Customizing anchor tag in CakePHP 3

Question

I am currently using following syntax in menu in default.ctp of my CakePHP 3 application

<li class="first"><a href="<?php echo $url; ?>users/dashboard"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-th-list"></span><br>Dashboard</a></li>

Now the problem arises if I try to write the tag in CakePHP 3 syntax which is as follows:

<li><?php   echo $this->Html->link('Dashboard',['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'view','_full'=>true]);?></li>

As you can see that there is no place to put tag in above and because of that glyph disappear from menu.

Is there a way around that which I can't find?

Answer 1

Use 'escape' => false to solve your problem

 <li>
        <?php   
            echo $this->Html->link(
                '<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-th-list"></span><br>Dashboard',
                  array('controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'view','_full'=>true),
                  array('escape' => false)  // important  
                );
        ?>
 </li>

For cakephp 3

 <?php   
         echo $this->Html->link(
            '<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-th-list"></span> <br>Dashboard',
             ['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'index','_full'=>true],
             ['escape' => false]  // important 
         );
 ?>

Answer 2

If you are not getting along with the HTML link helper, you can use shorter way, less php code Url Helper

<?= $this->Url->build(['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'view','_full'=>true]); ?>

And create menu / html link as

<li class="first">
 <a href="<?= $this->Url->build(['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'view','_full'=>true]); ?>">
   <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-th-list"></span>
   Dashboard
 </a>
</li>

Answer 3

Use escapeTitle option.

$this->Html->link(
    '<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-th-list"></span><br>Dashboard',
    ['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'view','_full'=>true],
    ['escapeTitle' => false]
);

Answer 4

Try using:

echo $this->Html->link(
    $this->Html->tag('span', '', array('class' => 'glyphicon glyphicon-th-list')) . "Dashboard",
    array('controller' => 'users', 'action' => 'view'), 
    array('escape'=>false)
);