(Module override/PHP) Checking if a content-item has an image otherwise display a placeholder

Question

I am customising a Joomla module (Override) and it does not seem to accommodate if an image is not selected (just shows a broken image symbol).

What I'd like to do is check if there is an image and if not, assign a placeholder image.

<div class="sp-portfolio-thumb">
    <a href="<?php echo $item->link; ?>"><img src="<?php echo $item->image; ?>" alt="<?php echo $item->title; ?>" /></a>
    <div class="sp-portfolio-overlay">
        <div>
            <!--<a class="sp-portfolio-preview" rel="lightbox" title="<?php echo $item->title; ?>" href="<?php echo $item->image_full; ?>"><?php echo JText::_('PREVIEW'); ?></a>-->
            <?php if($show_readmore){ ?>
                <a class="sp-portfolio-link" href="<?php echo $item->urls->urla; ?>"><?php echo JText::_('MORE_DETAILS'); ?></a>
            <?php } ?>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

I've tried playing about with the part of the code relating to the image, but I'm clearly not very proficient in php.

<?php if ($item->image){ ?>
    <a href="<?php echo $item->link; ?>"><img src="<?php echo $item->image; ?>" alt="<?php echo $item->title; ?>" /></a>
<?php else ?>
    <img class="test" src="images/placeholder.jpg">
<?php } ?>

I'm getting:

0 - syntax error, unexpected 'else' (T_ELSE)

Can any one point me in the right direction with this?

Answer 1

Your are missing brackets around else:

<?php if ($item->image) { ?>
...
    <?php } else { ?>
...
<?php } ?>

You may also give alternative syntax a try, see if it's more readable to you:

<?php if ($item->image) : ?>
...
    <?php else : ?>
...
<?php endif; ?>

Answer 2

Another idea is to initialize an $image variable earlier in your script like so:

$image = $item->image ? $item->image : 'images/placeholder.jpg';

The $image will get the value of the $item->image if it's set, or the placeholder file path you set.

Then you use the $image variable in place of the $item->image in your script. *You won't need the conditional test anymore, as the $image will always have a value.

So this part will look like this:

<a href="<?php echo $item->link; ?>"><img src="<?php echo $image; ?>" alt="<?php echo $item->title; ?>" /></a>

Answer 3

I gave up on this in the end and requested the client manually add the placeholder image when creating the post.

Thank you all for your contributions.