Hint Module for the Kohana Framework

Hint is a light version of the MSG module. Some of the big changes are:

• Support for multiple drivers is dropped (as well as the cookie driver.) Messages are now stored in the session by default (which is the common scenario, if you need cookie support use the MSG module.)
• Hint no longer needs the singleton pattern; it has evolved into a full static class (which was my original intention for MSG.)

This allows leaner code:

Compare:

MSG::instance()->set(MSG::SUCCESS, 'Your account has been deleted');

Versus:

Hint::set(Hint::SUCCESS, 'Your account has been deleted');

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New Features

The complete set of changes are documented in the CHANGELOG.

Hint supports both sprintf a strtr for embedding values into the message.

// Embed some values with sprintf
Hint::set(Hint::ERROR, '%s is not writable', array($file));

// Embed some values with strtr
Hint::set(Hint::ERROR, ':file is not writable', 
    array(':file' => $file));

A __callStatic magic method (PHP 5.3) was added to allow setting messages in a clearer fashion.

Hint::error('user.login.not_exists');

For more information, please read the "Strategies" section below.

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Installation

Hint installs like any other module. If you're familiar with git, you can fire up a terminal, and add the module with the following command:

git submodule add git://github.com/goyote/hint.git modules/hint

Note: For a better description on how to add ko modules, please read http://kohanaframework.org/guide/kohana/tutorials/git.

Alternatively, you can install Hint manually. To do so, first download the zip file from http://github.com/goyote/hint and extract the hint folder into your modules directory. Then open the bootstrap file, and modify the Kohana::modules function call:

Kohana::modules(array(
    ...
    'hint' => MODPATH.'hint', // Light "flash" messages

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Usage

set()

Use set() to store a new message.

Hint::set(Hint::SUCCESS, 'Unsubscribed.');

You're allowed to store multiple messages; they'll be rendered in the order in which they were introduced.

To rapidly set multiple messages of the same type, you can pass an array as the second argument.

$post = new Validation($_POST);
...

$messages = Arr::map(array('HTML', 'chars), array_values($post->errors()));
Hint::set(Hint::ERROR, $messages);

You can embed values into the message with sprintf or strtr.

// Embed some values with sprintf
Hint::set(Hint::ERROR, '%s is not writable', array($file));

// Embed some values with strtr
Hint::set(Hint::ERROR, ':file is not writable', 
    array(':file' => $file));

If you need to attach additional data to the message, you can use the fourth parameter (it accepts data of any type.)

Hint::set(Hint::NOTICE, 'Your profile is empty', NULL, array('help' => 'Did you forget to...'));

Strategies

If you have many messages scattered over several files, one strategy is to group them into a single file for easier maintenance.

e.g. messages/hint.php

<?php defined('SYSPATH') or die('No direct script access.');

return array(
    'auth' => array(
        'login' => array(
            'success' => 'Welcome back, :username',
            'error'   => 'You are already logged in',
        ),
        'logout' => array(
            'success' => 'See ya, come back soon',
        ),
        'register' => array(
            'success' => 'You have successfully registered a new account',
            'error'   => 'Please logout before creating a new account',
        ),
        'some_other_action' => ...
    ),
    'some_other_controller' => ...
    'common' => array(
        'not_writable' => '%s is not writable',
    ),
);

You're free to organize the messages however you want. I recommend:

controller.action.type

// Examples
user.login.success
user.login.error

Or:

controller.action.description

// Examples
user.login.not_exists
user.login.wrong_credentials

These hierarchies allow you to pinpoint the exact location of the message at a mere glance.

Once the messages are stored in messages/hint.php, you can start using them by providing the array path to the message (uses the __callStatic magic method.)

Hint::error('auth.login.error');

Hint::error('common.not_writable', array($file));

Hint::success('auth.login.success', array(':username' => $username));

Behind the scenes, a translation will be made using the __() function.

get()

If no arguments are passed, get() will return the whole stack of messages.

// Get messages
$messages = Hint::get();

If you only want messages of a certain type (e.g. ERROR) then simply pass in the constant holding the type.

// Retrieve error messages
$error_messages = Hint::get(Hint::ERROR);

You can also pass an array of types.

// Retrieve alerts and warnings
$messages = Hint::get(array(Hint::ALERT, Hint::WARNING));

Or get everything except a certain type.

// Get messages of any type except errors and alerts
$messages = Hint::get(array(1 => array(Hint::ERROR, Hint::ALERT)));

If no messages are found, get() will return NULL. To override this default value, pass a second argument with your custom value.

// Override the default return value (NULL) with a custom string
$messages = Hint::get(Hint::NOTICE, 'no messages found');

// $messages === 'no messages found'

get_once()

get_once() behaves exactly like get(), but the only difference is, get_once() deletes the messages after retrieval.

// Get messages
$messages = Hint::get_once();

Hint::get(); // Returns NULL

// `get_once` also retrieves by type
$alert_messages = Hint::get_once(Hint::ALERT);

delete()

// Delete messages
Hint::delete();

// Delete warning messages
Hint::delete(Hint::WARNING);

render()

Finally, you'll want to render the messages in the easiest way possible. To do that, all you have to do is call echo Hint::render() anywhere in your view.

<div id="wrapper">
    ...
    <?php echo Hint::render() ?>

Or, you can render only a specific type of message, e.g.

<!-- Render all the messages except the errors at the top of the page -->
<?php echo Hint::render(array(1 => array(Hint::ERROR))) ?>
<form ...>
    <!-- Now render the error messages -->
    <?php echo Hint::render(Hint::ERROR) ?>

Render the messages in a custom view:

echo Hint::render(NULL, TRUE, 'hint/widget');

render() returns a string.

You can modify the default view hint/default by copy-pasting the file into your application/views directory, and making your modifications there.

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Types of messages (constants)

Hint::ERROR
Hint::SUCCESS
Hint::NOTICE
Hint::ALERT
Hint::ACCESS
Hint::WARNING