Yii2 Render widget dynamically - php

Question

I would like to render JQuery UI sortable list (I am using Yii2 JUI widget), to be populated with data from database table. I am passing data from database to the view and have it in a variable. The item HTML structure looks like this:
<div class="row row-item dist simple-border">
<div class="col-md-4">
<img alt="Bootstrap Image Preview" src="<IMAGE_PATH>" />
</div>
<div class="col-md-8">
<h4>
<ITEM DESCRIPTION>
</h4>
</div>
</div>
My question is: What is the best way to populate items inside the Widget, as it is impossible to execute php code within.
<?= yii\jui\Sortable::widget([
'items' => [
------<expected foreach php loop for each model>------
['content' =>
<This is where one HTML item goes>
],
------<end foreach>------
],
'options' => ['class' => 'connectedSortable',],
'clientOptions' => ['cursor' => 'move', 'connectWith' => '.connectedSortable']
]) ?>
My first idea was to create a function that returns item content as a string, but it doesn't seem like a good, efficient practice. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Regards.
EDIT: So far, I have created a function, which renders mentioned above items by concatenation. Still, I don't think this is the proper way to do it. I am still new to Yii and would be thankful for any tips. Regards.

Answer 1

I have found such solution for my problem, feel free to review and improve it.
Controller
public function actionIndex()
{
$searchModel = new Exchange();
$dataProvider = $searchModel->getOwnerItems(Yii::$app->request->queryParams);
$ownerItems = $this->getOwnerItems($dataProvider);
return $this->render('index', [
'ownerItems' => $ownerItems,
]);
}
protected function getOwnerItems($dataProvider){
$items=array();
foreach($dataProvider->models as $model){
$item=array('content' => '<div class="row row-item dist simple-border"> <div class="col-md-4"> <img alt="Bootstrap Image Preview" src="uploads/'.$model->image.'" /> </div> <div class="col-md-8"> <h4>'. $model->name .'</h4> </div> </div>');
array_push($items,$item);
}
return $items;
}
View
<?= yii\jui\Sortable::widget([
'items' => $ownerItems,
'options' => ['class' => 'connectedSortable',],
'clientOptions' => ['cursor' => 'move', 'connectWith' => '.connectedSortable']
]) ?>
I am aware of possible imperfection of this solution, but I have no other ideas at the moment. Regards