Controller Plugins¶
When using the AbstractActionController
or AbstractRestfulController
, or if you implement the
setPluginManager
method in your custom controllers, you have access to a number of pre-built plugins.
Additionally, you can register your own custom plugins with the manager.
The built-in plugins are:
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\AcceptableViewModelSelector
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\FlashMessenger
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\Forward
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\Identity
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\Layout
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\Params
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\PostRedirectGet
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\Redirect
- Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\Url
If your controller implements the setPluginManager
, getPluginManager
and plugin
methods, you can access
these using their shortname via the plugin()
method:
1 | $plugin = $this->plugin('url');
|
For an extra layer of convenience, both AbstractActionController
and AbstractRestfulController
have
__call()
implementations that allow you to retrieve plugins via method calls:
1 | $plugin = $this->url();
|
AcceptableViewModelSelector Plugin¶
The AcceptableViewModelSelector
is a helper that can be used to select an appropriate view model based on
user defined criteria will be tested against the Accept header in the request.
As an example:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | use Zend\Mvc\Controller\AbstractActionController;
use Zend\View\Model\JsonModel;
class SomeController extends AbstractActionController
{
protected $acceptCriteria = array(
'Zend\View\Model\JsonModel' => array(
'application/json',
),
'Zend\View\Model\FeedModel' => array(
'application/rss+xml',
),
);
public function apiAction()
{
$viewModel = $this->acceptableViewModelSelector($this->acceptCriteria);
// Potentially vary execution based on model returned
if ($viewModel instanceof JsonModel) {
// ...
}
}
}
|
The above would return a standard Zend\View\Model\ViewModel
instance if the criteria is not met, and the
specified view model types if the specific criteria is met. Rules are matched in order, with the first match
“winning.”
FlashMessenger Plugin¶
The FlashMessenger
is a plugin designed to create and retrieve self-expiring, session-based messages. It
exposes a number of methods:
-
setSessionManager
(Zend\Session\ManagerInterface $manager) Allows you to specify an alternate session manager, if desired.
Return type: Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\FlashMessenger
-
getSessionManager
() Allows you to retrieve the session manager registered.
Return type: Zend\Session\ManagerInterface
-
getContainer
() Returns the
Zend\Session\Container
instance in which the flash messages are stored.Return type: Zend\Session\Container
-
setNamespace
(string $namespace = 'default') Allows you to specify a specific namespace in the container in which to store or from which to retrieve flash messages.
Return type: Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\FlashMessenger
getNamespace()
retrieves the name of the flash message namespace.
-
getNamespace
() Retrieves the name of the flash message namespace.
Return type: string
-
addMessage
(string $message) Allows you to add a message to the current namespace of the session container.
Return type: Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\FlashMessenger
-
hasMessages
() Lets you determine if there are any flash messages from the current namespace in the session container.
Return type: boolean
-
getMessages
() Retrieves the flash messages from the current namespace of the session container
Return type: array
-
clearMessages
() Clears all flash messages in current namespace of the session container. Returns
true
if messages were cleared,false
if none existed.Return type: boolean
-
hasCurrentMessages
() Indicates whether any messages were added during the current request.
Return type: boolean
-
getCurrentMessages
() Retrieves any messages added during the current request.
Return type: array
-
clearCurrentMessages
() Removes any messages added during the current request. Returns
true
if current messages were cleared,false
if none existed.Return type: boolean
-
clearMessagesFromContainer
() Clear all messages from the container. Returns
true
if any messages were cleared,false
if none existed.Return type: boolean
This plugin also provides four meaningful namespaces, namely: INFO, ERROR, WARNING, SUCCESS. The following functions are related to these namespaces:
-
addInfoMessage
() - Add a message to “info” namespace
Return type: Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\FlashMessenger
-
hasCurrentInfoMessages
() - Check to see if messages have been added to “info” namespace within this request
Return type: boolean
-
addWarningMessage
() - Add a message to “warning” namespace
Return type: Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\FlashMessenger
-
hasCurrentWarningMessages
() - Check to see if messages have been added to “warning” namespace within this request
Return type: boolean
-
addErrorMessage
() - Add a message to “error” namespace
Return type: Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\FlashMessenger
-
hasCurrentErrorMessages
() - Check to see if messages have been added to “error” namespace within this request
Return type: boolean
-
addSuccessMessage
() - Add a message to “success” namespace
Return type: Zend\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\FlashMessenger
-
hasCurrentSuccessMessages
() - Check to see if messages have been added to “success” namespace within this request
Return type: boolean
Additionally, the FlashMessenger
implements both IteratorAggregate
and Countable
, allowing you to
iterate over and count the flash messages in the current namespace within the session container.
Examples
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | public function processAction()
{
// ... do some work ...
$this->flashMessenger()->addMessage('You are now logged in.');
return $this->redirect()->toRoute('user-success');
}
public function successAction()
{
$return = array('success' => true);
$flashMessenger = $this->flashMessenger();
if ($flashMessenger->hasMessages()) {
$return['messages'] = $flashMessenger->getMessages();
}
return $return;
}
|
Forward Plugin¶
Occasionally, you may want to dispatch additional controllers from within the matched controller – for instance,
you might use this approach to build up “widgetized” content. The Forward
plugin helps enable this.
For the Forward
plugin to work, the controller calling it must be ServiceLocatorAware
; otherwise, the
plugin will be unable to retrieve a configured and injected instance of the requested controller.
The plugin exposes a single method, dispatch()
, which takes two arguments:
$name
, the name of the controller to invoke. This may be either the fully qualified class name, or an alias defined and recognized by theServiceManager
instance attached to the invoking controller.$params
is an optional array of parameters with which to seed aRouteMatch
object for purposes of this specific request. Meaning the parameters will be matched by their key to the routing identifiers in the config (otherwise non-matching keys are ignored)
Forward
returns the results of dispatching the requested controller; it is up to the developer to determine
what, if anything, to do with those results. One recommendation is to aggregate them in any return value from the
invoking controller.
As an example:
1 2 3 4 5 | $foo = $this->forward()->dispatch('foo', array('action' => 'process'));
return array(
'somekey' => $somevalue,
'foo' => $foo,
);
|
Identity Plugin¶
The Identity
plugin allows for getting the identity from the AuthenticationService
.
For the Identity
plugin to work, a Zend\Authentication\AuthenticationService
name or alias must be
defined and recognized by the ServiceManager
.
Identity
returns the identity in the AuthenticationService
or null if no identity is available.
As an example:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | public function testAction()
{
if ($user = $this->identity()) {
// someone is logged !
} else {
// not logged in
}
}
|
When invoked, the Identity
plugin will look for a service by the name or alias
Zend\Authentication\AuthenticationService
in the ServiceManager
.
You can provide this service to the ServiceManager
in a configuration file:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | // In a configuration file...
return array(
'service_manager' => array(
'aliases' => array(
'Zend\Authentication\AuthenticationService' => 'my_auth_service',
),
'invokables' => array(
'my_auth_service' => 'Zend\Authentication\AuthenticationService',
),
),
);
|
The Identity
plugin exposes two methods:
-
setAuthenticationService
(Zend\Authentication\AuthenticationService $authenticationService) Sets the authentication service instance to be used by the plugin.
Return type: void
-
getAuthenticationService
() Retrieves the current authentication service instance if any is attached.
Return type: Zend\Authentication\AuthenticationService
Layout Plugin¶
The Layout
plugin allows for changing layout templates from within controller actions.
It exposes a single method, setTemplate()
, which takes one argument:
$template
, the name of the template to set.
As an example:
1 | $this->layout()->setTemplate('layout/newlayout');
|
It also implements the __invoke
magic method, which allows for even easier setting of the template:
1 | $this->layout('layout/newlayout');
|
Params Plugin¶
The Params
plugin allows for accessing parameters in actions from different sources.
It exposes several methods, one for each parameter source:
-
fromFiles
(string $name = null, mixed $default = null) For retrieving all or one single file. If
$name
is null, all files will be returned.Return type: array|ArrayAccess|null
-
fromHeader
(string $header = null, mixed $default = null) For retrieving all or one single header parameter. If
$header
is null, all header parameters will be returned.Return type: null|Zend\Http\Header\HeaderInterface
-
fromPost
(string $param = null, mixed $default = null) For retrieving all or one single post parameter. If
$param
is null, all post parameters will be returned.Return type: mixed
-
fromQuery
(string $param = null, mixed $default = null) For retrieving all or one single query parameter. If
$param
is null, all query parameters will be returned.Return type: mixed
-
fromRoute
(string $param = null, mixed $default = null) For retrieving all or one single route parameter. If
$param
is null, all route parameters will be returned.Return type: mixed
It also implements the __invoke
magic method, which allows for short circuiting to the fromRoute
method:
1 2 3 | $this->params()->fromRoute('param', $default);
// or
$this->params('param', $default);
|
Post/Redirect/Get Plugin¶
When a user sends a POST request (e.g. after submitting a form), their browser will try to protect them from sending the POST again, breaking the back button, causing browser warnings and pop-ups, and sometimes reposting the form. Instead, when receiving a POST, we should store the data in a session container and redirect the user to a GET request.
This plugin can be invoked with two arguments:
$redirect
, a string containing the redirect location which can either be a named route or a URL, based on the contents of the second parameter.$redirectToUrl
, a boolean that when set to TRUE, causes the first parameter to be treated as a URL instead of a route name (this is required when redirecting to a URL instead of a route). This argument defaults to false.
When no arguments are provided, the current matched route is used.
Example Usage
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | // Pass in the route/url you want to redirect to after the POST
$prg = $this->prg('/user/register', true);
if ($prg instanceof \Zend\Http\PhpEnvironment\Response) {
// returned a response to redirect us
return $prg;
} elseif ($prg === false) {
// this wasn't a POST request, but there were no params in the flash messenger
// probably this is the first time the form was loaded
return array('form' => $myForm);
}
// $prg is an array containing the POST params from the previous request
$form->setData($prg);
// ... your form processing code here
|
File Post/Redirect/Get Plugin¶
While similar to the standard Post/Redirect/Get Plugin, the File PRG Plugin will work for forms with file inputs. The difference is in the behavior: The File PRG Plugin will interact directly with your form instance and the file inputs, rather than only returning the POST params from the previous request.
By interacting directly with the form, the File PRG Plugin will turn off any file inputs’
required
flags for already uploaded files (for a partially valid form state), as well as
run the file input filters to move the uploaded files into a new location
(configured by the user).
Warning
You must attach a Filter for moving the uploaded files to a new location, such as the RenameUpload Filter, or else your files will be removed upon the redirect.
This plugin can be invoked with three arguments:
$form
: the form instance.$redirect
: (Optional) a string containing the redirect location which can either be a named route or a URL, based on the contents of the third parameter. If this argument is not provided, it will default to the current matched route.$redirectToUrl
: (Optional) a boolean that when set to TRUE, causes the second parameter to be treated as a URL instead of a route name (this is required when redirecting to a URL instead of a route). This argument defaults to false.
Example Usage
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 | $myForm = new Zend\Form\Form('my-form');
$myForm->add(array(
'type' => 'Zend\Form\Element\File',
'name' => 'file',
));
// NOTE: Without a filter to move the file,
// our files will disappear between the requests
$myForm->getInputFilter()->getFilterChain()->attach(
new Zend\Filter\File\RenameUpload(array(
'target' => './data/tmpuploads/file',
'randomize' => true,
))
);
// Pass in the form and optional the route/url you want to redirect to after the POST
$prg = $this->fileprg($myForm, '/user/profile-pic', true);
if ($prg instanceof \Zend\Http\PhpEnvironment\Response) {
// Returned a response to redirect us
return $prg;
} elseif ($prg === false) {
// First time the form was loaded
return array('form' => $myForm);
}
// Form was submitted.
// $prg is now an array containing the POST params from the previous request,
// but we don't have to apply it to the form since that has already been done.
// Process the form
if ($form->isValid()) {
// ...Save the form...
return $this->redirect()->toRoute('/user/profile-pic/success');
} else {
// Form not valid, but file uploads might be valid and uploaded
$fileErrors = $form->get('file')->getMessages();
if (empty($fileErrors)) {
$tempFile = $form->get('file')->getValue();
}
}
|
Redirect Plugin¶
Redirections are quite common operations within applications. If done manually, you will need to do the following steps:
- Assemble a url using the router
- Create and inject a “Location” header into the
Response
object, pointing to the assembled URL - Set the status code of the
Response
object to one of the 3xx HTTP statuses.
The Redirect
plugin does this work for you. It offers three methods:
-
toRoute
(string $route = null, array $params = array(), array $options = array(), boolean $reuseMatchedParams = false) Redirects to a named route, using the provided
$params
and$options
to assembled the URL.Return type: Zend\Http\Response
-
toUrl
(string $url) Simply redirects to the given URL.
Return type: Zend\Http\Response
-
refresh
() Refresh to current route
Return type: Zend\Http\Response
In each case, the Response
object is returned. If you return this immediately, you can effectively
short-circuit execution of the request.
Note
This plugin requires that the controller invoking it implements InjectApplicationEventInterface
, and thus
has an MvcEvent
composed, as it retrieves the router from the event object.
As an example:
1 | return $this->redirect()->toRoute('login-success');
|
Url Plugin¶
Often you may want to generate URLs from route definitions within your controllers – in order to seed the view,
generate headers, etc. While the MvcEvent
object composes the router, doing so manually would require this
workflow:
1 2 | $router = $this->getEvent()->getRouter();
$url = $router->assemble($params, array('name' => 'route-name'));
|
The Url
helper makes this slightly more convenient:
1 | $url = $this->url()->fromRoute('route-name', $params);
|
The fromRoute()
method is the only public method defined, and has the following signature:
-
fromRoute
(string $route = null, array $params = array(), array $options = array(), boolean $reuseMatchedParams = false)¶ Generate url string from given parameters:
Parameters: - $name (string) – The name of the route you want to output
- $params (array) – An array of parameters that is defined within the respective route configuration
- $options (array) – An array of options that will be used to create the URL (e.g., force_canonical, query)
- $reuseMatchedParams (boolean) – A flag indicating if the currently matched route parameters should be used when generating the new URL
Return type: string
Note
This plugin requires that the controller invoking it implements InjectApplicationEventInterface
, and thus
has an MvcEvent
composed, as it retrieves the router from the event object.