zend 2: Automatically inject a template for all actions of a module without modifying site wide configuration - model-view-controller

Question

I am using the Zend skeleton application.
I want to have a sub menu bar (via a template) injected underneath the default site wide menu bar, but I don't want to modify the site wide app settings, I'd like to just have it in the module.
Looking at examples it seems I would have to manually inject the menu bar template in each of my controller's actions and in every template where I want it to appear like this:
public function indexAction() {
$view = new ViewModel();
$subNavView = new ViewModel();
$subNavView->setTemplate('helpdesk/helpdesk/subNav');
$view->addChild($subNavView, 'subNav');
return $view;
}
public function someAction() {
$view = new ViewModel();
$subNavView = new ViewModel();
$subNavView->setTemplate('helpdesk/helpdesk/subNav');
$view->addChild($subNavView, 'subNav');
....do something add variables to $view....
return $view;
}
public function someOtherAction() {
$view = new ViewModel();
$subNavView = new ViewModel();
$subNavView->setTemplate('helpdesk/helpdesk/subNav');
$view->addChild($subNavView, 'subNav');
....do something add variables to $view....
return $view;
}
...etc
And the "echo $this->subNav" in every template.
Is this the right way to do this or is there a way to have my module automatically include this template for every page (without modifying anything outside of the individual module)?
I read the docs, but I'm still confused on how to achieve this or if this is even possible.

Answer 1

If you want to update the view model directly, you could also do that in onBootstratp of your Module class:
public function onBootstrap($e) {
$view = $e->getApplication()->getMvcEvent()->getViewModel();
$subNavView = new ViewModel();
$subNavView->setTemplate('helpdesk/helpdesk/subNav');
$view->addChild($subNavView, 'subNav');
}
And of course you already have something like this in your layout:
<?php echo $this->subNav; ?>
You could also consider using the standard partial view helper and setting the template path as a variable in your model from your Module.php like this:
public function onBootstrap($e) {
$viewModel = $e->getApplication()->getMvcEvent()->getViewModel();
$viewModel->subNav = 'application/navigation/subNav.phtml';
}
Then you modify your /module/Application/view/layout/layout.phtml something like this
<?php if ($this->subNav) {
echo $this->partial($this->subNav);
} ?>
The drawback to this idea is that then you have a view model variable which will show up in all your models. This can be annoying, for example, in json results.
Last idea, you might want to consider a navigation view helper. You could implement https://github.com/spiffyjr/spiffy-navigation if you don't want to build one from scratch.
If you solve it with a view helper, either custom or pre-existing package such as Spiffy Jr's, then you'd modify your layout so it uses the helper something like this, and all the logic is provided by the helper class:
<?php echo $this->navigationMenu(); ?>
All three ideas will unclutter your controllers and let your Module set up the subNav in a way that is relevant to it, such as which routes it is valid for, etc.