4.2. Adding a Page

In symfony, the logic behind pages is stored in the action, and the presentation is in templates. Pages without logic (still) require an empty action.

4.2.1. Adding an Action

The "Hello, world!" page will be accessible through a myAction action. To create it, just add an executeMyAction method to the mymoduleActions class, as shown in Listing 4-2.

Listing 4-2 - Adding an Action Is Like Adding an Execute Method to the Action Class

<?php

class mymoduleActions extends sfActions
{
  public function executeMyAction()
  {
  }
}

The name of the action method is always execute``Xxx``(), where the second part of the name is the action name with the first letter capitalized.

Now, if you request the following URL:

http://localhost/myapp_dev.php/mymodule/myAction

symfony will complain that the myActionSuccess.php template is missing. That's normal; in symfony, a page is always made of an action and a template.

http://localhost/myapp_dev.php/article/index?id=123

http://localhost/articles/europe/france/finance.html

http://localhost/articles/tagged/finance+france+euro

4.2.2. Adding a Template

The action expects a template to render itself. A template is a file located in the templates/ directory of a module, named by the action and the action termination. The default action termination is a "success," so the template file to be created for the myAction action is to be called myActionSuccess.php.

Templates are supposed to contain only presentational code, so keep as little PHP code in them as possible. As a matter of fact, a page displaying "Hello, world!" can have a template as simple as the one in Listing 4-3.

Listing 4-3 - The mymodule/templates/myActionSuccess.php Template

<p>Hello, world!</p>

If you need to execute some PHP code in the template, you should avoid using the usual PHP syntax, as shown in Listing 4-4. Instead, write your templates using the PHP alternative syntax, as shown in Listing 4-5, to keep the code understandable for non-PHP programmers. Not only will the final code be correctly indented, but it will also help you keep the complex PHP code in the action, because only control statements (if, foreach, while, and so on) have an alternative syntax.

Listing 4-4 - The Usual PHP Syntax, Good for Actions, But Bad for Templates

<p>Hello, world!</p>
<?php

if ($test)
{
  echo "<p>".time()."</p>";
}

?>

Listing 4-5 - The Alternative PHP Syntax, Good for Templates

<p>Hello, world!</p>
<?php if ($test): ?>
<p><?php echo time(); ?></p>
<?php endif; ?>

4.2.3. Passing Information from the Action to the Template

The job of the action is to do all the complicated calculation, data retrieval, and tests, and to set variables for the template to be echoed or tested. Symfony makes the attributes of the action class (accessed via $this->variableName in the action) directly accessible to the template in the global namespace (via $variableName). Listings 4-6 and 4-7 show how to pass information from the action to the template.

Listing 4-6 - Setting an Action Attribute in the Action to Make It Available to the Template

<?php

class mymoduleActions extends sfActions
{
  public function executeMyAction()
  {
    $today = getdate();
    $this->hour = $today['hours'];
  }
}

Listing 4-7 - The Template Has Direct Access to the Action Attributes

<p>Hello, world!</p>
<?php if ($hour >= 18): ?>
<p>Or should I say good evening? It is already <?php echo $hour ?>.</p>
<?php endif; ?>