Views

Native PHP templates with a handful of Blade-inspired directives. Files live under resources/views/ and can opt into layouts, sections, includes, and view caching.

use Zero\Lib\View;

Implementation: View.php, compiler at ViewCompiler.php.

API reference

View::render(string $view, array $data = []): string

Render a template. The view name is the path under resources/views/, with / or . as the separator. Returns the compiled HTML.

$html = View::render('pages.home', ['user' => $user]);
$html = View::render('pages/home', ['user' => $user]); // equivalent

Inside the template, every key in $data is available as a local variable:

<!-- resources/views/pages/home.php -->
<h1>Hello, <?= htmlspecialchars($user->name) ?></h1>

In controllers prefer the global view() helper, which wraps render() in a Response:

return view('pages.home', ['user' => $user]);

View::renderString(string $template, array $data = []): string

Render a Blade-style string template (no file lookup). Useful for emails compiled at runtime.

$html = View::renderString('<h1>{{ $title }}</h1>', ['title' => 'Hi']);

View::include(string $view, array $data = []): void

Render a partial inline (echoes directly). Inside templates use the @include('partials.header') directive — View::include() is the runtime call it compiles to.

View::include('partials.header', ['user' => $user]);

View::layout(string $layout, array $data = []): void

Set the parent layout for the current render. Usually invoked from inside a template via the @layout('layouts.app') directive.

// inside a template
@layout('layouts.app')

View::startSection(string $section): void / View::endSection(): void

Start / finish capturing a named section. Wired up via @section(...) / @endsection.

@section('title')
    Dashboard
@endsection

View::yieldSection(string $section): string

Output the captured section content. Used inside layouts via @yield(...).

<!-- resources/views/layouts/app.php -->
<title>@yield('title')</title>

View::configure(array $config = []): void

Override the view config at runtime. Keys: cache_enabled, cache_path, cache_lifetime, debug. Defaults are resolved from environment variables on first use (see Configuration below).

View::configure([
    'cache_enabled' => true,
    'cache_lifetime' => 3600,
]);

View::share(string $key, mixed $value): void / View::shared(string $key, mixed $default = null): mixed

Share a value with every template in the current render (the page, its includes, and its layout). Because the view runs before the layout, a page can share() at the top and the layout/head will see it. Shared state is cleared between renders.

// inside a page template
@php(View::share('pageTitle', 'Dashboard'))

// inside the layout
<title>{{ View::shared('pageTitle', 'Zero') }}</title>

View::push(string $key, mixed $value): void

Append to a shared array bucket — handy when several places contribute to the same hook (extra <link> tags, preload hints, body classes). Read it back with View::shared($key, []).

@php(View::push('head', '<link rel="preload" href="/app.css" as="style">'))

{{-- in the layout --}}
@foreach (View::shared('head', []) as $tag)
    {!! $tag !!}
@endforeach

View::directive(string $name, callable $compile): void

Register a custom Blade-style directive. The callback receives the raw argument string (everything between the parentheses) and returns the PHP snippet to inline. The compiler picks these up automatically. Register directives once during bootstrap.

View::directive('uppercase', fn ($args) => "<?= strtoupper({$args}) ?>");

{{-- template --}}
@uppercase($user->name)

View::composer(string $pattern, callable $callback): void

Run a callback right before a matching view renders — useful for injecting shared state without editing every page. $pattern matches the dotted view path and supports * wildcards; pass * to match all views.

View::composer('pages.*', function (string $view) {
    View::share('year', date('Y'));
});

View::clearCache(): void

Drop every compiled view in the configured cache path.

View::clearCache();

View::clearViewCache(string $view): void

Drop the cache file for one view.

View::clearViewCache('pages.home');

Directives

Compiled by ViewCompiler. All directives transparently compile to native PHP.

Echoing values

{{ $name }}             {{-- escaped --}}
{!! $trustedHtml !!}    {{-- raw --}}
{{{ $alsoEscaped }}}    {{-- legacy: escaped --}}
@{{ literal }}          {{-- escape the curly braces themselves --}}

Control flow

@if ($user)
    Welcome, {{ $user->name }}
@elseif ($guest)
    Hi guest
@else
    Sign in
@endif

@for ($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++)
    {{ $i }}
@endfor

@foreach ($items as $item)
    {{ $item }}
@empty
    Nothing here yet.
@endforeach

@empty only fires when the iterable yields zero items.

Layouts and sections

{{-- resources/views/layouts/app.php --}}
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head><title>@yield('title')</title></head>
<body>
    @yield('body')
</body>
</html>

{{-- resources/views/pages/home.php --}}
@layout('layouts.app')

@section('title') Dashboard @endsection

@section('body')
    <h1>Hello, {{ $user->name }}</h1>
    @include('partials.footer')
@endsection

Includes

@include('partials.header')
@include('partials.alert', ['type' => 'error', 'message' => $msg])

i18n directives

See i18n.md for the full picture.

@t('common.welcome')                      {{-- translates --}}
@i18n('mail/welcome')                     {{-- switch translation file --}}

@i18n(['title' => 'Hello'])
    {{ $title }}
@endi18n

Inline PHP

@php
    $count = count($items);
@endphp

@php($count = count($items))   {{-- single-expression form --}}

{{ $count }}

@dd($payload)   {{-- dump and exit --}}

Configuration

View settings are read from environment variables the first time the view system is used. Override them per-request with View::configure() if needed.

VIEW_CACHE=true
VIEW_CACHE_LIFETIME=0

Caching

Compiled templates live under storage/framework/views/cache (the VIEW_CACHE_PATH base plus /views/cache). Toggle caching with VIEW_CACHE=true or View::configure(['cache_enabled' => true]). Each compiled file is keyed by an MD5 of the view identifier and re-validated against the source mtime on every render. Clear it from the CLI with php zero cache:clear.

To bust the cache for one view (e.g. after deploying a hot fix without a deploy script):

View::clearViewCache('pages.home');

To wipe everything:

View::clearCache();

Working with views from controllers

namespace App\Controllers;

use Zero\Lib\Http\Request;

class UserController
{
    public function show(int $id, Request $request)
    {
        $user = \App\Models\User::find($id);

        if ($request->wantsJson()) {
            return $user;             // → JSON
        }

        return view('users.show', compact('user'));
    }
}

Controllers can return:

• a Response (view() returns one)
• a string (HTML)
• a model / array (auto-JSON)
• null (204 No Content)

The router runs everything through Response::resolve().