalization example.";
?>

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Copy the below given code and save it in french_lang.php file in

application/language/French folder.

<?php
$lang['msg'] = "Exemple CodeIgniter internationalisation.";
?>

Copy the below given code and save it in german_lang.php file in

application/language/german folder.

<?php
$lang['msg'] = "CodeIgniter Internationalisierung Beispiel.";
?>

Change the routes.php file in application/config/routes.php to add route for the above
controller and add the following line at the end of the file.

$route['lang'] = "Lang_controller";

Execute the following URL in the browser to execute the above example.

http://yoursite.com/index.php/lang

It will produce an output as shown in the following screenshot. If you change the language
in the dropdown list, the language of the sentence written below the dropdown will also
change accordingly.

CodeIgniter - Security
XSS Prevention
XSS means cross-site scripting. CodeIgniter comes with XSS filtering security. This filter will
prevent any malicious JavaScript code or any other code that attempts to hijack cookie
and do malicious activities. To filter data through the XSS filter, use the xss_clean()
method as shown below.

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$data = $this->security->xss_clean($data);

You should use this function only when you are submitting data. The optional second
Boolean parameter can also be used to check image file for XSS attack. This is useful for
file upload facility. If its value is true, means image is safe and not otherwise.

SQL Injection Prevention

SQL injection is an attack made on database query. In PHP, we are use
mysql_real_escape_string() function to prevent this along with other techniques but
CodeIgniter provides inbuilt functions and libraries to prevent this.

We can prevent SQL Injection in CodeIgniter in the following three ways −

Escaping Queries

Query Biding

Active Record Class

Escaping Queries

<?php
$username = $this->input->post('username');
$query = 'SELECT * FROM subscribers_tbl WHERE user_name = '.
$this->db->escape($email);
$this->db->query($query);
?>

$this->db->escape() function automatically adds single quotes around the data and
determines the data type so that it can escape only string data.

Query Biding

<?php
$sql = "SELECT * FROM some_table WHERE id = ? AND status = ? AND author = ?";
$this->db->query($sql, array(3, 'live', 'Rick'));
?>

In the above example, the question mark(?) will be replaced by the array in the second
parameter of query() function. The main advantage of building query this way is that the

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values are automatically escaped which produce safe queries. CodeIgniter engine does it
for you automatically, so you do not have to remember it.

Active Record Class

<?php
$this->db->get_where('subscribers_tbl',array
('status'=> active','email' => '[email protected]'));
?>

Using active records, query syntax is generated by each database adapter. It also allows
safer queries, since the values escape automatically.

Hiding PHP Errors

In production environment, we often do not want to display any error message to the
users. It is good if it is enabled in the development environment for debugging purposes.
These error messages may contain some information, which we should not show to the
site users for security reasons.

There are three CodeIgniter files related with errors.

PHP Error Reporting Level

Different environment requires different levels of error reporting. By default, development

will show errors but testing and live will hide them. There is a file called index.php in root
directory of CodeIgniter, which is used for this purpose. If we pass zero as argument to
error_reporting() function then that will hide all the errors.

Database Error
Even if you have turned off the PHP errors, MySQL errors are still open. You can turn this
off in application/config/database.php. Set the db_debug option in $db array to
FALSE as shown below.

$db['default']['db_debug'] = FALSE;

Error log

Another way is to transfer the errors to log files. So, it will not be displayed to users on the
site. Simply, set the log_threshold value in $config array to 1 in
application/cofig/config.php file as shown below.

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$config['log_threshold'] = 1;

CSRF Prevention
CSRF stands for cross-site request forgery. You can prevent this attack by enabling it in
the application/config/config.php file as shown below.

$config['csrf_protection'] = TRUE;

When you are creating form using form_open() function, it will automatically insert a
CSRF as hidden field. You can also manually add the CSRF using the
get_csrf_token_name() and get_csrf_hash() function. The get_csrf_token_name()
function will return the name of the CSRF and get_csrf_hash() will return the hash value
of CSRF.

The CSRF token can be regenerated every time for submission or you can also keep it
same throughout the life of CSRF cookie. By setting the value TRUE, in config array with
key ‘csrf_regenerate’ will regenerate token as shown below.

$config['csrf_regenerate'] = TRUE;

You can also whitelist URLs from CSRF protection by setting it in the config array using the
key ‘csrf_exclude_uris’ as shown below. You can also use regular expression.

$config['csrf_exclude_uris'] = array('api/person/add');

Password Handling
Many developers do not know how to handle password in web applications, which is
probably why numerous hackers find it so easy to break into the systems. One should
keep in mind the following points while handling passwords −

DO NOT store passwords in plain-text format.

Always hash your passwords.

DO NOT use Base64 or similar encoding for storing passwords.

DO NOT use weak or broken hashing algorithms like MD5 or SHA1. Only use strong
password hashing algorithms like BCrypt, which is used in PHP’s own Password
Hashing functions.

DO NOT ever display or send a password in plain-text format.

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DO NOT put unnecessary limits on your users’ passwords.

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