CODEWITHSUNDEEP
zend-frameworklayoutzend-view
user138095
user138095

Reputation:

Sending variables to the layout in Zend Framework

In my project I have a number of dynamic elements that are consistently on every page. I have put these in my layout.phtml

My question is: How can I send variables into my layout from my controllers?

If I want to send things from my controller I can use:

$this->view->whatever = "foo";

And receive it in the view with

echo $this->whatever;

I cannot figure out how to do the same with my layout. Perhaps there is a better way around the problem?

Upvotes: 39

Views: 41702

Answers (8)

Bruce
Bruce

Reputation: 21

View Helpers are also a good idea. I had a ecommerce website, which I had a layout.phtml with menus with categories and subcategories that I needed to bring from the database.

For this, I did the following:

Bootstrap.php:

protected function _initHelperPath() 
{

    $view = $this->bootstrap('view')->getResource('view');

    $view->setHelperPath(APPLICATION_PATH . '/views/helpers', 'View_Helper');

}

application.ini:

resources.view[]=

In views/helpers, I had a file called Menus:

class View_Helper_Menus extends Zend_View_Helper_Abstract {

    public function categories(){

       $categories = new Application_Model_DbTable_Categories();

       return $categories->fetchAll();

    }

    public function subCategories(){

        $subCategories = new Application_Model_DbTable_SubCategories();

        return $subCategories->fetchAll();

    }

}

In layout.phtml, I just had to call the specific helper, and call the methods from it:

$menu = $this->getHelper('Menus');
$categories = $menu->categories();
$subCategories = $menu->subCategories();

Hope it helps someone that needs to bring data from database to render the layout.

Upvotes: 0

kaushik
kaushik

Reputation: 2502

class IndexController extends Zend_Controller_Action
{

   public function init()
   {
      $this->_layout = $this->_helper->layout->getLayoutInstance();
      $this->_layout->whatever = $this->view->render('test.phtml);
   }
}

In the layout file you can call

<p><?php echo $this->layout()->whatever ?>

If in some actions if you don't want that section then:

public function viewAction()
{
   $this->_layout->whatever = null;
}

Upvotes: 1

Haroon
Haroon

Reputation: 500

Well i guess you can have another solution by creating view helper.. create a file in application/views/helper and name it what ever you want abc.php then put the following code over there.

class Zend_View_helper_abc {

    static public function abc() {
        $html = 'YOUR HTML';
        return $html;
    }
}

So you can use this helper in layout like..

<?= $this->abc() ?>

Upvotes: 1

jMo
jMo

Reputation: 114

The standard view variables are available if you use the layout within the MVC. In bootstrap file, include this:

Zend_Layout::startMvc();

You must then tell each controller (or even each action, if you wanted granular control over several different layouts) which layout to use. I put mine in the init() of each controller. Here's an example, if your layout file is named layout.phtml:

$this->_helper->layout->setLayout('layout');

Upvotes: 3

conradfr
conradfr

Reputation: 184

As a side note, if you send json at some point in your app be careful that global view variables are not sent with the response.

Upvotes: 0

Tim Fountain
Tim Fountain

Reputation: 33148

The layout is a view, so the method for assigning variables is the same. In your example, if you were to echo $this->whatever in your layout, you should see the same output.

One common problem is how to assign variables that you use on every page to your layout, as you wouldn't want to have to duplicate the code in every controller action. One solution to this is to create a plugin that assigns this data before the layout is rendered. E.g.:

<?php

class My_Layout_Plugin extends Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
{
   public function preDispatch(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
   {
      $layout = Zend_Layout::getMvcInstance();
      $view = $layout->getView();

      $view->whatever = 'foo';
   }
}

then register this plugin with the front controller, e.g.

Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance()->registerPlugin(new My_Layout_Plugin());

Upvotes: 47

10us
10us

Reputation: 1630

Without using helpers or plugins do : 

Zend_Layout::getMvcInstance()->assign('whatever', 'foo');

After this you can use the following in your layout:

<?php echo $this->layout()->whatever; ?>

This will print "foo".

Upvotes: 43

user138095
user138095

Reputation:

I have a implemented a Base Controller which all other controllers extend.

So I have a controller...

<?php
class BaseController extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
  public function init()
  {
    $this->view->foo = "bar";
  }
}

and in the layout and/or view

<?= $this->foo ?>

Upvotes: 7

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