CakePHP3 Render View to a Variable

Question

I want to render the view to a variable without directly sending it to the browser. I used to do it with cakephp2.*. But, I cannot figure out how to do it in CakePHP3. Could you please tell me how to do it?

Destructionist

It works the same way, so I'd assume that you either didn't try, or that you already did it the wrong way in 2.x?! – Cassette

@ndm, appreciate if you can show me how to do it. – Destructionist

Will you please add existing CakePHP 2.x code in your description then it will be more helpfull – Hear

Answer 1

ViewBuilder was introduced in CakePHP 3.1 and handles the rendering of views. When ever I want to render to a variable I always go look at how send email works.

From a controller:

 function index() {
     // you can have view variables.
     $data = 'A view variable';

     // create a builder (hint: new ViewBuilder() constructor works too)
     $builder = $this->viewBuilder();

     // configure as needed
     $builder->layout('default');
     $builder->template('index');
     $builder->helpers(['Html']);

     // create a view instance
     $view = $builder->build(compact('data'));

     // render to a variable
     $output = $view->render();
 }

Antisana

Answer 2

For Ajax request/response, I use this:

public function print(){            
        if ($this->request->is('ajax')) {
            $data = $this->request->getData();
            $builder = $this->viewBuilder()
            ->setTemplatePath('ControllerName')
            ->setTemplate('print');
            ->setLayout('ajax');
            ->enableAutoLayout(false);
        
            $view = $builder->build(compact('data'));
            $html = $view->render();
            $res =  ['html' => $html];
            $this->set('response',$res);
            $this->set("_serialize",'response'); 
        }
    }

And the print.ctp is under Template/ControllerName

Delindadelineate