README

This package provides a small set of global functions for use in plain PHP templates.

I use this with kisstpl and plain PHP templates, but any package (or plain, raw PHP scripts) should be fine.

It's really more documentation (perhaps even more just a philosophy) than it is code - and includes detailed inline documentation with examples.

These are just tiny shorthand-functions wrapping htmlspecialchars() and json_encode() but with the assumption that you always want HTML 5 and UTF-8 encoding - if you don't, this package is not for you.

The source-file is bootstrapped to aggressively autoload via Composer, which means these functions are always available, without having to use require or include.

Currently the following functions are included:

• html($value) ~ htmlspecialchars((string) $value, ENT_HTML5, 'UTF-8', true)
• attr($value) ~ htmlspecialchars((string) $value, ENT_QUOTES | ENT_HTML5, 'UTF-8', true)
• js($value) to escape inside a JavaScript string-literal context
• json($value) ~ json_encode($value, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES)

Note that, because these functions are global, the addition of any new function would be considered a breaking change with a major version number increase.

Why?

Because the PHP defaults for these functions are outdated.

And why global? Because we can't autoload functions, importing namespaced functions in every template is a hassle, and we're not using the global namespace for anything anyway.

Escaping and Encoding Values

Each function is intended for use within a single context - e.g. within an HTML tag, an HTML attribute-value, a Javascript string literal, or inline in Javascript code. (Note that contexts are often nested, as per the examples in the "Nested Contexts" section below.)

This is best illustrated with a few common examples.

HTML Tags

When outputting a string value in the context of an HTML tag, use the html() function:

<h1><?= html($title) ?></h1>

HTML Attributes

When outputting a string value in the context of an HTML attribute, use the attr() function:

<div id="<?= attr($id) ?>">

Javascript

The following examples assume a pure JSON or Javascript context, e.g. a template emitting content for a response with a Content-Type of application/json or application/javascript - contrast this with a nested context, such as Javascript inside a <script> tag.

When outputting a JSON-compatible (string, int, float, bool, null or array) value in the context of JSON or Javascript code, use the json() function:

function welcome() {
    alert(<?= json($message) ?>);
}

When outputting a string in the context of a Javascript string literal, use the js() function:

function welcome() {
    alert('Welcome, <?= js($username) ?>');
}

Notice the difference: json() will add quotes when given a string value, whereas js() assumes you're outputting string content between quotes.

Nested Contexts

For security reasons, it's important to always consider the context within which you're outputting content - and helpful to think of some contexts as being nested within a different context.

The most common example of nested context is a <script> tag embedded in an HTML context - for example:

<script>
function welcome() {
    alert(<?= html(json($message)) ?>);
}
</script>

In this example, the inner context is Javascript code, and the outer context is HTML - so the inner function call is json() and the outer function call is html().

Another example is a JavaScript string-literal context inside an HTML attribute:

<button onclick="alert('Hello, <?= attr(js($username)) ?>')">

In this example, the inner context is a Javascript string literal, and the outer context is an HTML-attribute.

There are many possible use-cases combining two (or more) contexts - but if you can wrap your head around the idea of nested contexts, selecting the right combination of functions should be fairly easy.