What are views in Yii, and what is their purpose?
Jul 25, 2025 am 12:28 AMIn Yii, views separate display logic from application code to improve manageability. 1. Views are PHP files that output HTML using data passed from controllers via methods like $this->render(). 2. They reside in the views directory organized by controller name and should avoid complex logic. 3. Views can include reusable components such as headers, footers, or partials like \_menu.php rendered with $this->render(). 4. Layouts provide a common template structure using $this->beginContent() and $this->endContent() (Yii 1.x) or layout inheritance (Yii 2 ). 5. Controllers pass variables to views as arrays, which become available as local variables and must be sanitized to prevent XSS attacks. This structure ensures consistent design, code reuse, and clean separation of concerns.
In Yii, views are the part of the application responsible for presenting data to the user. Their main purpose is to separate the display logic from the rest of the application, like controllers and models. This separation makes it easier to manage how things look without messing with the underlying code that handles data or business logic.
How Views Work in Yii
Views in Yii are essentially PHP files that output HTML (or other content types) based on data passed to them from controllers. These files live inside the views
directory and are usually organized by controller name.
When a controller wants to show something to the user — say, a list of users — it passes that data to a view file using methods like $this->render()
. The view then uses that data to generate the actual HTML sent back to the browser.
Some key points:
- Views should not contain complex logic.
- They can include reusable parts like headers, footers, or sidebars.
- You can also use layouts to wrap multiple views with a common template.
Using Variables in Views
When a controller sends data to a view, it typically does so by passing an array of variables. In your view file, those variables become available as local variables you can use directly.
For example, if a controller calls:
$this->render('profile', ['user' => $user]);
Then in the profile.php
view file, you can access the $user
variable directly:
<h1><?= $user->name ?></h1> <p>Email: <?= $user->email ?></p>
It’s important to make sure these variables are properly sanitized before being displayed to avoid security issues like XSS attacks.
Reusing View Code with Partials and Layouts
Yii lets you reuse view code through partial views and layouts.
Partials are small snippets of HTML that can be reused across different views. For example, you might have a _menu.php
partial that displays a navigation menu. You can render it inside another view using:
<?= $this->render('_menu') ?>
Layouts, on the other hand, define the overall structure of a page — things like the header, footer, and where the main content goes. By default, all views use the layout specified in the controller’s layout
property. Inside a view, you use $this->beginContent()
and $this->endContent()
(in older Yii 1.x versions) or extend a layout file (in Yii 2 ) to wrap content.
This helps keep your site’s design consistent without repeating the same HTML across many files.
That's basically how views work in Yii — they handle what users see, keep things clean, and let you reuse code effectively.
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