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Zend Framework: Zend_View_Helper_Abstract Component Proposal

Table of Contents

1. Overview

Zend_View_Helper_Abstract is a very simple abstract class for view helpers. It provides the setView() method and the public $view attribute. At the moment these two are being copy/pasted in every view helper that needs it. Most helpers however can just as easily take this abstract class as parent to save duplicate code.

Additionally a Zend_View_Helper_Interface could be added. It would contain the signature for the setView() method. This would allow for more complex view helpers, like HeadTitle, which already inherit from another class to be identified as well.

Finally, a long-term goal for view helpers is to remove the tedious and difficult to understand naming of the helper method and instead implement the strategy pattern: all helpers would use the same method name. This would simplify implementation of calling helpers within Zend_View, and make it easier to visually identify the method that does the helper work. The proposal is to use the method name 'direct', which is already currently used in action helpers and is a fairly standard name for use with the strategy pattern. In the short term, it would go un-used, but would be available for future compatibility.

2. References

• Zym_View_Helper_Abstract
• Matthew's post about naming and PHP 5.3

3. Component Requirements, Constraints, and Acceptance Criteria

• This component will provide the basic setView() implementation for view helpers
• This component will provide an interface with a setView() signature
• This component will provide an interface with a direct() signature
• This component will not implement any functionality around direct() at this time.

4. Dependencies on Other Framework Components

5. Theory of Operation

6. Milestones / Tasks

• Milestone 1: [DONE] Prototype available
• Milestone 2: [DONE] Unit tests available
• Milestone 3: [DONE] Component checked into incubator
• Milestone 4: [DONE] View helper documentation is updated
• Milestone 5: [DONE] Component checked into core
• Milestone 6: [DONE] Update the existing helpers to utilize these classes.

7. Class Index

• Zend_View_Helper_Abstract
• Zend_View_Helper_Interface

These classes should get another name, because of ZF's future adoptation of PHP 5.3 namespaces. See the link to Matthew's blog post in the references section. Suggestions:

• Interface:
  • Zend::View::Helper::IHelper
  • Zend::View::Helper::Helper
• Abstract:
  • Zend::View::Helper::HelperAbstract
  • Zend::View::Helper::Base

8. Use Cases

Would become:

This allows:

To be removed from the Form helper

Could become:

Currently helpers are checked if they have setView like so:

This can be done much nicer now:

Additionally, eventually instead of creating a formatted version of the helper method name, we will simply be able to call direct:

9. Class Skeletons