How to insert database info into a layout with Zend Framework - php

Question

I have started to learn Zend Framework. I have done the quickstart tutorial and the akrabat tutorial.
Now I am trying to work on some of my own project with Zend Framework and it is a frustrating experience to say the least.
I made a layout that creates my standard header that shows up on every page. Now I want to display the user's name in the header which is retrieved from a mysql database. I don't know how to go about it. Do I interact with a controller and model from the layout??
Also, are there any other good guides for this kind of information? The zend documentation seems to be very detailed for each component but not very good at explaining how things work together.

Answer 1

Within your layout you will need this
<?= $this->layout()->content ?>
This will output anything from your view script.
In your project structure you need a controller and a view script for that controller. You should know how to access this if you have done the tutorial.
Your controller should get the username from the DB and assign it to the view like so
$this->view->username = "John";
Then in your view
echo $this->username;
EDIT
In your Bootstrap class register a new plugin
$plugin = new Default_Controller_Plugin_Username();
Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance()->registerPlugin($plugin);
This plugin might look like this
class Default_Controller_Plugin_Username
extends Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
implements Lib_Observer_Observable
{
public function preDispatch(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
{
//Do things in here to get username
//Then you can set it in the registry
Zend_Registry::set("username", $username);
}
}

Answer 2

If you have the $user from some kind of auth/login sequence, then you might be using Zend_Auth. The default container for the identity data is session-based, so depending upon your session-handling settings, you might not need to hit the db each time to get that user info.
The bigger question to me is whether you need a front controller plugin to place this $user info from Zend_Auth into the view (to be rendered in your layout) or whether the layout can pull from Zend_Auth directly.
I've seen (and used) both.

Answer 3

Your problem is the problem of the block composition on the page. As you may know Zend Framework is only a Framework, so there's really more than one way to deal with this problem.
To fill the layout part you could for example use :
some variable containing the block and given to the view for each controller (with a controller plugin? a main Controller that all controllers inherits?
the Action Helper in the view to chain an internal call to another MVC call in this part of the layout
the Action stack
certainly others things
I think the nicest one is the Action stack. The way it work is:
You make a main query on the MVC-thing (where you get yout fooAction called in a controller)
You call the Action stack in this Action to tell ZF that some others internal calls on some other Action should be done. Here you can list all blocks that should be filled in the Layout
Others bloacks are called by the internal MVC loop. Some other barAction userAction entry points are called, in these actions you tell the Layout which key of the layout is filled by the resulting view rendering with setResponseSegment.
Here's how it looks in code:
For the block action (here a /modulefoo/titi/pilili internal request), that should fill the 'foobar' block of the Layout :
public function pilipiliAction() {
(...) // do things
$this->_helper->viewRenderer->setResponseSegment('foobar');
}
On the layout you echo this block with:
<?= $this->foobar ?>
Now this action must be called by your main action (with the Action Stack helper). But the nicest way will be to use a new custom helper that will stack all the blocks actions.
Here 's a fooAction on a controller, your classical entry point. At the end of the action an helper is called that should build the blocks of the layouts
public function fooAction() {
(...) // do things
// Build Main layout
$this->_helper->LayoutBuilder();
}
Here's an example of what this helper would do (should work, it's a simplified version of an existing one which makes a lot of others things, like managing cache for blocks):
class My_Action_Helper_LayoutBuilder extends Zend_Controller_Action_Helper_Abstract
{
/**
* #var $actionStack
* local ActionStack builtin helper used to Stack several MVC actions,
* for action for each Layout block
*/
protected static $actionStack;
/**
* #var _layout
* reference to the general layout collecting view
*/
protected $_layout;
public function __construct() {
self::$actionStack = Zend_Controller_Action_HelperBroker::getStaticHelper('actionStack');
$this->_layout = Zend_Layout::getMvcInstance();
}
public function direct($blocklist = null) {
$layoutblocks = array(
array('module' => 'default',
'controller' => 'index',
'action' => 'nav')
,
array('module' => 'modulefoo',
'controller' => 'titi',
'action' => 'pilipili') // action given upper
);
$auth = Zend_Auth::getInstance();
if ($auth->hasIdentity()) {
$request = Zend_Registry::get('request');
$module = $request->getModuleName();
$layoutblocks[] = array('module' => $module,
'controller' => 'index',
'action' => 'modulenav');
}
if (isset($blocklist))
{ //user had his own blocklist to add
$layoutblocks = array_merge($layoutblocks,$blocklist);
}
$this->buildCompositeLayout($layoutblocks);
}
public function buildCompositeLayout($blocklist = null) {
foreach($blocklist as $MVCBlock) {
$block = $MVCBlock['action'];
if (!isset($MVCBlock['module'])) {
$module = $this->getRequest()->getModuleName();
$front = $this->getFrontController();
$module = $front->getDispatcher()->getDefaultModule();
} else {
$module = $MVCBlock['module'];
}
if (!isset($MVCBlock['controller'])) {
if (!isset($front)) {
$front = $this->getFrontController();
}
$controller = $front->getDispatcher()->getDefaultController();
} else {
$controller = $MVCBlock['controller'];
}
// Here we stack actions
self::$actionStack->actionToStack($block,
$controller,
$module,
);
}
}
But as I said before, there's more than one way to do it. I like this way as I can interactively add new blocks for some requests, add some caching in the block rendering, and I can as well 'forget' to call the LayoutBuilder helper for some actions, like the ajax ones. The secret is that the MVC loop of Zend Framework is really a loop; it can run several actions for one request.

Answer 4

Zend_Auth rocks.. you need to use it.
There's a good tutorial on Zend_Auth here:
http://akrabat.com/zend-auth-tutorial/
This includes the process of creating a View Helper to do the repetitive task of displaying the Username, role and a logout link.
Take the time to come to grips with View Helpers.. they really explode your productivity and code reuse when coding views.
Duncan.

Answer 5

#Mike, this answer from #jakenoble is exactly correct for your scenario.
If you want to perform some global actions in your controllers then i suggest to create your own base controller class inherited from Zend_Controller say MyBaseController.
Then you can inherit all your controllers from MyBaseController, this way all the actions performed in init() method of MyBaseController will global to your complete project.