Easier Access to Helpers within Helpers

[bayleedev]

Within views you can access a helper via $this->name but within a helper you cannot access another one the same way but you can do it via $this->_context->helper('name').

When is it useful? A good use case is a breadcrumb helper. Here, you might need the Route helper or a String or Html helper. An Asset helper might need the html helper. There are dozens of other possible reasons to need them.

Would anybody be up for a similar syntax in helpers? I assume the pr wouldn't be difficult.

public function __get($name) {
    return $this->_context->helper($name);
}

[nateabele]

I'm fine with short-hand, but I'd be pretty wary of putting a __get() in Helper. Without that, though, I'm not sure how much better than $this->helper('name') you could get. Worth it or no?

[bayleedev]

I'm mostly looking for consistency. If we added a helper() method on the helper, would it be alright to add a same-named method to the view object. I'm honestly not sure what object the view is executed in (File maybe?).

[tmaiaroto]

If you extend helpers you can also use parent and I don't think you need to go as far as $this->_context->helper('name') you should be able to just use $this->_context->helperName->method() no? Is that any better for you to write it that way? Then you aren't calling a method to get the helper to call its method. Even a getter would impose another function call just to get something you should already have access to call directly, no? (I could be wrong).

[mpiasta-ca]

The more important question is -- how do you use a helper in a controller?

[ericcholis]

@mpiasta-ca To me, that's outside the scope of what Controllers are intended for. I do my best to keep that sort of logic in the Views. Actually, I can't think of a case where I'd want to use a Helper in my Controllers.

I agree with @nateabele, adding a __get() in a helper feels odd. But, calling $this->Html within a helper is more consistent with the behavior in views.

[nateabele]

Maybe you could declare the helpers you want to use in a protected property, and Helper can give you direct property access to them at initialization time. Also, yeah, no... no helpers in controllers, that's just doing it rong.

[ericcholis]

I like that solution @nateabele, kind of follows the $_classes pattern used elswhere

[minhna]

I think $this->_context->helperName->method() is enough.

[bayleedev]

@minhna I was aiming for consistency. Remember the each place for $this->_context->name->method() is difficult, especially when you hop between languages and frameworks a few times a day.

[mariuswilms]

I'm with @minhna on this topic. $this->_context->helperName->method() is not too long and already provides full access. Anyway - @blainesch thank you for starting the discussion and everybody else for commenting.