View helpers are a convenient way of encapsulating logic that is useful during template rendering. All registered view helpers are accessible as methods of $this within templates. See the Laminas manual for more general information. The notes below account for some VuFind-specific details (since VuFind's theme system makes some details slightly different than in a “vanilla” Laminas application).

Creating a view helper is simple:

• Pick a namespace for your view helpers. This should usually be inside a custom module.
• In your chosen namespace, create a class that extends \Laminas\View\Helper\AbstractHelper. You can either implement all of your functionality in the class's __invoke() method (in which case you can use the helper with calls like $this->myHelper()) or else you can leave __invoke() out and add a number of public methods (in which case you can use the helper with calls like $this->myHelper()->myMethod()).
• Create a custom theme if you have not done so already.
• Configure the new helper in the 'helpers' section of the theme.config.php file for your current theme. This is a standard Laminas service manager configuration with invokables, factories, etc.