Zend_Layout & Zend_View Enhancements

Slideshow Transcript

1. Slide 1: Zend_Layout & Zend_View Enhancements Ralph Schindler Software Engineer, Zend Technologies Zend Framework includes a powerful set of components that facilitate best practices in the area of keeping a consistent look and feel within an application. Copyright © 2008, Zend Technologies Inc.
2. Slide 2: Overview • The problem Zend_Layout/ZVE solves • Simple MVC Usage • Benefits of Zend_Layout & ZVE • Advanced Usage Case: local layouts within a module • Q&A
3. Slide 3: Exploring the problem area THE PROBLEM
4. Slide 4: The Problem What are layouts? • Consistent look and feel across application • Independent of dispatched application code • Common page items such as: • Navigation • Headers • Footers • Tag cloud
5. Slide 5: The Problem Previous attempts (PHP4 till now): • Smarty (separation of business & presentation logic) • First divergence from Model 1 programming. • Common solution (included in every template): • Header {include file=‘header.tpl’} • Footer files {include file=‘footer.tpl’} • Navigation {include file=‘common/nav.tpl’} Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_1
6. Slide 6: The Problem Previous attempts in ZF community: • Controller Plugin • dispatchLoopStartup() / preDispatch() • dispatchLoopShutdown() / postDispatch() • ViewRenderer Extension • postDispatch() • View Extension
7. Slide 7: The Problem Does a best practices pattern exist? • Yes, in PoEAA, M. Fowler describes the Two-Step- View Pattern. • “Turns domain data into HTML in two steps: first by forming some kind of logical page, then rendering the logical page into HTML.”
8. Slide 8: The Problem Can ZF implement a Two-Step-View solution? • Yes, if we leverage both the controller and the view layer, a two-step-view is possible. • Lets look at the controller dispatch process: • (image on next screen)
9. Slide 9: The Problem
10. Slide 10: The Problem • Zend_Layout is the solution! • Zend_Layout by itself is simply a view decorator • When used in conjunction with the MVC elements its so much more: • A Controller Plugin for detecting when to render a layout • An Action Helper to facilitate communication between Action Controllers and Layouts • A View Helper to facilitate communication between View Scripts and Layouts
11. Slide 11: The Problem The Two-Step-View and Zend_Layout introduce new concerns: • How can view scripts know the content type of the current layout? • View Scripts might use code that implies a requirement at the layout layer: • Setting page title • Inject JS in the HEAD block • Inject Style requirements in the HEAD block • Etc.
12. Slide 12: The Problem With new problems, come new solutions! • Zend View Enhancements • Doctype helper for setting/getting content type • Head Helpers:  headScript()  headMeta()  headStyle()  headTitle()
13. Slide 13: The Problem In addition to solving problems, there are a few other Zend_View Enhancements to simply life: • Partial(), PartialLoop(), and Placeholder() exist to aid developers in DRYing up their code • Action() View Helper exists to facilitate the dispatching of an Action Controller when a task requires that views attempt to gain new information from the model layer.
14. Slide 14: The Problem Zend_Layout and Zend_View Enhancements are the Solution! • DRY up code • Best Practices • Better code organization both application and display logic • Ability to add new features and requirements to a project without having to retrofit.
15. Slide 15: Using Zend_Layout & Zend_View enhancements within a ZF MVC application BASIC MVC USAGE
16. Slide 16: Basic MVC Usage File structure
17. Slide 17: Basic MVC Usage bootstrap.php
18. Slide 18: Basic MVC Usage Controller Script
19. Slide 19: Basic MVC Usage View Script
20. Slide 20: Basic MVC Usage • Layout Script
21. Slide 21: Basic MVC Usage • Output HTML & Display
22. Slide 22: Basic MVC Usage • HeadTitle Usage
23. Slide 23: Basic MVC Usage Output HTML & View
24. Slide 24: Basic MVC Usage • Partial & PartialLoop • $this->partial($script, $model) • $this->partialLoop($script, $arrayOfModels) • Assumes “model” is • An array • Implements toArray • Or is an object that can return properties via object_get_vars • By passing a “model” as an object, and providing a key to access the properties
25. Slide 25: Basic MVC Usage • PartialLoop
26. Slide 26: Just a little review on the benefits BENEFITS
27. Slide 27: Benefits • DRY up code (before and after) • Ability to scale and grow code without retrofiting
28. Slide 28: Benefits Zend_Layout & Zend_View enhancements are a supported best practice. • Developers can find the code locations for improvements and fixes faster. • Developers can get up to speed quicker with the detailed documentation and best practices these components promote.
29. Slide 29: Brief discussion of the advanced usage possibilities ADVANCED USAGE
30. Slide 30: Advanced Usage AJAX Support • Pulling all the components together to make an Ajaxy Autocompleter • headScript • headStyle • Dojo Toolkit (http://www.dojotoolkit.org/ ) • Zend_Layout
31. Slide 31: Advanced Usage The Model
32. Slide 32: Advanced Usage Controller
33. Slide 33: Advanced Usage View
34. Slide 34: Advanced Usage Layout
35. Slide 35: Advanced Usage
36. Slide 36: Advanced Usage • JSON Output
37. Slide 37: Stump the chump!  Q&A TIME
38. Slide 38: Slides & Sample code will be provided following the confernece CONFERENCE & DEMO
39. Slide 39: Matthew W. O’Phinney’s Blog: http://weierophinney.net/matthew/archives/163-Using-Zend_View-Plac Zend_Layout & Zend_View Manual: http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.layout.html http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.view.html Mailing List & #zftalk RESOURCES
40. Slide 40: Thank You! http://framework.zend.com ralph.schindler@zend.com Copyright © 2008, Zend Technologies Inc.