Using decorators

In Yii, we can enclose content into a decorator. The common usage of decorators is layout. Yes, when you are rendering a view using the render method of your controller, Yii automatically decorates it with the main layout. Let's create a simple decorator that will properly format quotes.

Getting ready

Set up a new application using yiic webapp.

How to do it...

1. First, we will create a decorator file, protected/views/decorators/quote.php:

   <div class="quote">
      &ldquo;<?php echo $content?>&rdquo;, <?php echo $author?>
   </div>

2. Now in protected/views/site/index.php, we will use our decorator:

   <?php $this->beginContent('//decorators/quote', array('author' => 'Edward A. Murphy'))?>
   If anything bad can happen, it probably will
   <?php $this->endContent()?>

3. Now, your home page should include the following markup:

   <div class="quote">
      &ldquo;If anything bad can happen, it probably will&rdquo;, Edward A. Murphy
   </div>

How...