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Back in the controller

You get the ready Blog objects delivered in an array. "Ready" means in this context, that every Blog object already has all it's Post objects and their Comment and Tag objects.

These blogs are delivered to the object, which is responsible for the output for further processing: the so called View. If we make no own choice, like in our example, the TemplateView of Fluid is automatically available under the class variable $this->view.

With the method assign() we "bind" the array with our blogs to the variable name "blogs" of the TemplateView. It can be addressed with this name in the template. The method render() of the TemplateView starts the generation of the HTML code.

Before we leave our small, contemplative action island and dig into the deep of the Fluid template, let's take a look at the abbreviations and simplifications Extbase offers at this point.

• First of all there is the method initializeAction(), which is called before every action if defined in your controller.

• Secondly you can define methods for the initialization of single actions. These methods follow a specific naming convention: initialize + actionMethodName

The following example explains this mechanism:

<?php
declare(strict_types = 1);

namespace MyVendor\MyExtension\Controller;

use TYPO3\CMS\Extbase\Mvc\Controller\ActionController;

class CompanyController extends ActionController
{
    public function initializeAction()
    {
        // this method is called before method fooAction and barAction
    }

    public function initializeFooAction()
    {
        // this method is only called before method fooAction
        // mind the uppercase F in the method name.
    }

    public function fooAction()
    {
        // foo
    }

    public function barAction()
    {
        // bar
    }
}

Action methods can either return a response (string) themselves or not return at all. If an action method does not return anything, Extbase calls $this->view->render() and returns the rendered view automatically.

Come with us on another tour: dive into Fluid - the new template engine of TYPO3 - and get to know the magnificent underwater world full of colorful Fluid tags and ViewHelper.