Zend render static / dynamic with multi controllers

Question

I'm pretty new to Zend (read the documents concerning routers and controllers).

My StaticController and IndexController :

class StaticController extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
    public function displayAction()
    {
        $page = $this->getRequest()->getParam('filename');
        $this->render($page);
    }
}

class IndexController extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
    public function indexAction()
    {
        $albums = new Application_Model_DbTable_Albums();
        $this->view->albums = $albums->fetchAll();
    }
    public function registerAction()
    {
        ...
    }
}

application.ini :

resources.router.routes.staticpage.route = /:filename
resources.router.routes.staticpage.defaults.controller = static
resources.router.routes.staticpage.defaults.action = display

My static content urls are : site.com/faq site.com/privacy ...

These work, however others, such as site.com/register uses the StaticController rather than the IndexController, I can't say that I suprised by this behavior.

These static pages (about us, terms and cond...) need to be included in the zend logic for .po translation.

I can think of many diffrent ways to achieve this outside the Zend framework, but would really like to do it the proper zend way.

How can I distinguish static and dynamic content, and still keep pretty urls?

Any help would be much appreciated !

I'm not quite sure I understand the question. If you go to site.com/faq that should be loading the indexAction of the FaqController class. None of your example URL's should be going to the index OR static controllers. — CashIsClay, Sep 23 '11 at 19:49
I've added the application.ini. How can I distinguish static and dynamic content, and still keep pretty urls? – — Sparkup, Sep 23 '11 at 20:02
How come you don't just create a FaqController and a PrivacyController that do nothing but render a view? e.g. in FaqController `public function indexAction() { /* show view */ }` — drew010, Sep 23 '11 at 22:27
@drew010 : a controller for each single static page ? really ? — Frederik Eychenié, Sep 23 '11 at 23:14
Yes becomes a bit much if he has a lot of static pages, but it can simplify things if one of those static pages has to grow into something multi-page such as a faq section. — drew010, Sep 23 '11 at 23:20

Frederik Eychenié · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-24T13:34:15.100

You could do it this way :

resources.router.routes.staticpages.route = "/:filename"
resources.router.routes.staticpages.defaults.controller = static
resources.router.routes.staticpages.defaults.action = display
resources.router.routes.staticpages.reqs.filename="(list|of|static|pages)"

If you don't know what 'reqs' is, it's very simple. For each param specified in 'reqs' you specify the regexp it should match in order to use this route.

But I personally would use an action per static page instead of a param in a single action, which would require this route :

resources.router.routes.staticpages.route = "/:action"
resources.router.routes.staticpages.defaults.controller = static
resources.router.routes.staticpages.reqs.action="(list|of|static|pages)"

It's planning that you may one day require different logic for rendering some your static pages

Thank you for this. Does the first method have any impact on reducing the overhead (compared to second)? — Sparkup, Sep 24 '11 at 13:19
On the performance level there is no real difference, but i find the second more readable and maintainable. It's up to your own preference — Frederik Eychenié, Sep 24 '11 at 13:29

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 23 '11 at 20:58

You should consider using a prefix for static content so the router knows that you are trying to pull static content and not trying to reference an action in the IndexController.

resources.router.routes.staticpage.route = /static/:filename
resources.router.routes.staticpage.defaults.controller = static
resources.router.routes.staticpage.defaults.action = display

Zend render static / dynamic with multi controllers

2 Answers2