Helpers - adampatterson/Tentacle GitHub Wiki

###What Are Helpers? Helpers are PHP files with little (or big) snippets of code that you can use anywhere in your Dingo application. Helpers behave exactly like Views, but generally contain PHP code rather than HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.

Note: It is highly recommended that you use models instead of helpers whenever possible. However, if you need to use a helper to include a class or something that won't work in a model, it is perfectly fine to use a helper.

###Create A Helper Create a new PHP file at application/helpers/hello.php. This will be your helper. All helpers in Dingo are located in the application/helpers folder. Now put the following content into your helper:

<?php

echo "Hello, World!";

You can now use this helper in your controllers, views, and models like so:

load::helper('hello');

The above would display "Hello, World!".

###Auto Loading Helpers If you are going to use a particular helper a lot, then you should consider auto loading it by adding it to the autoload_helpers array in /application/config/development/config.php. For example, you could auto load your new helper by editing config.php like so:

/* Auto Load Helpers */
config::set('autoload_helpers',array('hello'));

It is also possible to load helpers on a controller-by-controller basis by adding the $autoload_helpers array to the controller class.

class main_controller
{
	public $autoload_helpers = array('hello');

	// ...
}