How to Make Pagination with search filter in CodeIgniter 4

CodeIgniter already has a pagination library using which you can easily add pagination on your page.

In this tutorial, I show how you can create pagination with a search filter in the CodeIgniter 4 project.

1. Database configuration

• Open .env file which is available at the project root.

NOTE – If dot (.) not added at the start then rename the file to .env.

• Remove # from start of database.default.hostname, database.default.database, database.default.username, database.default.password, and database.default.DBDriver.
• Update the configuration and save it.

database.default.hostname = 127.0.0.1
database.default.database = testdb
database.default.username = root
database.default.password = 
database.default.DBDriver = MySQLi

2. Create Table

• Create a new table users using migration.

php spark migrate:create create_users_table

• Now, navigate to app/Database/Migrations/ folder from the project root.
• Find a PHP file that ends with create_users_table and open it.
• Define the table structure in the up() method.
• Using the down() method delete users table which calls when undoing migration.

<?php namespace App\Database\Migrations;

use CodeIgniter\Database\Migration;

class CreateUsersTable extends Migration
{
    public function up() {
       $this->forge->addField([
          'id' => [
              'type' => 'INT',
              'constraint' => 5,
              'unsigned' => true,
              'auto_increment' => true,
          ],
          'name' => [
              'type' => 'VARCHAR',
              'constraint' => '100',
          ],
          'email' => [
              'type' => 'VARCHAR',
              'constraint' => '100',
          ],
          'city' => [
              'type' => 'VARCHAR',
              'constraint' => '100',
          ],
       ]);
       $this->forge->addKey('id', true);
       $this->forge->createTable('users');
    }

    //--------------------------------------------------------------------

    public function down() {
       $this->forge->dropTable('users');
    }
}

• Run the migration –

php spark migrate

3. Model

• Create Users.php file in app/Models/ folder.
• Open the file.
• Specify table name "users" in $table variable, primary key "id" in $primaryKey, Return type "array" in $returnType.
• In $allowedFields Array specify field names – ['name', 'email','city'] that can be set during insert and update.

Completed Code

<?php 
namespace App\Models;

use CodeIgniter\Model;

class Users extends Model
{
    protected $table = 'users'; 
    protected $primaryKey = 'id';

    protected $returnType = 'array';

    protected $allowedFields = ['name', 'email','city'];
    protected $useTimestamps = false;

    protected $validationRules = [];
    protected $validationMessages = [];
    protected $skipValidation = false;

}

4. Route

• Open app/Config/Routes.php file.
• Define 2 routes –
  • /
  • loadRecord – Create pagination.

Completed Code

$routes->get('/', 'UsersController::index');
$routes->get('loadRecord', 'UsersController::loadRecord');

5. Controller

Create UsersController.php file in app/Controllers/ folder.

Create 2 methods –

• index() – Redirect to 'loadRecord' route.
• loadRecord() – Using this method create pagination.

Read search value and assign to $search variable. Create object of Users Model.

Call paginate() method on the $users object and pass a number (how many rows display per page).

If $search is not empty then search $search in name, email, and city fields using like().

Initialize $data Array with –

$data = [
   'users' => $paginateData,
   'pager' => $users->pager,
   'search' => $search
];

Pass fetched data to 'users' key, $users->pager to 'pager', and $search to 'search' key.

Using 'users' key access fetched data in view and with 'pager' key create pagination links.

Load index view and pass $data.

Completed Code

<?php namespace App\Controllers;

use App\Models\Users;

class UsersController extends BaseController{

  public function index(){
    return redirect()->route('loadRecord');
  }

  public function loadRecord(){
    $request = service('request');
    $searchData = $request->getGet();

    $search = "";
    if(isset($searchData) && isset($searchData['search'])){
       $search = $searchData['search'];
    }

    // Get data 
    $users = new Users();

    if($search == ''){
      $paginateData = $users->paginate(5);
    }else{
      $paginateData = $users->select('*')
          ->orLike('name', $search)
          ->orLike('email', $search)
          ->orLike('city', $search)
          ->paginate(5);
    }

    $data = [
      'users' => $paginateData,
      'pager' => $users->pager,
      'search' => $search
    ];

    return view('index',$data); 
  }

}

6. View

Create index.php file in app/Views.

Create <form method='get' action="loadRecord" id="searchForm"> and add a textbox and a button. Add onclick event on button to submit the <form >.

Loop on the $users to list fetched records.

Display pagination link using $pager->links().

Completed Code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
   <meta charset="utf-8">
   <title>Make Pagination with search filter in CodeIgniter 4</title>

   <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.0.1/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css">
   <style type="text/css"> 
   a { 
     padding-left: 5px; 
     padding-right: 5px; 
     margin-left: 5px; 
     margin-right: 5px; 
   } 
   .pagination li.active{
     background: deepskyblue;
     color: white;
   }
   .pagination li.active a{
     color: white;
     text-decoration: none;
   }
   </style>
</head>
<body>
   <div class='container' style='margin-top: 20px;'>

     <!-- Search form -->
     <form method='get' action="loadRecord" id="searchForm">
       <input type='text' name='search' value='<?= $search ?>'><input type='button' id='btnsearch' value='Submit' onclick='document.getElementById("searchForm").submit();'>
     </form>
     <br/>

     <table class="table table-hover" border='1' style='border-collapse: collapse;'>
       <thead>
         <tr> 
           <th>ID</th> 
           <th>Name</th> 
           <th>Email</th> 
           <th>City</th> 
         </tr> 
       </thead>
       <tbody>
         <?php 
         foreach($users as $user){ 
           echo "<tr>"; 
           echo "<td>".$user['id']."</td>"; 
           echo "<td>".$user['name']."</td>"; 
           echo "<td>".$user['email']."</td>";  
           echo "<td>".$user['city']."</td>"; 
           echo "</tr>"; 
         } 
         ?> 
       </tbody>
     </table>

     <!-- Paginate --> 
     <div style='margin-top: 10px;'> 
       <?= $pager->links() ?>
     </div>

   </div>
</body>
</html>

7. Run

• Navigate to the project using Command Prompt if you are on Windows or terminal if you are on Mac or Linux, and
• Execute “php spark serve” command.

php spark serve

• Run http://localhost:8080 in the web browser.

8. Demo

View Demo

9. Conclusion

You can learn more about the pagination library from here.

If you want more flexibility and features with pagination then you can use datatable plugin. You can view this tutorial to know datatable pagination integration in CodeIgniter 4.