How do I create a single template tag which outputs multiple bits of data?

Question

I have just created my own module and need a bit of help displaying the content on the front end. I currently have some template tags {exp:address_book:contact}{/exp:address_book:contact} and within them a series of variables; {ab_name}, {ab_contact_number} etc.

These are laid out in the site templates as so:

{exp:address_book:contacts}
  <table class="contact_info">
  <tr>
    <td class="label">Title</td>
    <td>{ab_title}</td>
    <td class="label">Company</td>
    <td>{ab_company}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="label">Name</td>
    <td>{ab_first_name} {ab_last_name}</td>
    <td>Company Tel No.</td>
    <td>{ab_company_contact_number}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="label">Contact No.</td>
    <td>{ab_personal_number}</td>
    <td colspan="2">{ab_address_1}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="label">Email</td>
    <td><a href="mailto:{ab_email}">{ab_email}</a></td>
    <td colspan="2">{ab_address_2}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="label">Facebook</td>
    <td><a href="{ab_facebook}" target="_blank">View page</a></td>
    <td colspan="2">{ab_city}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="label">Twitter</td>
    <td><a href="{ab_twitter}" target="_blank">View feed</a></td>
    <td colspan="2">{ab_county}{if ab_country}, {ab_country}{/if}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="label">LinkedIn</td>
    <td><a href="{ab_linkedin}" target="_blank">View profile</a>
      <td colspan="2">{ab_post_code}</td>
    </tr>
  </table>
{/exp:address_book:contacts}

Ideally I need to find a way to output this data in a single tag, rather than having to specify the layout in the site template files. Is there any way to do this?

Here is my function in my mod.module.php file:

public function contacts()
{

    $contact_id = $this->EE->TMPL->fetch_param('contact_id');

    $tagdata = $this->EE->TMPL->tagdata;

    $this->EE->db->select('*');
    if( $contact_id ) {
        $this->EE->db->where('id', $contact_id); 
    }
    $this->EE->db->from('address_book');
    $this->EE->db->order_by('first_name', 'asc');

    $query = $this->EE->db->get();

    if ($query->num_rows() == 0)
    {
        return $this->EE->TMPL->no_results();
    }

    foreach ( $query->result_array() as $row ) {
        $variables[] = array(
            'ab_title' => $row['title'],
            'ab_first_name' => $row['first_name'],
            'ab_last_name' => $row['last_name'],
            'ab_personal_number' => $row['personal_contact_number'],
            'ab_company' => $row['company'],
            'ab_company_contact_number' => $row['company_contact_number'],
            'ab_address_1' => $row['address_street_1'],
            'ab_address_2' => $row['address_street_2'],
            'ab_city' => $row['address_city'],
            'ab_county' => $row['address_county'],
            'ab_country' => $row['address_country'],
            'ab_post_code' => $row['address_post_code'],
            'ab_website' => $row['website'],
            'ab_email' => $row['email_address'],
            'ab_facebook' => $row['facebook'],
            'ab_twitter' => $row['twitter'],
            'ab_linkedin' => $row['linkedin'],
            );
    }

    return $this->EE->TMPL->parse_variables( $tagdata, $variables );

}

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Answer 1

The best coding practice is to utilize view files in order to achieve that.