alternative to php var in template?

Question

It's been a solid year since my last ee project. The things you forget over time :)

At the top of my template I show the latest featured entry (limit="1" search:featured="yes"). Later in my template I'm showing all entries but need to add an additional class to the above featured entry.

By enabling php on the template I can save the entry_id in a variable and then check it in the lower exp:channel:entries.

Are there any issues with enabling php for something minor like this - performance, security? Is there a better way to hold this value?

Thanks! Amanda

Answer 1

You'll need an embed, with or without stash.

I always prefer to not use add-ons if I can. So, without stash:

{exp:channel:entries status="featured" limit="1"}
    <div class="featured">
    [...]
    </div>
    {embed="entries/.list" featured_id="{entry_id}"}
    {if no_results}
        {embed="entries/.list" featured_id="0"}
    {/if}
{/exp:channel:entries}

On the embed entries/.list:

{exp:channel:entries status="featured|open"}
    <div {if entry_id == {embed:featured_id} }class="featured" {/if} >
    [...]
    </div>
{/exp:channel:entries}

Answer 2

Amanda,

I'm reading this as you have two different channel:entries tag where the first tag only displays the featured entries and the second tag displays all entries. If this is correct then you can use a conditional inside the second tag go do what you want as per my example below.

<div class="whatever {if featured="yes"}my_class{/if}">
more code
</div>

If I have misread, please clarify wiht more details and/or template code.

You could also look at using Stash if the above isn't what you need, but I've never been able to fully grok Stash.

Answer 3

Just to add the alternative, an example using Stash:

{exp:channel:entries channel="your_channel" limit="1" status="Featured"}

    {exp:stash:set name="cached_featured_entry_id" trim="yes" output="no"}
        {entry_id}
    {/exp:stash:set}

    <p>{title}</p>

{/exp:channel:entries}


{exp:channel:entries channel="your_channel" status="open|Featured"}

    <p {if {exp:stash:get name='cached_featured_entry_id'} == {entry_id}}style="font-weight:bold;"{/if}>
        {title}</p>

{/exp:channel:entries}