Lazy coding - efficiency functions

[spikeZ]

After getting thoroughly fed up with typeing $_POST, $_GET, $_SESSION etc I wrote some lazy functions to save typing!

function P($var) {
    return $_POST[$var];
}

function G($var) {
    return $_GET[$var];
}

function R($var) {
    return $_REQUEST[$var];
}

function S($var) {
    return $_SESSION[$var];
}

// usage:
// assuming you have a form with an input called myFieldName 
echo P('myFieldName');
echo R('myFieldName'); 

how lazy is that?!

[Raju Gautam]

Yes, must help on typing. One more for cookie:

function C($var) {
    return $_COOKIE[$var];
}

Lol!

[Jake Arkinstall]

Nice one! What about this:

function make_life_easy(){
   $p =& $_POST;
   $g =& $_GET;
   $r =& $_REQUEST;
   $s =& $_SESSION;
}
function P($var) {
    return $_POST[$var];
}

function G($var) {
    return $_GET[$var];
}

function R($var) {
    return $_REQUEST[$var];
}

function S($var) {
    return $_SESSION[$var];
}
echo P('myFieldName');
echo R('myFieldName');
//or, if you want to fetch the whole array:
make_life_easy();
print_r($p); 

or, even better:

<?
function make_life_easy($scale){
   if($scale <= 1){
      winning_lottery_ticket->send($me);
   }else{
      bill_gates_inheritance->send($me);
      order_assassin(&$bill);
   }
}
make_life_easy(2);
?>

[spikeZ]

so it's not just me!

One for the javascript.....

function $(id){
    return document.getElementById(id);
}

[Jake Arkinstall]

did you take that from jquery?

[spikeZ]

No, it forms part of an AJAX routine for separating GET and POST queries so that I can reuse the same methods etc for any form.

It's what gave me the thought of the php functions

[Jake Arkinstall]

ah - handy.

Hey, I've always wondered, how did you make that cool Avatar?

[spikeZ]

Photoshop - using the pen tool, alot of patience and a few layers
Each spike is individually 'pulled' out of the original vector circle with points and the eyes have 3 different vector layers as well!

[MadMike]

you have to type it more than once? Put it into a function, thats my rule

[trib4lmaniac]

I don't think I'd ever use these functions, but the most annoying thing about superglobals is checking whether an item exists.

function P($var) {
    return isset($_POST[$var]) ? $_POST[$var] : null;
} 

And don't forget about convenience functions like filter_input provided for you by the PHP team.

[Jake Arkinstall]

That's being improved in PHP6 - you'll only need to do:

$var = isset($_POST['var']) ?: null; 

You can still assign values to the first field if you want, though.

[logic_earth]

extract($_POST, EXTR_PREFIX_ALL, 'p');
extract($_GET, EXTR_PREFIX_ALL, 'g');
extract($_SESSION, EXTR_PREFIX_ALL, 's');

$g_somequerykey;
$s_mysession;
$p_postage; 

:P

[trib4lmaniac]

extract($_POST, EXTR_PREFIX_ALL, 'p');
extract($_GET, EXTR_PREFIX_ALL, 'g');
extract($_SESSION, EXTR_PREFIX_ALL, 's');

$g_somequerykey;
$s_mysession;
$p_postage; 

:P

It's like register_globals all over again

[Jake Arkinstall]

not really, just don't have variables begining with $p_ in ordinary code. No real security risk, I think.

[Cups]

A couple of years ago I found this class, part of this framework in phpclasses, and I adapted it slightly.

So I just do :

$g->['name']; 

and it gives me a sanitized and frisked GET value. ($p-> = POST value etc)

Then I got vim to expand $g to $g->['|'] as I type.

i.e. $g->['<blinking cursor here>']

// a class which basically does this:
    if(isset($_GET)    && !isset($this->g)) $this->g = this->sanitize($_GET,true);
// where sanitize makes sure there is nothing nasty in it. 

I am unsure of the performance hit, but it sure is easy to use.

There is a similar inbuilt function in PHP now, but am not exactly sure of the name of it or maybe its still a PECL extension ...

Edit:

.. sorry, I meant an inbuilt function that will sanitize input variables

Found it, www.php.net/filter

[TheRedDevil]

I used a similar static class to allow me to type less a few years ago.

Though these days I really prefer readability over "lazy" coding. I will rather type 20 more characters and get a code I can scan in a second and know exactly what it does, than to use lots of classes to save me type a few characters.

I type fast enough anyway, so when looking on the large picture. I actually save time by typing everything, as what usally takes time is reading over code you created earlier to improve or bug fix.

[CVPer]

agree with TheRedDevil.

variables starting with $_ are called superglobals which can be used anywhere and anytime.
using wrapper functions of them will limit the scope of them and reduce the usabilities and increase coherence of your code or products.

another concern is that using commonly accepted things will be the best choice, especially in the case working in a team or writing library classes and functions. some editors with auto-completion function will help a lot. for example, eclipse.

[tbakerisageek]

I used a similar static class to allow me to type less a few years ago.

Though these days I really prefer readability over "lazy" coding. I will rather type 20 more characters and get a code I can scan in a second and know exactly what it does, than to use lots of classes to save me type a few characters.

I type fast enough anyway, so when looking on the large picture. I actually save time by typing everything, as what usally takes time is reading over code you created earlier to improve or bug fix.

I choose readability over shortcut any day. I do use a nice little form element generation class (Well, Its all procedural) that I can't live without now!!!

    //input type text
    function input_text($id,$labelName,$labelClass='',$formClass='',$defaultValue='',$maxLength='255',$override=''){
        $functionValue = ($defaultValue == '') ? '' : ' value="'.$defaultValue.'"';
        $functionFormClass = ($formClass == '') ? '' : 'class="'.$formClass.'" ';
        $functionLabelClass = ($labelClass == '') ? '' : ' class="'.$labelClass.'"';
        
        echo '<label for="'.$id.'"'.$functionLabelClass.'>'.$labelName.'</label>';
        echo '<input type="text" '.$functionFormClass.'name="'.$id.'" id="'.$id.'" maxlength="'.$maxLength.'"'.$functionValue.' '.$override.' /><br />';
    
    }
    
    //input type Password
    function input_password($id,$labelName,$labelClass='',$formClass='',$maxLength='255',$override=''){
        $functionFormClass = ($formClass == '') ? '' : 'class="'.$formClass.'" ';
        $functionLabelClass = ($labelClass == '') ? '' : ' class="'.$labelClass.'"';
        
        echo '<label for="'.$id.'"'.$functionLabelClass.'>'.$labelName.'</label>';
        echo '<input type="password" '.$functionFormClass.'name="'.$id.'" id="'.$id.'" maxlength="'.$maxLength.'" '.$override.' /><br />';
    }
    
    
    //Text Area Input
    function input_textarea($id,$labelName,$labelClass='',$formClass='',$defaultValue='',$override=''){
        $functionCSSClass = ($cssClass == '') ? '' : ' class="'.$cssClass.'"';
        
        echo '<label for="'.$id.'"'.$functionCSSClass.'>'.$labelName.'</label>
            <textarea name="'.$id.'" id="'.$id.'"'.$override.'>'.$defaultValue.'</textarea>';
    }
    
    //Input type Checkbox
    function input_checkbox($id, $labelName, $labelClass='', $formClass='',$checked='',$labelFirst='no',$override=''){
        $functionFormClass = ($formClass == '') ? '' : 'class="'.$formClass.'" ';
        $functionLabelClass = ($labelClass == '') ? '' : ' class="'.$labelClass.'"';
        $functionChecked = ($checked == '') ? '' : ' checked="checked" ';
        
        if($labelFirst == 'no'){
            echo '<input type="checkbox" '.$functionFormClass.'id="'.$id.'" name="'.$id.'"'.$functionChecked.$override.'/>';
            echo '<label'.$functionLabelClass.' for="'.$id.'">'.$labelName.'</label>';
        }else{
            echo '<label'.$functionLabelClass.' for="'.$id.'">'.$labelName.'</label>';
            echo '<input type="checkbox" '.$functionFormClass.'id="'.$id.'" name="'.$id.'"'.$functionChecked.$override.'/>';
        }
        echo '<br />';
    }
    
    
    //Submit Button
    function input_submit($id, $buttonLabel){
        echo '<input class="button" type="submit" name="'.$id.'" value="'.$buttonLabel.'" />';
    } 

It saves me SOOOOOOOO much time and best of all it ensures consistency in how I "Write" my forms...

I have a few more portions that might not make sense to post here in my Forms Class that will create common Select boxes that include things like States, Number Ranges, etc... and that take an array as input and use the Key as the "Value" ofthe select while using the Value of the array as the Displayed choice.

[CVPer]

nice code, tbakerisageek!

my form class is in a lit bit different style from yours. i pass the attributes of input tags by arrays.

class Form {
    function input_text($name, $label = null, $options = array(), $is_return = false) {
        $html_str = '';
        
        if ($label != null) {
            $html_str .= "<label for=\"{$name}\">{$label}</label>";
        }
        
        $html_str .= "<input type=\"text\" name=\"{$name}\"";
        foreach ($options as $attr_name => $attr_value) {
            $html_str .= " {$attr_name}=\"{$attr_value}\"";
        }
        $html_str .= " /><br />\n";
        
        if ($is_return) {
            return $html_str;
        }
        else {
            echo $html_str;
        }
    }
    
    // other functions
} 

to use the funciton, like this

Form::input_text('userid', 'User Id', array('value' => '000001')); 

i also found the last parameter pretty handy.

[tbakerisageek]

nice code, tbakerisageek!

i also found the last parameter pretty handy.

Thanks, It's proven nice to use. It has evolved to what it is over the last 3 projects I've completed being 90% rewritten each time.

If you look at the last parameter of my functions, it is an override that you can enter anything you want and it will be appended to the back end of the form element before being closed. I've used this before to add a style="width: 10px;" or something similar. I used to have just about every possible variable as a paramater but didn't want to continue doing it that way after seeing that it was WAY to cumbersome.

[Jake Arkinstall]

Personally, I like the way Logic_Earth did the form class.
It's not static, and it acts as a factory for each element.

Say, Logic, Hows that class getting on?

[Cups]

using wrapper functions of them will limit the scope of them and reduce the usabilities and increase coherence of your code or products.

yeah, but then using a sanitize() function wrapping a good many of your calls to superglobals also makes things messy ...

another concern is that using commonly accepted things will be the best choice, especially in the case working in a team or writing library classes and functions. some editors with auto-completion function will help a lot. for example, eclipse.

I must admit though, you've got a point, I must have moved on a ways because I was only using that wrapper in mostly procedural code (procedural pages that joined up lots of objects actually). Now I tend to typecast, use framework filtering tools and things like prepared statements to do a lot of my filtering.

Off Topic:

When I was a child I thought like a child ...

Form makers, about the time I started using the wrapper above, I came out with a form class too. That is sooooo wrong too. But still, its saved me hours and hours ...

// create a form post back to itself post method optional db connector
$form = new formInput("pageForm",$c->s[PHP_SELF],0,$s->var_get("yourdb"));

// then create a drop list from a db entry - preselected to $next_no
$form->ListboxMatch(1,"item_head","select id, name from people",$next_no);

//a text box, label, size length and optional countdowner 'you have 55 chars left' etc
$form->text('Add a new entry (max 255 chars)', 'new_min_head','60','255','','counter4');

// and an array of submit options
// jsnotNullSubmit ( provide an array of ids that must not be null )
// plain submits
// and like this - calling a named js validator
$form->jsSubmit('go','Save changes >>','min_text','/_scripts/_refresh.js');

//_refresh.js A 3 line script that must return true for the form to be submitted. 

[logic_earth]

Say, Logic, Hows that class getting on?

It coming together a little slower then it was x.x
Messing with a feel ideas I had see how well they work.

Hmm so when I get back to where I was I'll post an updated.