Layout - what it's all about ?

Yii 1.1 General Discussion
1

Hi!

I’m new in Yii and I totally do not understand Yii layout conception.

Let’s say for example, I want to display on my homepage additional message for newcomers.

Do I have to create another layout which differs in just one line to accomplish it ? If so, IMO it doesn’t make any sense.

What I figured out is not ellegant in any way:


<?php if ('index' == $this->id && 'recent' == $this->action->id): ?>

How should I do it in right way ?

Please also tell my, why are the controller variables passed into render() not available in my layout.

Thank you in advance.

2

Hi dotangelo,

I’m note sure I understand what you specific needs are and I don’t know how advanced you are with Yii stuff. But If you only want to display additionnal messages or modules, you don’t need to change of layout.

2 basic things which are helpful:

  • With the function render (which is pretty much the first thing called), you can pass parameters. For a same layout, you can use multiple views + parameters. In my applications, the layout is just the main frame and is almost php free. But it’s up to you where you put the line between content and layout.

  • You can create and use widgets (and pass them parameters): useful for displaying a similar or identical content on different pages (DRY principle).

Your best bet: http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/guide/basics.view

3

Well, I get your point.

But the problem is, that i cannot access arguments passed by render() in my lay-out, although I can access them in view itself.

Thanks for your reply!

4

You can’t access those params with your layout php file. Maybe you need to transfer some of your layout stuff inside your view pages? Or use a different layout? It really depends what you are trying to do.

Think simple and what’s the best way to get a easy-to-maintain, easy-to-modify & re-usable code.

5

You can access Controller’s properties inside a layout. So if you need to use some variables in a layout (e.g. $userMessage), you have to define a property “userMessage” in a controller and access it in a layout this way:




<h2><?php echo $this->userMessage ?></h2>
6

Thank you again for replies.

But isn’t it strange, that we cannot access variables passed through render(), which in fact are available for “view” ?

Or maybe I don’t get the point. :)

7

Or you can use widgets. It all depends on the nature of the message (if it’s for guests only, if you get it from your db, if it is user-personalized…).

Maybe dotangelo if you explain a bit more, we’ll find out what is the best way.

8

Sure.

I just want to display kind of "welcome message" for every user on the main (index) page.

I tought it would be as easy as : if(controller == index and action == index) display_message()

But firstly I’m not sure if this is a good practice, and secondly, I don’t think that defining properties (as andy_s states) for that really simple purpose is a good idea.

Oh, and sorry for my english, it’s not my native language :/.

9

Yeah, that’s not the best idea.

You can do this:


<?php if($this->getRoute() == "index/index") echo "Welcome ".Yii::app()->user->name; ?>
10

As view parameters can differ between views, they are only available inside the rendered view, not the layout. E.g. what if you check for a variable $welcomeMessage in your layout, but only set that in a “index” view, not a “list” view? In strict mode you’d get an error message.

Another approach would be like and_s suggested: You could add a public variable to your basecontroller (in protected/components/Controller.php) like $showWelcome=false; to make it available in all views. Then you set that variable from your controller action whenever you want the welcome message to be displayed.