ajax - Switch rendering according to headers, application-wide -

this question case in hand.

let's imagine website page displays filtered products list :

1. if request /products?foo=bar in browser, full page wrapped in layout, layout contains header form allowing change search criterias.

2. if change foo value baz , submit form, reloads dynamically results (with jquery $.load(), example), calling /products?foo=baz in ajax.

3. if enter same criteria iphone app, app requests /products?foo=bar server, replies json object.

all 3 calls refer same resource ("the products list", resource intended in rest resource), need different rendering.

1. in first case, need full html page (with layout)
2. in second case, need partial html page (without layout)
3. in third case, need plain json response

this rendering switch can triggered headers x-requested-with (with or without layout) , accept (html/json).

in phalcon, given example implemented :

class productscontroller extends \phalcon\mvc\controller {      public function indexaction()     {         // build data         $products = products::find(array(             'foo' => $this->request->get('foo')         ));          // json identified         if ($this->request->getbestaccept() == 'application/json')         {             // json rendering (case 3)             $this->response->setcontenttype('application/json');             $this->response->setjsoncontent($products);             $this->view->disable();             return $this->response;         }         // otherwise, defaults html         else         {             // passing data view             $this->view->products = $products;              // ajax call identified             if ($this->request->isajax())             {                 // partial rendering (case 2)                 $view->disablelevel(array(                     view::level_layout => true,                     view::level_main_layout => true                 ));             }             // defaults normal rendering             else             {                 // layout rendering (case 1)             }         }     }  } 

how implement mechanism application-wide, rather duplicate behavior in every single action ?

the easiest data in unified format (if isn't already) , pass method in base controller handle logic in pretty same way showed in example.

abstract class abstractcontroller extends \phalcon\mvc\controller {      protected function prepareresponse($data)     {          // json identified         if ($this->request->getbestaccept() == 'application/json')         {             // json rendering (case 3)             $this->response->setcontenttype('application/json');             $this->response->setjsoncontent($data);             $this->view->disable();             return $this->response;         }          // otherwise, defaults html          // passing data view         $this->view->setvars($data);          // ajax call identified         if ($this->request->isajax())         {             // partial rendering (case 2)             $view->disablelevel(array(                 view::level_layout => true,                 view::level_main_layout => true             ));         }         // defaults normal rendering         else         {             // layout rendering (case 1)         }          return null;     } }  class productscontroller extends abstractcontroller {      public function indexaction()     {         // build data , prepare response         return this->prepareresponse(array(             'products' => products::find(array(                'foo' => $this->request->get('foo')             ))         ));     } }    

otherwise, might bit tricky. see following alternative scenarios.

extend base controller with, say, renderjson , renderpartial methods, handle bits of logic (default otherwise), in action still need check 1 call. duplication…

do crazy shit router go different action, e.g., indexjsonaction , indexpartialaction (default otherwise), depending on conditions. you'd end bloated controllers.