Calendaring Class

The Calendar class enables you to dynamically create calendars. Your calendars can be formatted through the use of a calendar template, allowing 100% control over every aspect of its design. In addition, you can pass data to your calendar cells.

Using the Calendaring Class

Initializing the Class

Like most other classes in CodeIgniter, the Calendar class is initialized in your controller using the $this->load->library function:

$this->load->library('calendar');

Once loaded, the Calendar object will be available using:

$this->calendar

Displaying a Calendar

Here is a very simple example showing how you can display a calendar:

$this->load->library('calendar');
echo $this->calendar->generate();

The above code will generate a calendar for the current month/year based on your server time. To show a calendar for a specific month and year you will pass this information to the calendar generating function:

$this->load->library('calendar');
echo $this->calendar->generate(2006, 6);

The above code will generate a calendar showing the month of June in 2006. The first parameter specifies the year, the second parameter specifies the month.

Passing Data to your Calendar Cells

To add data to your calendar cells involves creating an associative array in which the keys correspond to the days you wish to populate and the array value contains the data. The array is passed to the third parameter of the calendar generating function. Consider this example:

$this->load->library('calendar');

$data = array(
        3  => 'http://example.com/news/article/2006/06/03/',
        7  => 'http://example.com/news/article/2006/06/07/',
        13 => 'http://example.com/news/article/2006/06/13/',
        26 => 'http://example.com/news/article/2006/06/26/'
);

echo $this->calendar->generate(2006, 6, $data);

Using the above example, day numbers 3, 7, 13, and 26 will become links pointing to the URLs you’ve provided.

Note

By default it is assumed that your array will contain links. In the section that explains the calendar template below you’ll see how you can customize how data passed to your cells is handled so you can pass different types of information.

Setting Display Preferences

There are seven preferences you can set to control various aspects of the calendar. Preferences are set by passing an array of preferences in the second parameter of the loading function. Here is an example:

$prefs = array(
        'start_day'    => 'saturday',
        'month_type'   => 'long',
        'day_type'     => 'short'
);

$this->load->library('calendar', $prefs);

echo $this->calendar->generate();

The above code would start the calendar on saturday, use the “long” month heading, and the “short” day names. More information regarding preferences below.

Preference Default Options Description
template None None
A string or array containing your calendar template.
See the template section below.
local_time time() None A Unix timestamp corresponding to the current time.
start_day sunday Any week day (sunday, monday, tuesday, etc.) Sets the day of the week the calendar should start on.
month_type long long, short
Determines what version of the month name to use in the header.
long = January, short = Jan.
day_type abr long, short, abr
Determines what version of the weekday names to use in
the column headers. long = Sunday, short = Sun, abr = Su.
show_next_prev FALSE TRUE/FALSE (boolean)
Determines whether to display links allowing you to toggle
to next/previous months. See information on this feature below.
next_prev_url controller/method A URL Sets the basepath used in the next/previous calendar links.
show_other_days FALSE TRUE/FALSE (boolean)
Determines whether to display days of other months that share the
first or last week of the calendar month.

To allow your calendar to dynamically increment/decrement via the next/previous links requires that you set up your calendar code similar to this example:

$prefs = array(
        'show_next_prev'  => TRUE,
        'next_prev_url'   => 'http://example.com/index.php/calendar/show/'
);

$this->load->library('calendar', $prefs);

echo $this->calendar->generate($this->uri->segment(3), $this->uri->segment(4));

You’ll notice a few things about the above example:

  • You must set the “show_next_prev” to TRUE.
  • You must supply the URL to the controller containing your calendar in the “next_prev_url” preference. If you don’t, it will be set to the current controller/method.
  • You must supply the “year” and “month” to the calendar generating function via the URI segments where they appear (Note: The calendar class automatically adds the year/month to the base URL you provide.).

Creating a Calendar Template

By creating a calendar template you have 100% control over the design of your calendar. Using the string method, each component of your calendar will be placed within a pair of pseudo-variables as shown here:

$prefs['template'] = '

        {table_open}<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">{/table_open}

        {heading_row_start}<tr>{/heading_row_start}

        {heading_previous_cell}<th><a href="{previous_url}">&lt;&lt;</a></th>{/heading_previous_cell}
        {heading_title_cell}<th colspan="{colspan}">{heading}</th>{/heading_title_cell}
        {heading_next_cell}<th><a href="{next_url}">&gt;&gt;</a></th>{/heading_next_cell}

        {heading_row_end}</tr>{/heading_row_end}

        {week_row_start}<tr>{/week_row_start}
        {week_day_cell}<td>{week_day}</td>{/week_day_cell}
        {week_row_end}</tr>{/week_row_end}

        {cal_row_start}<tr>{/cal_row_start}
        {cal_cell_start}<td>{/cal_cell_start}
        {cal_cell_start_today}<td>{/cal_cell_start_today}
        {cal_cell_start_other}<td class="other-month">{/cal_cell_start_other}

        {cal_cell_content}<a href="{content}">{day}</a>{/cal_cell_content}
        {cal_cell_content_today}<div class="highlight"><a href="{content}">{day}</a></div>{/cal_cell_content_today}

        {cal_cell_no_content}{day}{/cal_cell_no_content}
        {cal_cell_no_content_today}<div class="highlight">{day}</div>{/cal_cell_no_content_today}

        {cal_cell_blank}&nbsp;{/cal_cell_blank}

        {cal_cell_other}{day}{/cal_cel_other}

        {cal_cell_end}</td>{/cal_cell_end}
        {cal_cell_end_today}</td>{/cal_cell_end_today}
        {cal_cell_end_other}</td>{/cal_cell_end_other}
        {cal_row_end}</tr>{/cal_row_end}

        {table_close}</table>{/table_close}
';

$this->load->library('calendar', $prefs);

echo $this->calendar->generate();

Using the array method, you will pass key => value pairs. You can pass as many or as few values as you’d like. Omitted keys will use the default values inherited in the calendar class.

Example:

$prefs['template'] = array(
        'table_open'           => '<table class="calendar">',
        'cal_cell_start'       => '<td class="day">',
        'cal_cell_start_today' => '<td class="today">'
);

$this->load->library('calendar', $prefs);

echo $this->calendar->generate();

Class Reference

class CI_Calendar
initialize([$config = array()])
Parameters:
  • $config (array) – Configuration parameters
Returns:

CI_Calendar instance (method chaining)
Return type:

CI_Calendar

Initializes the Calendaring preferences. Accepts an associative array as input, containing display preferences.

generate([$year = ''[, $month = ''[, $data = array()]]])
Parameters:
  • $year (int) – Year
  • $month (int) – Month
  • $data (array) – Data to be shown in the calendar cells
Returns:

HTML-formatted calendar
Return type:

string

Generate the calendar.

get_month_name($month)
Parameters:
  • $month (int) – Month
Returns:

Month name
Return type:

string

Generates a textual month name based on the numeric month provided.

get_day_names($day_type = '')
Parameters:
  • $day_type (string) – ‘long’, ‘short’, or ‘abr’
Returns:

Array of day names
Return type:

array

Returns an array of day names (Sunday, Monday, etc.) based on the type provided. Options: long, short, abr. If no $day_type is provided (or if an invalid type is provided) this method will return the “abbreviated” style.

adjust_date($month, $year)
Parameters:
  • $month (int) – Month
  • $year (int) – Year
Returns:

An associative array containing month and year
Return type:

array

This method makes sure that you have a valid month/year. For example, if you submit 13 as the month, the year will increment and the month will become January:

print_r($this->calendar->adjust_date(13, 2014));

outputs:

Array
(
        [month] => '01'
        [year] => '2015'
)
get_total_days($month, $year)
Parameters:
  • $month (int) – Month
  • $year (int) – Year
Returns:

Count of days in the specified month
Return type:

int

Total days in a given month:

echo $this->calendar->get_total_days(2, 2012);
// 29

Note

This method is an alias for Date Helper function days_in_month().

default_template()
Returns: An array of template values
Return type: array

Sets the default template. This method is used when you have not created your own template.

parse_template()
Returns: CI_Calendar instance (method chaining)
Return type: CI_Calendar

Harvests the data within the template {pseudo-variables} used to display the calendar.

© 2014–2020 British Columbia Institute of Technology
Licensed under the MIT License.
https://codeigniter.com/userguide3/libraries/calendar.html