This is a quickstart guide to some of Vanilla’s globally available functions and methods. Familiarizing yourself with them will save you time and effort in the long term, and give you clues about how best to use the framework.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor full signature documentation. You’ll want to find them in the source code (files at /library/core/functions.*.php) for more info.
Getting & setting
See functions.compatibility.php for more info.
val() allows the retrieval of a named key or property from an array or object, and optionally provide a default if the named item does not exist (default: false). This is helpful when you’re unclear whether a key/property is set, or what data type you have currently. This function was previously named GetValue(), which is now deprecated.setValue() is the opposite of val() - it sets the named value on the array/object with the specified value.Gdn::get() retrieves a key from the GDN_UserMeta table with a UserID of 0. This is used for generic data storage, especially large, plugin-related settings.Gdn::set() places data into the GDN_UserMeta table with the given key against UserID 0.
Configuration
See functions.general.php for more info.
c() grabs a value from the configuration with the option to provide a default (false if none is provided).saveToConfig() saves a value to the config. Pass false as the third parameter to only set the config for the current runtime.
HTML
See functions.render.php for more info.
url() generates a valid, full URL for a resource on your site.externalUrl() generates a valid URL to a resource not on your current site.anchor() creates an HTML link.img() creates an img tag for the provided resource.wrap() places HTML tags around content.
Safety tips
- Use the
Form object to generate HTML forms. - Use the
Format object to handle outputting user-generated content. - Use
safeHeader() to send a header. - Use
safeRedirect() to redirect a user. - Use
checkPermission() to do just what it says on the tin.
Forum assets
See functions.render.php for more info.
userUrl() & userAnchor() take a user and create a URL or full anchor tag around their username.userPhoto() & userPhotoUrl() create a user’s avatar or avatar location, respectively.categoryUrl() generates a category’s URL.
Developer tools
decho() outputs nicely-formatted debug information nicer than print_r().deprecated() indicates information about when a method or function was deprecated.