CakePHP: How to use a view element inside of a controller

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to use one of my view elements inside of a controller...

I know, I know: "Don't do that!" (99% of the time this is the correct answer)

But I think I actually have a good reason. The action is handling an AJAX request which returns markup. The returned markup is a list which I display everywhere else using an element. So in an effort to keep my code DRY, I think it's appropriate to do this here.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

Easy:

$view = new View($this, false);
$content = $view->element('my-element', $params);

Also:

DON'T DO THAT ANYMORE!!!

Answer 2

Sometimes, you need to render a CakePhp element from a view and inject its content into the page using AJAX the same time. In this case rendering element as a regular view from controller is better than creating a dedicated view that just contains <?php echo $this->element('some_element') ?>, and may be done this way:

<?php
public function ajax_action() {
    // set data used in the element
    $this->set('data', array('a'=>123, 'b'=>456, 'd'=>678));

    // disable layout template
    $this->layout = 'ajax';

    // render!
    $this->render('/Elements/some_element');
}

Answer 3

I know this is an old question and other people have already given basically the same answer, but I want to point out that this approach (provided by Serge S.) ...

<?php
public function ajax_action() {
    // set data used in the element
    $this->set('data', array('a'=>123, 'b'=>456, 'd'=>678));

    // disable layout template
    $this->layout = 'ajax';

    // render!
    $this->render('/Elements/some_element');
}

...is not a hacky workaround, but is in fact the recommended approach from the CakePHP docs for this common and legitimate use case:

If $view starts with ‘/’, it is assumed to be a view or element file relative to the /app/View folder. This allows direct rendering of elements, very useful in AJAX calls.

(Again: Credit to Serge S. for the code above)

Answer 4

$this->view = '/Elements/myelement';

Answer 5

You should use a client-side template. You should never return mark-up from a web service or API, just data. Have your JavaScript take the data, and then format it how you wish.

For example:

function getItems() {
    $.get('/some/url', function(response) {
        if (response.data.length > 0) {
            for (var i = 0; i < response.data.length; i++) {
                var item = response.data[i];
                $('.results').append('<li>' + item.title + '</li>');
            }
        }
    });
};

This is just an example written off the cuff. Obviously you’ll need to write your own implementation.

Answer 6

The way I did any ajax handling in Cake was to have my own AjaxController. Any interaction of ajax-kind goes there, which in-turn uses their own views (and view partials / elements). That way you can keep your code DRY and isolate and propagate all ajax use-cases there.

Example excerpt:

<?php
class AjaxController extends AppController {
    /**
    * (non-PHPdoc)
    * Everything going to this controller should be accessed by Ajax. End of story.
    * @see Controller::beforeFilter()
    */
    public function beforeFilter() {
        parent::beforeFilter();
        $this->autoRender = false;
        $this->layout = false;
        if (!$this->request->is('ajax')) {
            $this->redirect('/');
        }
    }
    public function preview() {
        if ($this->request->is('ajax')) {
            $this->set('data', $this->data);
            $this->render('/Elements/ajaxpreview');
        }
    } 
?>

Here's the source: https://github.com/Sobient/dosspirit/blob/master/app/Controller/AjaxController.php