Smarty Manual
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# Block Functions

``void smarty_block_`name`` (array $params, mixed $content, object &$smarty, boolean &$repeat)`

Block functions are functions of the form: `{func} .. {/func}`. In other words, they enclose a template block and operate on the contents of this block. Block functions take precedence over custom functions of the same name, that is, you cannot have both custom function `{func}` and block function `{func}..{/func}`.

- By default your function implementation is called twice by Smarty: once for the opening tag, and once for the closing tag. (See `$repeat` below on how to change this.)

- Only the opening tag of the block function may have attributes. All attributes passed to template functions from the template are contained in the `$params` variable as an associative array. The opening tag attributes are also accessible to your function when processing the closing tag.

- The value of the `$content` variable depends on whether your function is called for the opening or closing tag. In case of the opening tag, it will be `NULL`, and in case of the closing tag it will be the contents of the template block. Note that the template block will have already been processed by Smarty, so all you will receive is the template output, not the template source.

- The parameter `$repeat` is passed by reference to the function implementation and provides a possibility for it to control how many times the block is displayed. By default `$repeat` is `TRUE` at the first call of the block-function (the opening tag) and `FALSE` on all subsequent calls to the block function (the block's closing tag). Each time the function implementation returns with `$repeat` being `TRUE`, the contents between `{func}...{/func}` are evaluated and the function implementation is called again with the new block contents in the parameter `$content`.

If you have nested block functions, it's possible to find out what the parent block function is by accessing `$smarty->_tag_stack` variable. Just do a `var_dump()` on it and the structure should be apparent.

Example 16-5. block function
`<?php /* * Smarty plugin * ------------------------------------------------------------- * File: block.translate.php * Type: block * Name: translate * Purpose: translate a block of text * ------------------------------------------------------------- */ function smarty_block_translate($params, $content, &$smarty, &$repeat) { // only output on the closing tag if(!$repeat){ if (isset($content)) { $lang = $params['lang']; // do some intelligent translation thing here with $content return $translation; } } } ?>`

See also: `register_block()`, `unregister_block()`.

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