ZF strange layout behavior - zend-framework

Question

I have a strange behavior with ZF that I can't resolve. I have a layout.phtml and a login.phtml. So when the user is logged in the layout.phtml should be displayed else the login.phtml. This also works, but before displaying the login.phtml, ZF go through layout.phtml and I can confirm this due to errors in the error.log file.
Here what I have in the bootstrap:
public static function _initAcl()
{
$auth = Zend_Auth::getInstance();
$acl = new BM_Acl($auth);
$front = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
$front->registerPlugin(
new BM_Controller_Plugin_Acl($auth, $acl)
);
}
Here what I have in the auth controller:
public function indexAction() {
$form = new BM_Form_Login();
$request = $this->getRequest();
if ($request->isPost()) {
if ($form->isValid($request->getPost())) {
if ($this->_process($form->getValues())) {
// We're authenticated! Redirect to the home page
//json validation on login page
$var = json_encode(array('valid' => true, 'redirect' => 'index'));
echo $var;
exit();
} else {
$var = json_encode(array('valid' => FALSE, 'error' => 'Authentication failed!', 'redirect' => 'auth'));
echo $var;
exit();
}
}
}// end if is POST
$this->_helper->layout()->setLayout('login'); // special login page
$this->view->form = $form;
}
Any help will be appreciated...
Regards
Andrea
P.S. This only happens when I start the application from a new browser window. If I refersh the login page, the layout is not called anymore...

Answer 1

Views are for single pages. If you have a singular page you wish to display with a template like layout.phtml, you would edit the index.phtml inside the index action's views directory. If you want to disable the main layout
$this->_helper->layout()->disableLayout();
Or use a blank layout
$this->_helper->layout()->setLayout('blank');
Any code specific to a singular page should be done with a view.

Answer 2

Iam not sure, but the i think the layout is redered before the view scripts. You could try to put you logic inside the preDispatch Hook in your Controller.
public function preDispatch() {
$form = new BM_Form_Login();
$request = $this->getRequest();
if ($request->isPost()) {
if ($form->isValid($request->getPost())) {
if ($this->_process($form->getValues())) {
// We're authenticated! Redirect to the home page
//json validation on login page
$var = json_encode(array('valid' => true, 'redirect' => 'index'));
echo $var;
exit();
} else {
$var = json_encode(array('valid' => FALSE, 'error' => 'Authentication failed!', 'redirect' => 'auth'));
echo $var;
exit();
}
}
}// end if is POST
$this->_helper->layout()->setLayout('login'); // special login page
$this->view->form = $form;
}
Or use an ControllerPlugin:
Zend Controller Plugin - Doc

Answer 3

When I understand right, you have a layout that you use on all pages, except for login. Instead of using the view for login as a layout, you should disable layout for this action and just render the login.phtml normally. You can do this by calling the following in your controller's loginAction, instead of setLayout('login'):
$this->_helper->layout()->disableLayout();
This will just disable the layout, but the view is rendered normally.
If you want to do it your way, you have to place the login.phtml into the layout-path, not in the view-path (if you want a more detailed explanation, just ask in a comment).