The name of the variable to determine # of loop
iterations
start
integer
No
0
The index
position that the section will begin looping. If the
value is negative, the start position is calculated
from the end of the array. For example, if there are
seven values in the loop array and start is -2, the
start index is 5. Invalid values (values outside of the
length of the loop array) are automatically truncated
to the closest valid value.
step
integer
No
1
The step value that will be used to traverse the
loop array. For example, step=2 will loop on index
0,2,4, etc. If step is negative, it will step through
the array backwards.
max
integer
No
1
Sets the maximum number of times the section
will loop.
show
boolean
No
true
determines whether or not to show this section
Template sections are used for looping over arrays of data. All
section tags must be paired with
/section tags. Required parameters are
name and loop. The name
of the section can be anything you like, made up of letters,
numbers and underscores. Sections can be nested, and the nested
section names must be unique from each other. The loop variable
(usually an array of values) determines the number of times the
section will loop. When printing a variable within a section, the
section name must be given next to variable name within brackets
[]. sectionelse is
executed when there are no values in the loop variable.
Example 7-15. section
{* this example will print out all the values of the $custid array *}
{section name=customer loop=$custid}
id: {$custid[customer]}<br>
{/section}
OUTPUT:
id: 1000<br>
id: 1001<br>
id: 1002<br>
Example 7-16. section loop variable
{* the loop variable only determines the number of times to loop.
you can access any variable from the template within the section.
This example assumes that $custid, $name and $address are all
arrays containing the same number of values *}
{section name=customer loop=$custid}
id: {$custid[customer]}<br>
name: {$name[customer]}<br>
address: {$address[customer]}<br>
<p>
{/section}
OUTPUT:
id: 1000<br>
name: John Smith<br>
address: 253 N 45th<br>
<p>
id: 1001<br>
name: Jack Jones<br>
address: 417 Mulberry ln<br>
<p>
id: 1002<br>
name: Jane Munson<br>
address: 5605 apple st<br>
<p>
Example 7-17. section names
{* the name of the section can be anything you like,
and it is used to reference the data within the section *}
{section name=mydata loop=$custid}
id: {$custid[mydata]}<br>
name: {$name[mydata]}<br>
address: {$address[mydata]}<br>
<p>
{/section}
Example 7-18. nested sections
{* sections can be nested as deep as you like. With nested sections,
you can access complex data structures, such as multi-dimensional
arrays. In this example, $contact_type[customer] is an array of
contact types for the current customer. *}
{section name=customer loop=$custid}
id: {$custid[customer]}<br>
name: {$name[customer]}<br>
address: {$address[customer]}<br>
{section name=contact loop=$contact_type[customer]}
{$contact_type[customer][contact]}: {$contact_info[customer][contact]}<br>
{/section}
<p>
{/section}
OUTPUT:
id: 1000<br>
name: John Smith<br>
address: 253 N 45th<br>
home phone: 555-555-5555<br>
cell phone: 555-555-5555<br>
e-mail: john@mydomain.com<br>
<p>
id: 1001<br>
name: Jack Jones<br>
address: 417 Mulberry ln<br>
home phone: 555-555-5555<br>
cell phone: 555-555-5555<br>
e-mail: jack@mydomain.com<br>
<p>
id: 1002<br>
name: Jane Munson<br>
address: 5605 apple st<br>
home phone: 555-555-5555<br>
cell phone: 555-555-5555<br>
e-mail: jane@mydomain.com<br>
<p>
Example 7-19. sections and associative arrays
{* This is an example of printing an associative array
of data within a section *}
{section name=customer loop=$contacts}
name: {$contacts[customer].name}<br>
home: {$contacts[customer].home}<br>
cell: {$contacts[customer].cell}<br>
e-mail: {$contacts[customer].email}<p>
{/section}
OUTPUT:
name: John Smith<br>
home: 555-555-5555<br>
cell: 555-555-5555<br>
e-mail: john@mydomain.com<p>
name: Jack Jones<br>
home phone: 555-555-5555<br>
cell phone: 555-555-5555<br>
e-mail: jack@mydomain.com<p>
name: Jane Munson<br>
home phone: 555-555-5555<br>
cell phone: 555-555-5555<br>
e-mail: jane@mydomain.com<p>
Example 7-20. sectionelse
{* sectionelse will execute if there are no $custid values *}
{section name=customer loop=$custid}
id: {$custid[customer]}<br>
{sectionelse}
there are no values in $custid.
{/section}
Sections also have their own variables that handle section properties.
These are indicated like so: {$smarty.section.sectionname.varname}
NOTE: As of Smarty 1.5.0, the syntax for section property variables has
been changed from {%sectionname.varname%} to
{$smarty.section.sectionname.varname}. The old syntax is still
supported, but you will only see reference to the new syntax in the
manual examples.
