How to load data in view file in magento? - php

Question

I just started to learn magento.I have a list of data in controller. I want to show that list in my view file. How can i do that ?
Here is my controller action- category. Where i getting the array of data.
<?php
class Company_Web_IndexController extends Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action
{
public function indexAction()
{
$this->loadLayout();
$this->renderLayout();
}
public function addcategoryAction()
{
if ($this->getRequest()->isPost())
{
$data = $this->getRequest()->getParams();
$catName = $data['catName'];
$status = $data['status'];
$data = array('name'=>$catName,'status'=>$status);
$model = Mage::getModel('web/web')->setData($data);
try {
$insertId = $model->save()->getId();
$this->_redirect('web/index/category');
} catch (Exception $e){
echo $e->getMessage();
}
}
$this->loadLayout();
$this->renderLayout();
}
public function categoryAction()
{
$collection = Mage::getModel('web/web')->getCollection()->getData();
$this->loadLayout();
$this->renderLayout();
}
}
?>

Answer 1

Magento works with block type i.e where you have mentioned your phtml file to render the content for category action i.e
<web_index_category>
<reference name="content">
<block type="core/template" name="category.block" template="customfile.phtml" />
</reference>
</web_index_category>
for the block type you can drfine your custome type
i.e. type="web/category"
and create one Block
Company_Web_Block_Category extends Mage_Core_Block_Template
inside this create a function and return your collection
i.e.
public function getCollection()
{
return Mage::getModel('web/web')->getCollection()->getData();
}
In your phtnl access this function using,
$this->getCollection()
Check here for more elaboration
http://www.gravitywell.co.uk/blog/post/how-to-creating-your-own-custom-block-in-magento
http://www.magentocommerce.com/knowledge-base/entry/magento-for-dev-part-4-magento-layouts-blocks-and-templates

Answer 2

You could do this from the controller, but it's much simpler and much more in line with Magento best practices to pass data to templates via Blocks.
To figure out which template and block is being rendered, go to System > Configuration > Advanced > Developer > Debug and enable template path hints (with block names). Now when you load the frontend, you'll see red borders around parts of the page that illustrate which block and template combination is loading various parts of the webpage.
Properties and methods of a Block object are automatically available to the template being rendered by that Block.
To make that data available in your template, just add a method to the Block that's rendering the template, then call that method from within your template.
As a shortcut, you could also just call $collection_data = Mage::getModel('web/web')->getCollection()->getData(); directly inside your template.
For more information, see Magento for Developers: Part 4 - Magento Layouts, Blocks and Templates.