Helper functions

Contents

Input and output 

get_input($name) Grabs information from a form field (or any variable passed using GET or POST). Also sanitises input, stripping Javascript etc.
set_input($name, $value) Forces a value to a particular variable for subsequent retrieval by get_input()

$entity->getURL() Returns the URL of any entity in the system
$entity->getGUID() Returns the GUID of any entity in the system
$entity->canEdit() Returns whether or not the current user can edit the entity
$entity->getOwnerEntity() Returns the ElggUser owner of a particular entity

elgg_get_logged_in_user_entity() Returns the ElggUser for the current user
elgg_get_logged_in_user_guid() Returns the GUID of the current user
elgg_is_logged_in() Is the viewer logged in
elgg_is_admin_logged_in() Is the view an admin and logged in
elgg_gatekeeper() Shorthand for checking if a user is logged in. Forwards user to front page if not
elgg_admin_gatekeeper() Shorthand for checking the user is logged in and is an admin. Forwards user to front page if not
get_user($user_guid) Given a GUID, returns a full ElggUser entity
elgg_get_page_owner_guid() Returns the GUID of the current page owner, if there is one
elgg_get_page_owner_entity() Like elgg_get_page_owner_guid() but returns the full entity
elgg_get_context() Returns the current page’s context - eg “blog” for the blog plugin, “thewire” for the wire, etc. Returns “main” as default
elgg_set_context($context) Forces the context to be a particular value
elgg_push_context($context) Adds a context to the stack
elgg_pop_context() Removes the top context from the stack
elgg_in_context($context) Checks if you’re in a context (this checks the complete stack, eg. ‘widget’ in ‘groups’)

elgg_view_image_block($icon, $info) Return the result in a formatted list
elgg_view_comments($entity) Returns any comments associated with the given entity
elgg_get_friendly_time($unix_timestamp) Returns a date formatted in a friendlier way - “18 minutes ago”, “2 days ago”, etc.