Configuration

This page covers the configuration options available for this plugin, allowing you to customize template rendering behavior for your application needs.

Options

Set options via ViewBuilder::setOption() or setOptions():

Option	Type	Default	Description
cache	bool	true	Enable/disable template caching. Caching is always enabled except when explicitly set to false.
autoRefresh	bool	false (or true in debug)	Automatically refresh templates. Auto-refresh is always enabled in debug mode.
fragments	array,string	'content'	Fragment (block) name(s) that should be rendered when autoLayout is disabled. Read more
cachePath	string	CACHE . 'latte_view'	Path for compiled template cache
sandbox	bool	false	Enable sandbox mode for secure template execution. When enabled, the security policy can be configured using setSandboxPolicy() and getSandboxPolicy().
rawphp	bool	true	Enable/disable the use of raw PHP code in templates via the {php} tag.
defaultHelpers	array	...	List of default Cake helpers that need to be present. Defaults to all core helpers.

The fragments option

The fragments option controls which template fragments (Latte blocks) are rendered when autoLayout is disabled. This feature enables you to return specific portions of a template without the full layout structure, making it ideal for partial page updates and AJAX responses.

Imagine you have this template

{* users/index.latte *}
<div class="users-index">
    <h1>{block pageTitle}All Users{/block}</h1>
    
    {block userTable}
    <table class="table">
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>Name</th>
                <th>Email</th>
                <th>Actions</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            {foreach $users as $user}
            <tr>
                <td>{$user->name}</td>
                <td>{$user->email}</td>
                <td>
                    <a n:named="users:view, $user->id">View</a>
                </td>
            </tr>
            {/foreach}
        </tbody>
    </table>
    {/block}
    
    {block pagination}
        {$this->Paginator->numbers()}
    {/block}
</div>

{block content}
    <div class="sidebar">
        <h3>User Management</h3>
        <ul>
            <li><a n:named="users:add">Add New User</a></li>
            <li><a n:named="users:export">Export Users</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>
{/block}

When configuring the ViewBuilder to return only specific blocks, you can generate focused template fragments for partial page updates or AJAX responses:

// In your controller action
public function index()
{
    $users = $this->paginate($this->Users);
    $this->set(compact('users'));
    
    // Handle AJAX requests for partial updates
    if ($this->getRequest()->is('ajax')) {
        // Disable autoLayout for AJAX responses
        $this->viewBuilder()->disableAutoLayout();
        
        // Return only the user table for dynamic updates
        $this->viewBuilder()->setOption('fragments', ['userTable']);
    }
}

public function search()
{
    $query = $this->getRequest()->getQuery('q');
    $users = $this->Users->find('all')
        ->where(['name LIKE' => '%' . $query . '%']);
    $this->set(compact('users'));
    
    if ($this->getRequest()->is('ajax')) {
        $this->viewBuilder()->disableAutoLayout();
        // Return multiple fragments for complex updates
        $this->viewBuilder()->setOption('fragments', ['userTable', 'pagination']);
    }
}

This approach is particularly useful for:

• AJAX-powered dynamic content updates
• Optimizing performance by sending only the necessary HTML fragments
• More info here