CodeIgniter Tutorial

CodeIgniter is a powerful PHP framework with a very small footprint, built for
developers who need a simple and elegant toolkit to create full-featured web
applications.

CodeIgniter was created by EllisLab, and is now a project of the British Columbia
Institute of Technology.

Prerequisites
Before you start proceeding with this tutorial, we assume that you are already exposed to HTML,
Core PHP, and Advance PHP. We have used CodeIgniter version 3.0.1 in all the
examples.
 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
  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
o There are two different options legacy and latest. The names itself are self descriptive.
legacy has version less than 2.x and latest has 3.0 version.
o We can also go with GitHub and get all of the latest scripts..
  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., [Link].
On visiting the URL, you will see the following screen −
 CodeIgniter - Application Architecture
The architecture of CodeIgniter application is shown below.

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

to [Link] 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.

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 [Link] file, user can configure the
application. Using [Link] 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.
 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
contains CodeIgniter core codes, libraries, helpers and
This folder
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 “[Link]”. In this
file, we can set the application environment and error level and we can define system
and 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

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, [Link] and [Link]. These files come with the
CodeIgniter.
Keep these files as they are. Create a new file under the same path named “[Link]”. 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 −
[Link]
Notice the word “test” in the above URI after [Link]. This indicates the class name of controller. As we have given the name of
the controller “Test”, we are writing “test” after the [Link]. 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 −
[Link]
Creating & Calling Constructor Method
Let us modify the above class and create another method named “hello”.
<?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 −

 [Link]
 [Link]
 [Link]
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.

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 “[Link]”
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/[Link] file as shown in the below.
Loading the View
The view can be loaded by the following syntax −
$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 “[Link]” file under application/views/[Link].
<?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 −

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.
<?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');
*/
$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.
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 −
[Link]/class/method/id/
 The first segment represents the controller class that should be invoked.
 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/[Link]. 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

1
$route['default_controller']
This route indicates which controller class should be loaded, if the URI contains
no 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.

2
$route['404_override']
This route indicates which controller class should be loaded if the requested
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.

3
$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
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.
 (: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.