ViewFish PHP Templating Engine

Configuration Options

You can pass an optional $options array when instantiating the ViewFish object to configure its behavior:

$options = [
    'replace_empty' => true,
    'cache_compiled' => false,
    'memcached' => $memcachedObject,
    'ttl' => 3600,
];

$t = new ViewFish\viewfish($options);

Available Options

replace_empty

When set to true, any {{variable}} that doesn't match a key in your data array will be removed from the final output. Without this, unmatched placeholders remain visible.

$t = new ViewFish\viewfish(['replace_empty' => true]);

This is useful in production when you don't want raw template syntax leaking into your HTML. During development, leaving it off helps you spot missing data.

Note: You can also strip individual variables by appending ! — e.g. {{variable!}} will be removed if unmatched, regardless of this setting.

cache_compiled

When set to true, rendered templates are cached after compilation.

Warning: If your template contains user-specific data (names, emails, personalized content), the cached version will be served to the next visitor. Only use this for templates with static or shared content.

memcached

Pass a valid Memcached or Memcache object to enable in-memory caching of uncompiled templates. This reduces filesystem reads on subsequent calls.

$mc = new Memcached();
$mc->addServer('localhost', 11211);

$t = new ViewFish\viewfish(['memcached' => $mc, 'ttl' => 86400]);

ttl

Time-to-live for cached data, in seconds. Only applies when a memcached object is provided. Common values:

• 300 — 5 minutes (good for frequently changing templates)
• 86400 — 1 day
• 2592000 — 30 days (good for templates that rarely change)