Views

Views in Tiny are plain PHP templates living in app/views/. They are invoked from controllers via $response->render('path/to/view', $params) and have access to the global tiny::* API plus two helpers: Component and Layout.

Basic structure

<!-- app/views/users/index.php -->
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
    <title><?= htmlspecialchars(tiny::get('title')) ?></title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Users</h1>
    <ul>
    <?php foreach (tiny::get('users') as $user): ?>
        <li><?= htmlspecialchars($user['name']) ?></li>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
    </ul>
</body>
</html>

Layouts

Layouts wrap page chrome. Register them as PHP files in app/views/layouts/ — the file main.php becomes Layout::main(...):

<!-- app/views/layouts/main.php -->
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
    <title><?= htmlspecialchars(Layout::props('title', 'My App')) ?></title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?= tiny::getStaticURL('css/app.css') ?>">
</head>
<body>
    <?php Component::render('header'); ?>
    <main><?= Layout::props('content') ?></main>
    <?php Component::render('footer'); ?>
</body>
</html>

Invoke a layout from a view:

<!-- app/views/users/index.php -->
<?php Layout::main([
    'title'   => 'Users',
    'content' => '<h1>Users</h1>',
]); ?>

Layout::props($name, $fallback) reads a value passed in; the fallback is used when the key isn’t present.

See Layout extension for details.

Components

Components are reusable view fragments. Define them in app/views/components/ by registering a callable:

<!-- app/views/components/user-card.php -->
<?php
Component::register('userCard', function (array $user): void { ?>
    <article class="user-card">
        <img src="<?= htmlspecialchars($user['avatar']) ?>" alt="">
        <h3><?= htmlspecialchars($user['name']) ?></h3>
        <p><?= htmlspecialchars($user['bio']) ?></p>
    </article>
<?php });

Use it from any view in three equivalent ways:

<?php Component::render('userCard', $user); ?>
<?php echo Component::return('userCard', $user); ?>
<?php Component::userCard($user); ?>   <!-- magic-method shortcut -->

See Components extension for the full API.

Passing data to views

Three equivalent options:

// Controller — preferred
$response->render('users/index', ['users' => $users, 'title' => 'Users']);

// Controller — global bag
tiny::data()->users = $users;
tiny::set('title', 'Users');

// View — reading
tiny::data()->users;
tiny::get('title', 'Default Title');   // optional fallback

Flash messages in views

<?php if ($toast = tiny::flash('toast')->get()): ?>
    <div class="toast toast--<?= htmlspecialchars($toast['level']) ?>">
        <?= htmlspecialchars($toast['message']) ?>
    </div>
<?php endif; ?>

CSRF tokens

For every form that does state-changing work, embed a CSRF input:

<form method="post" action="/users">
    <?php tiny::csrf()->input(); ?>
    <input type="text" name="name">
    <button type="submit">Save</button>
</form>

The input() helper echoes a hidden field with the current token.

Static asset URLs

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?= tiny::getStaticURL('css/app.css') ?>">
<script src="<?= tiny::getStaticURL('js/app.js') ?>" defer></script>
<img src="<?= tiny::getStaticURL('images/logo.svg') ?>">

tiny::staticURL($file) echoes; tiny::getStaticURL($file) returns the string. Both honour TINY_STATIC_DIR (which can be a CDN URL).

Home URLs

<a href="<?= tiny::getHomeURL('/about') ?>">About</a>
<a href="<?= tiny::getHomeURL('/contact', full: true) ?>">Contact (absolute URL)</a>

tiny::homeURL() echoes the same value.

HTMX integration

When the current request was made by HTMX (HX-Request header present), $request->htmx is true. Render partials or full pages accordingly:

<?php if (tiny::request()->htmx): ?>
    <!-- just the list, the rest of the page stays -->
    <?php foreach (tiny::get('users') as $u): Component::render('userCard', $u); endforeach; ?>
<?php else: ?>
    <?php Layout::main(['title' => 'Users', 'content' => /* full HTML */]); ?>
<?php endif; ?>

See HTMX integration for the full story.

Best practices

Escape every output — htmlspecialchars() (or <?= htmlspecialchars(...) ?>). No exceptions.
Components for reuse, layouts for chrome. Don’t mix them up.
Keep logic out of views. No queries, no HTTP calls — only rendering.
Use tiny::get($key) over tiny::data()->$key when you want default fallbacks.
CSRF every form. Always.

Tiny PHP Framework