Guide & Quick Start

Installation

Two equally valid paths, depending on whether the project already uses Composer:

With Composer

composer require uiengine/uiengine

Without Composer

require 'UIEngine/src/Autoload.php';

Quick start

1
Include it

Load the Composer autoloader, or include UIEngine/src/Autoload.php directly.
```
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use UIEngine\UIEngine;

$ui = new UIEngine();
```

2

Set directories

Set the template, cache and log directories (or use the defaults from Config.php).

$ui->getPathManager()->setTemplate(__DIR__.'/templates');
$ui->getPathManager()->setCache(__DIR__.'/cache');

3
Assign variables

Provide any PHP value (scalars, arrays, objects) as a template variable.
```
$ui->assign('title', 'Hello world');
$ui->assign('items', ['Coffee', 'Tea', 'Cocoa']);
```
4
Display the template

display() compiles (cached) and outputs the rendered result.
```
$ui->display('page.tpl');
```

Language overview

The most important tags at a glance – all of them run through the same safe expression grammar.

Tag	Meaning
`{$var}`	Output a variable, HTML-escaped.
`{$var\|escape:'url'}`	Apply a modifier, here context-aware escaping.
`{if $expr}...{/if}`	Condition with comparison and logical operators.
`{foreach $arr as $i}`	Loop over an array, including $i@first/@last/@index.
`{extends 'a.tpl'}`	Inheritance: the current template defines a parent layout.
`{block name}...{/block}`	A swappable section within the inheritance chain.
`{include 'a.tpl'}`	Include a partial template, its own cache entry.
`{function name=x}`	Define a reusable template macro.
`{eval var=$expr}`	Evaluate a string as a mini-template at runtime.
`{nocache}...{/nocache}`	Stays dynamic within an otherwise cached page.

Inheritance & layouts

A parent layout defines swappable blocks, child templates fill or extend them:

layout.tpl

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
  {block content}Standard{/block}
</body>
</html>

seite.tpl

{extends 'layout.tpl'}
{block content}
  Eigener Inhalt hier.
{/block}

Custom plugins

Three levels of extension, from simple to complete:

$ui->register('kuerzel', fn($text, $len = 80) =>
    mb_strlen($text) > $len ? mb_substr($text, 0, $len) . '…' : $text
);

{plugin name='kuerzel' args='$artikel->text, 120'}

Security-policy sandbox

Optional, for environments with multiple, differently trusted template authors:

$policy = new SecurityPolicy();
$policy->allowModifiers(['upper', 'lower', 'date_format']);
$policy->allowConstants(['PHP_VERSION']);
$policy->disallowEval();
$policy->allowFetch('/var/www/shared/');

$ui->setSecurityPolicy($policy);

A policy only ever narrows things further – never beyond the limits the compiler already enforces.

Caching

Compiled templates are cached automatically and only recompiled on change. For entire pages:

$ui->display('seite.tpl', $cacheId, 3600); // 1 Stunde

Sections inside {nocache}...{/nocache} stay unaffected and are re-evaluated on every request – handy for cart widgets or timestamps on an otherwise cached page.

Still have questions?

The most common questions are answered in the FAQ – from security to system requirements.

Go to FAQ Download the engine