Plugin: Loop Plus

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Hi,

I have rewritten ben’s For Loop plugin. The result is Loop Plus plugin.

PARAMETERS

1) start - Optional. Represents the starting value of the index. The default value is 1.

2) end - Optional. Represents the end value or limit of the index. The default value is 3.

3) increment - Optional. Represents the incremental value of the index on each iteration of the loop. The default value is 1.

VARIABLES

1) {index} - used to get the value of the index that is incremented in each iteration of the loop.

2) {loop_count} - used to get the number of times that the loop has been iterated over.

VARIABLE PAIR

1) {loop_area}{/loop_area} - Optional. Used to mark area which should be iterated.

USAGE

Use as follows:

{exp:loop_plus start="5" end="10" increment="1"}
This loop has been executed {loop_count} times and is now on iteration number {index}.
{/exp:loop_plus}

Or use {loop_area}{/loop_area} variable pair to mark an area which should be looped:

{exp:loop_plus start="5" end="10" increment="1"}
Some code
{loop_area}
This loop has been executed {loop_count} times and is now on iteration number {index}.
{/loop_area}
Some code
{/exp:loop_plus}

WHY NEW LOOPING PLUGIN?

I was dissatisfied with the original plugin because using it was not possible to output efficiently the code as this:

{exp:weblog:entries weblog="my_weblog" url_title="{segment_3}"}
{if custom_field_1 != ""}{custom_field_1}{/if}

{if custom_field_2 != ""}{custom_field_2}{/if}

{if custom_field_3 != ""}{custom_field_3}{/if}

...
{if custom_field_49 != ""}{custom_field_49}{/if}

{if custom_field_50 != ""}{custom_field_50}{/if}

{/exp:weblog:entries}

Because of the parse order the code as this did not work:

{exp:weblog:entries weblog="my_weblog" url_title="{segment_3}"}
{exp:for_loop start="1" end="50" increment="1"}
{if custom_field_{index} != ""}{custom_field_{index}}{/if}

{/exp:for_loop}
{/exp:weblog:entries}

This code worked:

{exp:for_loop start="1" end="50" increment="1" parse="inward"}
{exp:weblog:entries weblog="my_weblog" url_title="{segment_3}"}
{if custom_field_{index} != ""}{custom_field_{index}}{/if}

{/exp:weblog:entries}
{/exp:for_loop}

But it was inefficient since exp:weblog:entries were initiated on each iteration.

Loop Plus plugin solves this problem by introducing optional {loop_area}{/loop_area} variable pair. Using it it is possible to write the code as this:

{exp:loop_plus start="1" end="50" increment="1" parse="inward"}
{exp:weblog:entries weblog="my_weblog" url_title="{segment_3}"}
{loop_area}
{if custom_field_{index} != ""}{custom_field_{index}}{/if}

{/loop_area}
{/exp:weblog:entries}
{/exp:loop_plus}

This way there is no performance loss since exp:weblog:entries is initiated only once.

You can even use several {loop_area}{/loop_area} variable pairs inside one {exp:loop_plus} tag.

Conditionals are supported.