archived-symfony-docs/create_framework/templating.rst

Templating
==========

The astute reader has noticed that our framework hardcodes the way specific
"code" (the templates) is run. For simple pages like the ones we have created
so far, that's not a problem, but if you want to add more logic, you would be
forced to put the logic into the template itself, which is probably not a good
idea, especially if you still have the separation of concerns principle in
mind.

Let's separate the template code from the logic by adding a new layer: the
controller: *The controller's mission is to generate a Response based on the
information conveyed by the client's Request.*

Change the template rendering part of the framework to read as follows::

    // example.com/web/front.php

    // ...
    try {
        $request->attributes->add($matcher->match($request->getPathInfo()));
        $response = call_user_func('render_template', $request);
    } catch (Routing\Exception\ResourceNotFoundException $exception) {
        $response = new Response('Not Found', 404);
    } catch (Exception $exception) {
        $response = new Response('An error occurred', 500);
    }

As the rendering is now done by an external function (``render_template()``
here), we need to pass to it the attributes extracted from the URL. We could
have passed them as an additional argument to ``render_template()``, but
instead, let's use another feature of the ``Request`` class called
*attributes*: Request attributes is a way to attach additional information
about the Request that is not directly related to the HTTP Request data.

You can now create the ``render_template()`` function, a generic controller
that renders a template when there is no specific logic. To keep the same
template as before, request attributes are extracted before the template is
rendered::

    function render_template(Request $request): Response
    {
        extract($request->attributes->all(), EXTR_SKIP);
        ob_start();
        include sprintf(__DIR__.'/../src/pages/%s.php', $_route);

        return new Response(ob_get_clean());
    }

As ``render_template`` is used as an argument to the PHP ``call_user_func()``
function, we can replace it with any valid PHP `callbacks`_. This allows us to
use a function, an anonymous function or a method of a class as a
controller... your choice.

As a convention, for each route, the associated controller is configured via
the ``_controller`` route attribute::

    $routes->add('hello', new Routing\Route('/hello/{name}', [
        'name' => 'World',
        '_controller' => 'render_template',
    ]));

    try {
        $request->attributes->add($matcher->match($request->getPathInfo()));
        $response = call_user_func($request->attributes->get('_controller'), $request);
    } catch (Routing\Exception\ResourceNotFoundException $exception) {
        $response = new Response('Not Found', 404);
    } catch (Exception $exception) {
        $response = new Response('An error occurred', 500);
    }

A route can now be associated with any controller and within a controller, you
can still use the ``render_template()`` to render a template::

    $routes->add('hello', new Routing\Route('/hello/{name}', [
        'name' => 'World',
        '_controller' => function (Request $request): string {
            return render_template($request);
        }
    ]));

This is rather flexible as you can change the Response object afterwards and
you can even pass additional arguments to the template::

    $routes->add('hello', new Routing\Route('/hello/{name}', [
        'name' => 'World',
        '_controller' => function (Request $request): Response {
            // $foo will be available in the template
            $request->attributes->set('foo', 'bar');

            $response = render_template($request);

            // change some header
            $response->headers->set('Content-Type', 'text/plain');

            return $response;
        }
    ]));

Here is the updated and improved version of our framework::

    // example.com/web/front.php
    require_once __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php';

    use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
    use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
    use Symfony\Component\Routing;

    function render_template(Request $request): Response
    {
        extract($request->attributes->all(), EXTR_SKIP);
        ob_start();
        include sprintf(__DIR__.'/../src/pages/%s.php', $_route);

        return new Response(ob_get_clean());
    }

    $request = Request::createFromGlobals();
    $routes = include __DIR__.'/../src/app.php';

    $context = new Routing\RequestContext();
    $context->fromRequest($request);
    $matcher = new Routing\Matcher\UrlMatcher($routes, $context);

    try {
        $request->attributes->add($matcher->match($request->getPathInfo()));
        $response = call_user_func($request->attributes->get('_controller'), $request);
    } catch (Routing\Exception\ResourceNotFoundException $exception) {
        $response = new Response('Not Found', 404);
    } catch (Exception $exception) {
        $response = new Response('An error occurred', 500);
    }

    $response->send();

To celebrate the birth of our new framework, let's create a brand new
application that needs some simple logic. Our application has one page that
says whether a given year is a leap year or not. When calling
``/is_leap_year``, you get the answer for the current year, but you can
also specify a year like in ``/is_leap_year/2009``. Being generic, the
framework does not need to be modified in any way, create a new
``app.php`` file::

    // example.com/src/app.php
    use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
    use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
    use Symfony\Component\Routing;

    function is_leap_year(?int $year = null): bool
    {
        if (null === $year) {
            $year = (int)date('Y');
        }

        return 0 === $year % 400 || (0 === $year % 4 && 0 !== $year % 100);
    }

    $routes = new Routing\RouteCollection();
    $routes->add('leap_year', new Routing\Route('/is_leap_year/{year}', [
        'year' => null,
        '_controller' => function (Request $request): Response {
            if (is_leap_year($request->attributes->get('year'))) {
                return new Response('Yep, this is a leap year!');
            }

            return new Response('Nope, this is not a leap year.');
        }
    ]));

    return $routes;

The ``is_leap_year()`` function returns ``true`` when the given year is a leap
year, ``false`` otherwise. If the year is ``null``, the current year is
tested. The controller does little: it gets the year from the request
attributes, pass it to the ``is_leap_year()`` function, and according to the
return value it creates a new Response object.

As always, you can decide to stop here and use the framework as is; it's
probably all you need to create simple websites like those fancy one-page
`websites`_ and hopefully a few others.

.. _`callbacks`: https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.callable.php
.. _`websites`: https://kottke.org/08/02/single-serving-sites