Helper & template reference

Helper & template reference#

This is the reference for every global helper a theme calls, plus the Blade directives your views rely on. All of these are plain PHP functions registered in app/Helpers/helpers.php; the theme-specific ones proxy to App\Services\Helpers\ThemeHelper. You can call any of them from a Blade view or an inline @php block without importing anything.

Everything below is verified against the reference salieno theme and the Core helper classes. Where a function has been renamed, the old name still works — see Deprecated aliases.

Resolution helpers#

These turn "the active theme" into concrete view names and asset URLs. The active theme is whatever the operator has stored (session('template') ?? gs('active_theme')); it is the empty string when no theme is installed, which is how the neutral Core holding page gets rendered. See Theme overview for the full resolution story.

activeTheme() is the string you concatenate in Blade directives that need a view prefix:

@extends(activeTheme() . 'layouts.frontend')
@include(activeTheme() . 'partials.render-sections', ['sections' => $sections])

themeViewName() is what controllers and Livewire components pass to view() — you rarely call it from a view yourself, but it is the canonical way to name a theme view in PHP:

return view(themeViewName('home'));

themeAsset() is the only correct way to reference your own CSS/JS/images. It resolves to public/assets/themes/{name}/… and stamps the file's modification time onto the URL so a republished asset is never served stale from cache. Never hardcode /assets/themes/... paths. Full detail in CSS, JavaScript & images.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ themeAsset('css/theme.css') }}">
<script src="{{ themeAsset('js/theme.js') }}" defer></script>
<img src="{{ themeAsset('images/hero.svg') }}" alt="">

Manifest & metadata#

themeMeta() reads your theme.json runtime manifest (cached, keyed on the file's mtime). Pass a dotted key to reach into nested objects like colors or supports.

{{-- Read a declared brand colour with a safe fallback --}}
<meta name="theme-color" content="{{ themeMeta('colors.primary', '#000000') }}">

{{-- Gate a feature on a manifest flag --}}
@if(themeMeta('supports.dark_mode'))
    @include(activeTheme() . 'partials.mode-switcher')
@endif

The manifest fields themselves (name, version, colors, supports, settings, …) are documented in Theme anatomy & the two manifests.

Editable content (the page builder)#

Section blades read admin-edited content out of the Frontend table, scoped to the active theme's name. getContent() is the accessor; the companions describe the page's section layout.

Convention: a section's editable fields live under {slug}.content (a single record with a data_values object), and repeatable rows live under {slug}.element (a collection). Always fall back to a hardcoded default so the section renders on a fresh install before anyone opens the builder:

@php
    // Single content record → read fields off ->data_values
    $c        = getContent('hero.content', true);
    $heading  = trim((string) (@$c->data_values->heading ?? '')) ?: 'Fast, honest hosting';
    $subhead  = trim((string) (@$c->data_values->subheading ?? '')) ?: 'Deploy in minutes.';

    // Repeatable rows → a collection; each row exposes ->data_values too
    $items = getContent('hero.element');
    $rows  = ($items && count($items) > 0)
        ? $items->toArray()
        : [['title' => 'Uptime', 'description' => '99.99% measured, not promised.']];
@endphp

getPageSections() returns the ordered section catalog defined by your theme's sections.json — see Building sections for the render pipeline and the manifest shape.

Site settings, logo & images#

These read operator-configured settings and stored files — they are not theme-specific, but every theme uses them for the logo, favicon, and brand name.

<a href="{{ route('home') }}" class="site-brand">
    <img src="{{ siteLogo() }}" alt="{{ gs('site_name') }}" class="dark:hidden">
    <img src="{{ siteLogo('dark') }}" alt="{{ gs('site_name') }}" class="hidden dark:block">
</a>

<link rel="icon" href="{{ siteFavicon() }}">

Note getImage() and getFilePath() deal in operator-uploaded files under public/assets/images/... — they are distinct from themeAsset(), which serves files you ship inside your theme. Use themeAsset() for your own artwork and getImage()/siteLogo() for whatever the operator uploaded.

Translation#

Theme copy should be translatable. Use Laravel's __() (or the @lang directive) so operators can localise your strings and so getContent() fallbacks respect the active locale. Every hardcoded default string in the reference theme is wrapped in __().

<button type="submit">{{ __('Create account') }}</button>
<p>{{ __('Welcome back, :name', ['name' => $user->name]) }}</p>

Blade directives themes rely on#

Your views are ordinary Blade, but a few directives carry theme-specific conventions.

The layout defines the stacks; a page or section pushes into them so per-page assets land in the right place without editing the layout:

{{-- In layouts/app.blade.php --}}
<head>
    @stack('style-lib')
    @stack('style')
</head>
<body>
    @yield('app')
    @stack('script-lib')
    @stack('script')
</body>

{{-- In a page or section that needs an extra stylesheet --}}
@push('style')
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ themeAsset('css/pricing.css') }}">
@endpush

The layout structure itself — layouts/app.blade.php, the frontend wrapper, and the Livewire slot bridge — is covered in Layouts and the page shell.

Deprecated aliases#

An earlier generation of themes used template-prefixed names. They were a published API, so they were kept as thin wrappers that delegate to the current names — every one of these still works, but *new themes should use the `theme` names**.

You will still see activeTemplate() throughout the reference theme's Blade because that theme predates the rename; treat it as equivalent to activeTheme(). In your own theme, prefer the canonical spelling — the behaviour is identical, and the deprecated forms exist only so older marketplace themes don't fatal on a Core update.

Next#

With the helper vocabulary in hand, continue to Colours, dark mode & the mode switcher to wire up your palette and the light/dark toggle.