Yii - how to retrieve model data into a layout page? - php

Question

I wish to list some Categories name on my layout main.php page.
Since the layout doesn't have any associated controller or model, I wish to create a static method like this on Category model:
public static function getHeaderModels()
{
// get all models here
return $models;
}
and then in the main layout
<?php
$models = Category::getHeaderModels();
foreach($models as $model)
{
// ....
}
?>
My question is a very basic one:
How can I retrieve those category names from the model ?
Here is the full model:
class Category extends CActiveRecord {
public static function model($className=__CLASS__) {
return parent::model($className);
}
public function tableName() {
return 'category';
}
public function rules() {
return array(
array('parent_id', 'numerical', 'integerOnly' => true),
array('name', 'length', 'max' => 255),
array('id, parent_id, name', 'safe', 'on' => 'search'),
);
}
public function relations() {
return array(
'users' => array(self::MANY_MANY, 'User', 'categories(category_id, user_id)'),
);
}
public function scopes()
{
return array(
'toplevel'=>array(
'condition' => 'parent_id IS NULL'
),
);
}
public function attributeLabels() {
$id = Yii::t('trans', 'ID');
$parentId = Yii::t('trans', 'Parent');
$name = Yii::t('trans', 'Name');
return array(
'id' => $id,
'parent_id' => $parentId,
'name' => $name,
);
}
public function search() {
$criteria = new CDbCriteria;
$criteria->compare('id', $this->id);
$criteria->compare('parent_id', $this->parent_id);
$criteria->compare('name', $this->name, true);
return new CActiveDataProvider(get_class($this), array(
'criteria' => $criteria,
));
}
public static function getHeaderModels() {
//what sintax should I use to retrieve the models here ?
    return $models;
}

Answer 1

May be this answer can help you. First you must create a Widget so you can use it more effectively.
First Create a new widget. Let say the name is CategoryWidget. Put this widget under components directory protected/components.
class CategoryWidget extends CWidget {
public function run() {
$models = Category::model()->findAll();
$this->render('category', array(
'models'=>$models
));
}
}
Then create a view for this widget. The file name is category.php.
Put it under protected/components/views
category.php
<?php if($models != null): ?>
<ul>
<?php foreach($models as $model): ?>
<li><?php echo $model->name; ?></li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>
Then call this widget from your main layout.
main.php
// your code ...
<?php $this->widget('CategoryWidget') ?>
...

Answer 2

If I'm not mistaken, you can also pass any variable available in a view, on to the layout.
You just do it from the view that has your variable.
This is the catch: you need to declare the variable which will receive your value, in the controller, like this:
<?php
class MyController extends Controller
{
public $myvariable;
After this, you will assign your model or whatever to this public variable inside your view,
like this:
$this->myvariable = $modeldata;
After you have assigned your model data to controller's public attribute,
you can easily display it inside your layout e.g.
echo $this->myvariable;
Yii already does this by assigning menu items to column2 sidebar menu, from view, like this:
$this->menu=array(
array('label'=>'List Item', 'url'=>array('index')),
array('label'=>'Manage Item', 'url'=>array('admin')),
);
You can see it in all create/update views that gii crud creates.