Best OOP method for a layout library

Question

I had a code for a layout library which looked like :

$this->layout->setLayout($layout)->setTitle($title)->render()
etc.

Today I started writing a new code, simpler and smaller :

$this->layout->data(array(
 'view_name' => 'layout_admin',
 'title' => 'Administration',
 'js' => 'admin/matrix.chat' 
))->view('admin/index');

The previous setters/add methods were like :

public function setDoctype($doctype) {
 $this->doctype = $doctype;
 return $this;
}
public function addJs($name) {
 if(!in_array($name, $this->js)) {
 $this->js[] = $name;
 }
 return $this;
}

The new data method :

public function data($data = array()) {
 if(isset($data['view_name'])) $this->ci->config->load($data['view_name']);
 else $this->ci->config->load($this->data['view_name']);
 // Mark as forbid because are stored in arrays and 
 // I can add values to those
 $forbid = array('css', 'js', 'rss');
 foreach($this->ci->config->config['layout'] as $key => $value) {
 if(isset($data[$key]) && !in_array($key, $forbid))
 $this->data[$key] = $data[$key]; 
 else
 $this->data[$key] = $value;
 if(isset($data[$key]) && in_array($key, $forbid)) {
 if(is_array($data[$key])) {
 if(count($array) != count($array, COUNT_RECURSIVE))
 foreach($data[$key] as $key2 => $value2)
 $this->data[$key][$key2] = $value2;
 else
 foreach($data[$key] as $value2)
 $this->data[$key][] = $value2;
 } else 
 $this->data[$key][] = $data[$key];
 }
 }
 return $this;
}

I changed to this because of the many things that I can update for every page. And use ->setThing would be annoying. But I don't find that my code is so OOP.

Note that I'm using CodeIgniter.

What's the best oop code ? If you want more indications, please tell me I'm new and don't know how to say more ;) .

• Sven: You should add more details, especially code of your layout class.
• Madnx: It is done :) .
• AlucardTheRipper: I like ->setThing, because i can use type ahead, also you can easily make a backtrace in the function and you have only backtrace for the manipulations of Thing and not for every other data in your class.
• Eddie Jaoude: Your paths should start with '/', i.e /admin/index. So that they start at the root of the domain (especially if using mod_rewrite)
• Quentin Pradet: As John said, it's very effective. It's common practice in many frameworks... and in Code Igniter itself!

Answer 1

The core of your question is whether or not you should use setters ($tpl->setSomeParam()) or a simple array to bind template parameters. While using an array my not seem very OO, it's actually a pretty effective way of decoupling your data from your templates. As you've discovered, having to add a new setter to your layout manager every time you add a new parameter to one of your templates means the layout manager is tightly coupled to all of your templates – not good.

This is pretty common practice these days. Twig, Underscore.js, and many others do the same thing.