Introduction
Laravel’s Blade templating engine is a powerful tool for web developers to bring dynamic content into their web pages using a very readable and flexible syntax. One of the essential features of Blade is the ability to include HTML files into your Blade templates. This modularizes views, making code more reusable and easier to maintain. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through the steps to effectively include HTML files in your Blade templates, along with using Blade’s various directives and components to maximize code efficiency and readability.
Understanding Blade’s File Inclusion
Blade’s @include directive is probably the feature you’ll use most often when including HTML files in your Blade templates. This directive allows you to include a Blade view (an HTML file that uses the .blade.php file extension) into another Blade view. Simply put, it’s like copying and pasting the content of one view into another without duplication of code.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Create a Basic Blade Template
First, create a basic Blade template that you can include other templates into. Let’s call this the master template.
<!-- resources/views/layouts/master.blade.php -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My Application</title>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<!-- Header content -->
</header>
@yield('content')
<footer>
<!-- Footer content -->
</footer>
</body>
</html>
Step 2: Create a Partial Blade Template
Partials are essentially partial views – snippets of HTML that you can include in other views. Create a partial Blade template next.
<!-- resources/views/partials/navbar.blade.php -->
<nav>
<!-- Your navigation links -->
</nav>Step 3: Include the Partial in Your Master Template
To include this partial in the master Blade template, use the @include directive within the master.
<!-- Add inside the <body> tag of your master template --> @include('partials.navbar')Extending the Master Layout
While including partials is useful, you’ll often want to design your layouts such that certain zones or sections of the page can be filled out by specific views. In Blade, you can achieve this through the @yield directive within your master layout, and the @section directive within your child views.
From the master layout we created earlier, you’ll notice the @yield('content'). This directive tells Blade that the section named ‘content’ will be filled with content from a child view.
Using Sections to Insert Content
Create a new Blade template that extends the master layout using the @extend directive, and define the content for the ‘content’ section.
<!-- resources/views/pages/home.blade.php -->
@extends('layouts.master')
@section('content')
<!-- Your home page content -->
@endsection
Step 4: Include a Pure HTML File
In some cases, you may need to include a pure HTML file that does not make use of Blade’s syntax. Since Blade templates are compiled into plain PHP code, you can include raw HTML files with PHP’s native include or require.
To include a pure HTML file, turn PHP on within your Blade view and use the include function: <!– resources/views/pages/about.blade.php –> @extends(‘layouts.master’) @section(‘content’) <?php include ‘path-to-your-html-file.html’; ?> @endsection
Conclusion
Including HTML in a Blade template is most efficiently done using the Blade syntax, which beautifully harmonizes with Laravel’s elegant syntax and structure. Blade’s @include, @yield, @section, and @extend directives allow you to create a highly maintainable and reusable codebase. Also, keep in mind that pure PHP functionality still exists in the Blade environment, meaning that you always have a fallback strategy using traditional PHP methods such as include. We hope this tutorial aided in better understanding the inclusion of HTML in Laravel Blade templates and encourages you to build your templates effectively!
