Change layout in the controller of Zend Framework

Question

I am learning ZF2.0 beta. In ZF1 we can change layout on the fly in controller:

Zend_Layout::getMvcInstance()->setLayout('layoutname');

But in ZF2.0 Zend\Layout class doesn't has method getMvcInstance(). I think that it can be made using dependency injections but not sure.

Answer 1

The best way I've found to set templates in actions is like this

public function someAction() {
    $viewModel = new ViewModel();
    $viewModel->setTemplate('layout/custom');

    return $viewModel;
}

In your module.config.php make sure you've set your appropriate template_map path.

    'view_manager' => array(
    'template_map' => array(
        'layout/custom' => __DIR__ . '/../view/layout/custom.phtml'
    ),
),

Answer 2

public function someAction() {
    $layout = $this->layout();
    $layout->setTemplate('layout/custom');
    $viewModel = new ViewModel();
    return $viewModel;
}

Answer 3

You will also have to set the layout either in the bootstrap or when using di. Di example:

    'Zend\View\Resolver\TemplateMapResolver' => array(
        'parameters' => array(
            'map'  => array(
            'layout/different' => __DIR__ . '/../view/layout/different.phtml',
            ),
        ),
    ),

Answer 4

I have tried the above tips.

public function somethingAction () 
{
    // Do some intelligent work

    $this->layout('layout/different');
}

I got the correct result with this snippet.

public function someAction() {
    $viewModel = new ViewModel();
    $viewModel->setTemplate('layout/custom');

    return $viewModel;
}

It fetched both layouts(default & current module).

Answer 5

The ZF2 is heavily under development and no guarantee can be made the way it works now, will be the way it works when ZF2 reaches a stable state.

However, the new view layer from Zend\Mvc is recently merged so you should be able to do this now (with current master):

public function somethingAction () 
{
    // Do some intelligent work

    $this->layout('layout/different');
}