Views (templates)

Lift has a small, dependency-free view engine: plain PHP templates with layouts, sections, partials, shared variables, asset URLs, and HTML escaping. No compile step, no opaque DSL — just <?php ... ?> and a $view helper.

Mental model: a "view" is a PHP file under views/. The view factory locates it, runs it with the variables you pass, captures its output, and optionally wraps it in a layout.

Setup

Tell the app where your templates live (once, at boot):

$app->views(__DIR__ . '/../views', extension: 'php', assetBase: '/assets');

Argument	Default	Meaning
`path`	—	Absolute path to the views root directory.
`extension`	`'php'`	File extension when resolving names (no leading dot).
`assetBase`	`'/assets'`	URL prefix used by `$view->asset('app.css')` → `/assets/app.css`.

Rendering a view from a handler

Two equivalent ways:

// 1. Get the rendered HTML as a string (you wrap it however you like)
$html = $app->views()->render('home', ['user' => $user]);
return Response::html($html);

// 2. Get a Response back directly
return $app->view('home', ['user' => $user]);

Dot-notation lets you nest views into folders:

views/
├── home.php           ←  'home'
├── partials/
│   └── card.php       ←  'partials.card'
└── users/
    └── show.php       ←  'users.show'

return $app->view('users.show', ['user' => $user]);

Security note: dot-only names — / and \ are rejected — so you can't escape the views root through user input.

Inside a template

Every view file receives a $view helper plus the variables you passed:

<?php /** @var \Lift\View\ViewContext $view */ ?>
<?php /** @var array{name:string, email:string} $user */ ?>

<h1>Hello, <?= $view->e($user['name']) ?></h1>
<p>Reach me at <?= $view->e($user['email']) ?>.</p>

Crucial: always wrap dynamic strings in $view->e(...) to escape HTML. That single call equals htmlspecialchars($s, ENT_QUOTES | ENT_SUBSTITUTE, 'UTF-8').

Layouts + sections

This is the "wrap your page in a master template" pattern.

views/
├── layouts/
│   └── app.php        ← master HTML scaffold
├── home.php           ← child view
└── about.php

views/layouts/app.php:

<?php /** @var \Lift\View\ViewContext $view */ ?>
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title><?= $view->yield('title', 'My App') ?></title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?= $view->asset('app.css') ?>">
</head>
<body>
    <header>
        <?= $view->include('partials.nav') ?>
    </header>
    <main>
        <?= $view->content() ?>
    </main>
</body>
</html>

views/home.php:

<?php /** @var \Lift\View\ViewContext $view */ $view->layout('layouts.app'); ?>

<?php $view->section('title'); ?>Welcome<?php $view->end(); ?>

<h1>Hello, world!</h1>
<p>This text becomes <code>$view->content()</code> in the layout.</p>

What's happening:

$view->layout('layouts.app') says "after I'm done, wrap me in this".
$view->section('title') … $view->end() captures everything between into a named slot.
The layout pulls slots back out with $view->yield('title', $default).
Anything outside named sections is the default content → $view->content().

Partials (`include`)

For reusable fragments — nav bars, cards, modals:

<?= $view->include('partials.card', ['title' => 'Hello', 'body' => 'World']) ?>

views/partials/card.php receives $title and $body as locals, plus all parent vars. Each include() returns a string — perfect for <?= ... ?>.

Sharing variables across every view

$app->views()->share('appName', 'My App');
$app->views()->share(['user' => $currentUser, 'csrf' => $token]);

Inside every template $appName, $user, $csrf are available without you passing them on each view(...) call.

Asset URLs

<?= $view->asset('css/app.css') ?>          // → /assets/css/app.css
<?= $view->asset('img/logo.svg') ?>         // → /assets/img/logo.svg
<?= $view->asset('https://cdn/lib.js') ?>   // → unchanged (absolute URL)

Useful for cache-busting with a deploy hash if you compute the base:

$app->views(__DIR__ . '/../views', assetBase: '/assets/' . $deployHash);

Translations in views

If you call $app->views()->setTranslator($translator) (or wire the Translator through the container — Lift does it automatically when one is bound), templates gain $view->t() and $view->tc():

<h1><?= $view->t('welcome', ['name' => 'Alice']) ?></h1>
<p><?= $view->tc('items.count', $count) ?></p>

See Localization for the message format.

Cached rendering

If a view's output doesn't depend on per-request data, you can cache it through any PSR-16 cache:

$app->views()->setCacheDriver($app->make(\Lift\Cache\CacheInterface::class));

return $app->views()->responseCached(
    view: 'pages.about',
    data: [],
    cacheKey: 'about-page',
    ttl: 3600,
);

The second call within ttl skips the entire render and returns the cached HTML.

Don't cache pages that include per-user content (name, cart count, etc.) — you'll serve one user's HTML to another. Either build the cache key per user, or render the user-specific parts via JavaScript / SSI.

End-to-end example

Project layout:

my-app/
├── public/index.php
└── views/
    ├── layouts/app.php
    ├── partials/nav.php
    ├── home.php
    └── users/show.php

public/index.php:

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';

use Lift\App;

$app = new App();
$app->views(__DIR__ . '/../views');
$app->views()->share('appName', 'My Blog');

$app->get('/', fn() => $app->view('home', [
    'title' => 'Welcome',
    'posts' => [
        ['slug' => 'hello',    'title' => 'Hello, World'],
        ['slug' => 'bye',      'title' => 'Goodbye, World'],
    ],
]));

$app->get('/users/{id:\d+}', function (\Lift\Http\Request $req) use ($app) {
    $user = ['id' => $req->param('id'), 'name' => 'Alice'];
    return $app->view('users.show', ['user' => $user]);
});

$app->run();

views/layouts/app.php:

<!doctype html>
<html><head>
<title><?= $view->yield('title', $appName) ?> — <?= $view->e($appName) ?></title>
</head><body>
<?= $view->include('partials.nav') ?>
<main><?= $view->content() ?></main>
</body></html>

views/partials/nav.php:

<nav>
    <a href="/">Home</a>
    <a href="/users/1">First user</a>
</nav>

views/home.php:

<?php $view->layout('layouts.app'); ?>
<?php $view->section('title'); ?><?= $view->e($title) ?><?php $view->end(); ?>

<h1>Recent posts</h1>
<ul>
    <?php foreach ($posts as $post): ?>
        <li><a href="/posts/<?= $view->e($post['slug']) ?>"><?= $view->e($post['title']) ?></a></li>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

views/users/show.php:

<?php $view->layout('layouts.app'); ?>
<?php $view->section('title'); ?>User <?= $view->e($user['name']) ?><?php $view->end(); ?>

<h1>Hello, <?= $view->e($user['name']) ?> (#<?= $view->e($user['id']) ?>)</h1>

That's a real, multi-page site in ~40 lines.

The `$view` helper, in one table

Method	Use
`$view->e($value)`	Escape for HTML. Use on every dynamic string.
`$view->layout('layouts.app')`	Wrap this view in the named layout.
`$view->section('name')` … `$view->end()`	Capture a named block of output.
`$view->yield('name', $default = '')`	Output a named section (used in layouts).
`$view->content()`	Output the child's default content (used in layouts).
`$view->include('partial', $extra)`	Render a sub-view and return its HTML.
`$view->asset('path/to/file.css')`	Build a URL using the configured asset base.
`$view->t($key, $replace = [])`	Translate using the bound `Translator` (no-op if none).
`$view->tc($key, $count, $replace = [])`	Translate with pluralisation.

Common pitfalls

Symptom	Cause	Fix
`View [foo] was not found at [.../foo.php]`	View name typo, or `$app->views(...)` wasn't called	Verify the file path; pass the right root.
HTML output contains `<b>` instead of `<b>`	You called `$view->e(...)` on intentional HTML	Drop `e()` for trusted HTML; keep it for user input.
XSS (`<script>` runs)	Forgot `$view->e(...)` on user input	Always escape.
Layout shows empty `<title>`	The child view didn't define a `title` section, and `yield('title')` had no default	Pass a default: `$view->yield('title', 'My App')`.
`Invalid view name` thrown on dot-notation	View name contained `/` or `\`	Use dots only, never path separators.
Cached views serve stale content	`ttl` too long, no manual flush after deploy	Use a deploy-hash-prefixed cache key, or shorter TTL.

Sessions →

#Views (templates)

#Setup

#Rendering a view from a handler

#Inside a template

#Layouts + sections

#Partials (include)

#Sharing variables across every view

#Asset URLs

#Translations in views

#Cached rendering

#End-to-end example

#The $view helper, in one table

#Common pitfalls