Version compatibility

This recipe is compatible with eZ Publish 5.2 / 2013.07

1Enhanced views for Content/Location

Enhanced views for Content/Location

In some cases, displaying a content item/location via the built-in ViewController is not sufficient and will lead you to do many sub-requests in order to access different parameters.

Typical use cases are access to:

Settings (either coming from ConfigResolver or ServiceContainer)
Current content's ContentType object
Current location's parent
Current location's children count
Main location and alternative locations for the current content
etc…

In those cases, you may want to use your own controller to display the current content/location instead of using the built-in ViewController.

Description

This feature covers 2 general use cases:

Lets you configure a custom controller with the configured matcher rules.
Lets you override the built-in view controller in a clean way.

Matching custom controllers

This is possible with the following piece of configuration:

ezpublish:
    system:
        my_siteaccess:
            location_view:
                full:
                    # Defining a ruleset matching a location and pointing to a controller
                    my_ruleset:
                        # The following will let you use your own custom controller for location #123
                        # (Here it will use AcmeTestBundle/Controller/DefaultController::viewLocationAction(),
                        # following the Symfony controller notation convention.
                        # Method viewLocationAction() must follow the same prototype as in the built-in ViewController
                        controller: AcmeTestBundle:Default:viewLocation
                        match:
                            Id\Location: 123

You can point to any kind of controller supported by Symfony (including controllers as a service).

The only requirement here is that your action method has a similar signature than ViewController::viewLocation() or ViewController::viewContent() (depending on what you're matching of course). However, note that all arguments are not mandatory since Symfony is clever enough to know what to inject in your action method. Hence you're not forced to mimic the ViewController's signature strictly. For example, if you omit $layout and $params arguments, it will be still valid. Symfony will just avoid to inject them in your action method.

Original ViewController signatures

viewLocation() signature

/**
 * Main action for viewing content through a location in the repository.
 *
 * @param int $locationId
 * @param string $viewType
 * @param boolean $layout
 * @param array $params
 *
 * @throws \Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Exception\AccessDeniedException
 * @throws \Exception
 *
 * @return \Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response
 */
public function viewLocation( $locationId, $viewType, $layout = false, array $params = array() )

viewContent() signature

/**
 * Main action for viewing content.
 *
 * @param int $contentId
 * @param string $viewType
 * @param boolean $layout
 * @param array $params
 *
 * @throws \Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Exception\AccessDeniedException
 * @throws \Exception
 *
 * @return \Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response
 */
public function viewContent( $contentId, $viewType, $layout = false, array $params = array() )

Note

Controller selection doesn't apply to block_view since you can already use your own controller to display blocks.

Warning on caching

Using your own controller, it is your responsibility to define cache rules, like for every custom controller !

So don't forget to set cache rules and the appropriate X-Location-Id header in the returned Response object.

See built-in ViewController for more details on this.

Examples

Enriching built-in ViewController

This example shows how to use a custom controller to enrich the final configured view template. Your controller will here forward the request to the built-in ViewController with some additional parameters.

This is usually the recommended way to use a custom controller.

Always ensure to add new parameters to existing $params associative array, using + union operator or array_merge().
Not doing so (e.g. only passing your custom parameters array) can result with unexpected issues with content preview. Previewed content and other parameters are indeed passed in $params.

ezpublish.yml

ezpublish:
    system:
        ezdemo_frontend_group:
            location_view:
                full:
                    article_test:
                        # Configuring both controller and template as the controller will forward
                        # the request to the ViewController which will render the configured template.
                        controller: AcmeTestBundle:Default:articleViewEnhanced
                        template: AcmeTestBundle:full:article_test.html.twig
                        match:
                            Identifier\ContentType: [article]

Controller

<?php
namespace Acme\TestBundle\Controller;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
use eZ\Bundle\EzPublishCoreBundle\Controller;
 
class DefaultController extends Controller
{
    public function articleViewEnhancedAction( $locationId, $viewType, $layout = false, array $params = array() )
    {
        // Add custom parameters to existing ones.
        $params += array( 'myCustomVariable' => "Hey, I'm a custom message!" );
        // Forward the request to the original ViewController
        // And get the response. Eventually alter it (here we change the smax-age for cache).
        $response = $this->get( 'ez_content' )->viewLocation( $locationId, $viewType, $layout, $params );
        $response->setSharedMaxAge( 600 );
 
        return $response;
    }
}

article_test.html.twig

{% extends noLayout ? viewbaseLayout : "eZDemoBundle::pagelayout.html.twig" %}
 
{% block content %}
    <h1>{{ ez_render_field( content, 'title' ) }}</h1>
    <h2>{{ myCustomVariable }}</h2>
    {{ ez_render_field( content, 'body' ) }}
{% endblock %}

Using a custom controller to get full control

This example shows you how to configure and use your own controller to handle a location.

ezpublish.yml

ezpublish:
    system:
        ezdemo_frontend_group:
            location_view:
                full:
                    my_ruleset:
                        controller: AcmeTestBundle:Default:viewFolder
                        match:
                            Identifier\ContentType: [folder]
                            Identifier\Section: [standard]

Always ensure to have $params argument and to add new parameters to it, using + union operator or array_merge().

Not doing so (e.g. only passing your custom parameters array) can result with unexpected issues with content preview. Previewed content and other parameters are indeed passed in $params.

Controller

<?php
namespace Acme\TestBundle\Controller;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
use eZ\Bundle\EzPublishCoreBundle\Controller;
 
class DefaultController extends Controller
{
    public function viewFolderAction( $locationId, $layout = false, $params = array() )
    {
        $repository = $this->getRepository();
        $location = $repository->getLocationService()->loadLocation( $locationId );
        // Check if content is not already passed. Can be the case when using content preview.
        $content = isset( $params['content'] ) ? $params['content'] : $repository->getContentService()->loadContentByContentInfo( $location->getContentInfo() )
        $response = new Response();
        $response->headers->set( 'X-Location-Id', $locationId );
        // Caching for 1h and make the cache vary on user hash
        $response->setSharedMaxAge( 3600 );
        $response->setVary( 'X-User-Hash' );
        return $this->render(
            'AcmeTestBundle::custom_controller_folder.html.twig',
            array(
                'location' => $location,
                'content' => $content,
                'foo' => 'Hey world!!!',
                'osTypes' => array( 'osx', 'linux', 'losedows' )
            ) + $params
        );
    }
}

custom_controller_folder.html.twig

{% extends "eZDemoBundle::pagelayout.html.twig" %}
 
{% block content %}
<h1>{{ ez_render_field( content, 'title' ) }}</h1>
    <h1>{{ foo }}</h1>
    <ul>
    {% for os in osTypes %}
        <li>{{ os }}</li>
    {% endfor %}
    </ul>
{% endblock %}

Overriding the built-in ViewController

One other way to keep control on what is passed to the view is to use your own controller instead of the built-in ViewController.

Base ViewController being defined as a service, with a service alias, this can be easily achieved from your bundle's configuration:

parameters:
    my.custom.view_controller.class: Acme\TestBundle\MyViewController
 
services:
    my.custom.view_controller:
        class: %my.custom.view_controller.class%
        arguments: [@some_dependency, @other_dependency]
 
    # Change the alias here and make it point to your own controller
    ez_content:
        alias: my.custom.view_controller

Warning

Doing so will completely override the built-in ViewController! Use this at your own risk!

Enhanced views for Content/Location

Description

Matching custom controllers

Original ViewController signatures

Examples

Enriching built-in ViewController

Using a custom controller to get full control

Overriding the built-in ViewController

5 Comments

Ivo Lukač

Jérôme Vieilledent

Ivo Lukač

Xavier Van Herpe

Jérôme Vieilledent

How to use a custom controller to display a content item or location

Enhanced views for Content/Location

Description

Matching custom controllers

Original ViewController signatures

Examples

Enriching built-in ViewController

Using a custom controller to get full control

Overriding the built-in ViewController

5 Comments

Ivo Lukač

Jérôme Vieilledent

Ivo Lukač

Xavier Van Herpe

Jérôme Vieilledent