php - Passing variable from controller to view in CodeIgniter

Question

I'm new to Codeigniter and OOP PHP.

Controller:

public function index(){
    $this->load->model('main_model');
    $planet = $this->main_model->solar();
    $this->load->view('main_view', $planet);    
    }

If echo $planet in the controller it does what it's supposed to do. If I echo $planet in the view I get an undefined variable error. $planet is not an array. Why isn't the $planet variable being passed to the view?

I know this is a simple and basic question and I'm embarrassed that I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

EDIT: Okay, after more fiddling around, I got it to work. Can variables only be passed from Controller to View when they're formatted as an array?

Answer 1

You have to pass an array to the view. CodeIgniter automatically makes $planet available to you.

$data = array('planet' => $planet);
$this->load->view('main_view', $data);

With this you can use $planet in your view.

E.g., if you do the following:

$data = array('foo' => 'Hello', 'bar' => 'world');
$this->load->view('main_view', $data);

$foo and $bar will be available in your view. The key-value pairs in the array are automatically converted to variables in the view.