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Asked: 2026-06-07T08:05:20+00:00

I cannot understand what is the difference between Zend_Layout and Zend_View . Here is

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I cannot understand what is the difference between Zend_Layout and Zend_View.

Here is a picture from Zend_Layout Tutorial.
enter image description here

Everything seems easy to understand. We have elements in <head>, we have Header, Navigation segment, Content segment, Sidebar and Footer. And it’s easy to understand how they are called. But I can’t see the difference between View and Layout. Why Navigation segment is called as Layout‘s property and Footer and Header are called as View property?

I tested Zend_Layout and interchanged them. I called the Navigation segment not as the Layout‘s property but as the View‘s property:

echo $this->layout()->nav;  // as in tutorial
echo $this->nav;    // used to call like this

And everything works fine. Not only for $nav, but for any variable. So what’s the difference?

I attach my experiment code here.
My experiment layout page consists of three main blocks:

  • header (html-code of header),
  • content (html-code of content block)
  • footer (html-код footer)

Here’s a script of template:

<!DOCTYPE html>
  <html>
   <head>
   </head>
      <body>
         <div header>
           <?php echo $this->header ?>     // it works
           <?php echo $this->layout()->header ?>  // and this variant also works
         </div>

         <div content>
            <?php echo $this->content ?>      // same thing, it is a View's property
            <?php echo $this->layout()->content ?>    // And it is a Layout's property
         </div>

         <div footer>
             <?php echo $this->footer ?>        // same thing
             <?php echo $this->layout->footer() ?>  // both work (one or another I mean)
         </div>
     </body>
  </html>

My code now:

$layout = Zend_Layout::startMvc();         // instantiate Layout
$layout->setLayoutPath('\TestPage\views');  // set the path where my layouts live

// And here's the most interesting
// Set Header layout first
$layout->setLayout('header');    // 'header.php' - is my file with html-code of the Header 
                                 // I pass only name 'header', and it makes 'header.php' from it. 
                                 // Predefined suffix is 'phtml' but I changed it to 'php'
$layout->getView()->button = "Button";   // assign some variable in the Header. Please pay attention, it is View's property
$layout->button_2 = "Button_2";   // and also I can assign this way. It's Layout's property now. And they both work
$headerBlock = $layout->render();   // render my Header and store it in variable

// the same procedures for the Content block
$layout->setLayout('content');
$layout->getView()->one = "One";   
$layout->two = "Two";
$contentBlock = $layout->render();   // render and store in the variable

//  and the same for the Footer
$layout->setLayout('footer');
$layout->getView()->foot = "Foot";   
$layout->foot_2 = "Foot_2";
$footerBlock = $layout->render();   // render and store in the variable

// and finally last stage - render whole layout and echo it
$lout->setLayout('main_template');
$layout->getView()->header = $headerBlock;   // again, I can do also $layout->header
$lout->content = $contentBlock;
$lout->getView()->footer = $footerBlock;
echo $lout->render();     // render and echo now.

And everything works fine, the page is displayed without errors. But I don’t know whether I use Zend_Layout and Zend_View right way or wrong way. Is it the right way to construct the page using Zend_Layout as I do it? What’s the difference between

echo $this->layout()->header // this
echo $this->header  // and this

Which variant is right one?

Also it seems I have double rendering: at first I render each segment. And then I render them again when I render my final template. Is this the right way?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    See the answer I posted to your other (similar) question for some background. Zend_View is for rendering templates. Zend_Layout is a special type of template that contains one or more other templates. You should only ever have one layout on a page. The idea is that the layout contains the portions of the HTML that don’t really change between pages.

    Your code can be simplified to:

    The main layout file:

    <!DOCTYPE html>
  <html>
   <head>
   </head>
      <body>
         <?php echo $this->render('_header.phtml')?>

         <div content>
            <?php echo $this->layout()->content ?>
         </div>

         <?php echo $this->render('_footer.phtml)?>
     </body>
  </html>

    Usage:

    $layout = new Zend_Layout();
$layout->setLayoutPath('\TestPage\views');
$layout->setLayout('layout'); // this should be whatever you named your layout file

$view = new Zend_View();
$layout->content = $view->render('main_template.php'); // this is the part that changes between pages

echo $layout->render();

    Don’t call startMvc() if you are not using the Zend Framework controller classes (which you don’t appear to be).

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