Is dynamic HTML via BD bad practice in PHP?

Question

I’m creating a platform where I need to change elements of the site by a control panel, and for example, it would be something very bad way insert into BD and pull via PHP?

Let’s say I have a menu with the following options in my menu:

1. Articles

2. Matters

3. Partners

4. Promotions

5. Contact

6. Send Your Text

Imagine that in the comic book is like this:

Id  | titulo                                        | status

---

1   | <li><a href="#">Artigos</a></li>              | 1
2   | <li><a href="#">Matérias</a></li>             | 1
3   | <li><a href="#">Parceiros</a></li>            | 1
4   | <li><a href="#">Promoções</a></li>            | 1
5   | <li><a href="#">Contato</a></li>              | 1
6   | <li><a href="#">Envie seu Texto</a></li>      | 1

Let’s say:

status 0 = oculto
status 1 = ativo

Just to illustrate, the code, for example, would be something like this:

<ul class="menu">
    <?php
    include('includes/conn.php');

    $query      = 'SELECT titulo FROM '.$tabela.' WHERE status = 1';

    if($stmt = $mysqli->prepare($query)){

        $stmt->execute();
        $stmt->bind_result($titulo);

            while($stmt->fetch()){

    ?>

        <?php echo $titulo; ?>
        <!-- COMNENT :: SAÍDA --
        <li><a href="#">titulo</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Artigos</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Matérias</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Parceiros</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Promoções</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Contato</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Envie seu Texto</a></li> <<< ESTE NÃO APARECE
        -->

    <?php
            }
            $stmt->close();
    }

    $mysqli->close();
    ?>
</ul>

Well, I could just change that in the database and put, for example, the option 6 with status of "occult" (status=0) and hide this option from the menu when needed.

Basically, this consists of a platform with dynamic elements if used widely in design or is bad practice?

Answer 1

I disagree a little on the other answer :)

The ideal is to do what you need to do in the context of the project, to follow rules imposed by other people who do not know the context of that project is bad practice, that is, it is bad practice to follow good practices. It is good practice to know good practices, to deeply understand their motivation to apply when it is the case. Many software projects are bad precisely because they follow good practices without understanding what they are doing. And most people do it without understanding, even though they think they understand.

That’s why I can’t say that MVC is appropriate. Actually PHP and MVC for me is a little strange, especially in the way it is implemented. Separating responsibilities is good, but it takes criterion, to do because there will be clear gain without significantly increasing the complexity of the code.

I can’t tell if what you’re doing is appropriate or not because I don’t know your case. Looking up it seems like you shouldn’t because it has no purpose, no need.

How hard it is to do:

<li><a href="#"><?php $titulo?></a></li>

I put in the Github for future reference.

and not having HTML inside the database? For me it’s even simpler to do so. It’s more DRY. You can compose as you wish.

You could put in the bank if really HTML is a data that varies in each operation. Even this I would say is not the most appropriate, but again, I can not say without knowing the context.

Answer 2

There is not a single way to develop in PHP and we always have to evaluate the context to define the best form of coding. A good practice is to use a software architecture standard that is consistent with what is needed. An example of a pattern is the Model-view-controller (MVC), used by frameworks such as Zend, Codeigniter, Cakephp, etc.

If this standard is used the database will have only the data and not codes (or notations, as is the case). The presentation layer (view) will have only the visual part and not the logic to search in the BD, treat and display. The controller that will do this part.

Therefore, in the database the data will be stored in a simple way (which could be used in other parts of the application and not only in the menu):

Id  | titulo               | status      | link
1   | Artigos              | 1           | #
2   | Matérias             | 1           | #
3   | Parceiros            | 1           | #
4   | Promoções            | 1           | #
5   | Contato              | 0           | #
6   | Envie seu Texto      | 1           | #

(A column with the link was included because it would not make sense to have the menu items without a link.)

The controller fetches the data from the BD and creates an object or array with the ACTIVE menus. Simply put, it could be a Function that returns an array with menu items.

In the view would only take the array and loop to create the list items as for example:

foreach($array as $key => $value) {
    echo '<li><a href="' . $value['link'] . '">' . $value['titulo'] . '</a></li>';
}