Zend Layout - A "Smart" layout selector - zend-framework

Question

I currently have Zend setup to look for a layout script in each module's view/scripts/layout.phtml file (ie: /application/modules/moduleName/scripts/layout.phtml). This is by setting layout[] to nothing (blank) in the application.ini file (resources.layout[] = )
The issue is that many modules may share the same layout. I don't want to copy the same exact layout into each module that uses it. I know I can set everything to use one layout script by setting a specific path like resources.layout.layoutpath = /layoutPath and everything would use /layoutpath/layout.phtml, and I know I can set individual pages (or whole Controllers, in the init) by using $this->_helper->layout->setLayout('foobaz');
The issue is that some modules will have different layouts, other than the 'standard' one, and I don't want to set it on a by Controller or by Action basis. I want to set it for the entire module, set in one place (or intuitively figured out by code/Zend automatically). Ideally, it would be setup how it is currently, but if a module doesn't have its own layout.phtml, it would use the default module's layout.
So... how do I do it?

Answer 1

There are several solutions, choose their own strategy
1 extending the action controller
class App_Controller_Action extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
public function init()
{
parent::init();
$moduleName = $this->getRequest()->getModuleName();
$layoutPath = APPLICATION_PATH . '/modules/' . $moduleName . '/layouts';
if (is_dir($layoutPath)) {
$this->view->addScriptPath($layoutPath);
}
}
}
and then do as usual IndexController extends App_Controller_Action ...
if layout file exists in APPLICATION_PATH . '/modules/' . $moduleName . '/layouts' directory - it will ne used instead of default layout
2 you can write frontcontroller plugin
class App_Controller_Plugin_ModuleSwitcher extends Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
{
protected $_view = null;
public function routeShutdown(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
{
$moduleName = $request->getModuleName();
Zend_Layout::startMvc();
$layout = Zend_Layout::getMvcInstance();
$layout->setLayoutPath(APPLICATION_PATH . '/modules/' . $moduleName . '/layouts')->setLayout($moduleName);
return $request;
}
}
and dont forget to google for another solutions ;)

Answer 2

you can set own layout selector in few steps
step 1:
make module admin and default.
step 2:
create layout folder in each module as admin/layouts/scripts
and default/layouts/scripts
put into layout.phtml
step 3:
delete the layout.phtml file from Application/layouts/scripts.
step 4:
make the the Plugin folder inside library and make Plugin.php
as
class Plugin_Layout extends Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
{
public function preDispatch(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
{
$layoutPath = APPLICATION_PATH . '/modules/' . $request->getModuleName() . '/layouts/scripts/';
Zend_Layout::getMvcInstance()->setLayoutPath($layoutPath);
}
}
step 5:
open Application/configs/Appication.ini file
and edit it
as
;resources.layout.layoutPath = APPLICATION_PATH "/layouts/scripts/"
resources.layout.layout = "layout"
;register your plugin
autoloaderNamespaces[] = "Plugin"
resources.frontController.plugins[] = "Plugin_Layout"
Step 6:
open bootstrap file Application/Bootstrap
put the code inside
protected function _initAutoload()
{
$loader = new Zend_Application_Module_Autoloader(array(
'namespace' => '',
'basePath' => APPLICATION_PATH . '/modules/'
));
return $loader;
}
protected function _initPlugins()
{
$this->bootstrap('frontcontroller');
$fc = $this->getResource('frontcontroller');
$fc->registerPlugin(new Plugin_Layout());
}

Answer 3

The quickest solution might be to create a symlink to point what would be a module layout file to the default layout. This won't work on Windows and is harder to maintain.
Better, create a method in your Bootstrap to set the layout.
class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
{
public function _initLayoutScript(){
//ensure layout is setup
$this->bootstrap(array('layout', 'FrontController'));
$layout= $this->getResource('layout');
$front = $this->getResource('FrontController');
//do something with $layout and $front - set layout script/path etc based on request
//You could use file_exists to detect module layout scripts
}
}
See http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.application.quick-start.html#zend.application.quick-start.resources for more details.
Finally, you could write your own application resource for use with Zend_Application.