Let's say that I have a website that has 100 different pages. Each page uses a common header and footer. Inside the header is some dynamic content that comes from a database.

I'd like to avoid having to have code in every single controller and action that passes this common code into the view.

function index()
{
    // It sucks to have to include this on every controller action.
    data['title'] = "This is the index page";
    data['currentUserName'] = "John Smith";

    $this->load->view("main_view", data);
}

function comments()
{
    // It sucks to have to include this on every controller action.
    data['title'] = "Comment list";
    data['currentUserName'] = "John Smith";

    $this->load->view("comment_view", data);
}

I realize that I could refactor the code so that the common parts are in a single function and the function is called by the action. Doing so would reduce SOME of the pain, but it still doesn't feel right since I'd still have to make a call to that function every time.

What's the correct way to handle this?