Renamed Controller::view to Controller::viewClass and Controller::view, View::view can now be used to change the view rendered by default. Parameters of Controller::render() and View::render() changed to eliminate redundancy. Closes #1520

cake/libs/controller/controller.php

@@ -31,12 +31,12 @@ App::import('View', 'View', false);
  * automatic model availability, redirection, callbacks, and more.
  *
  * Controllers should provide a number of 'action' methods.  These are public methods on the controller
- * that are not prefixed with a '_' and not part of Controller.  Each action serves as an endpoint for 
+ * that are not prefixed with a '_' and not part of Controller.  Each action serves as an endpoint for
  * performing a specific action on a resource or collection of resources.  For example adding or editing a new
  * object, or listing a set of objects.
  *
  * You can access request parameters, using `$this->request`.  The request object contains all the POST, GET and FILES
- * that were part of the request. 
+ * that were part of the request.
  *
  * After performing the required actions, controllers are responsible for creating a response.  This usually
  * takes the form of a generated View, or possibly a redirection to another controller action.  In either case
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 /**
  * An instance of a CakeRequest object that contains information about the current request.
  * This object contains all the information about a request and several methods for reading
- * additional information about the request. 
+ * additional information about the request.
  *
  * @var CakeRequest
  */
@@ -134,6 +134,15 @@ class Controller extends Object {
  */
 	public $modelNames = array();
 
+/**
+ * The name of the view file to render. The name specified
+ * is the filename in /app/views/<sub_folder> without the .ctp extension.
+ *
+ * @var string
+ * @link http://book.cakephp.org/view/962/Page-related-Attributes-layout-and-pageTitle
+ */
+	public $view = null;
+
 /**
  * The name of the layout file to render the view inside of. The name specified
  * is the filename of the layout in /app/views/layouts without the .ctp
@@ -182,7 +191,7 @@ class Controller extends Object {
  *
  * @var string
  */
-	public $view = 'View';
+	public $viewClass = 'View';
 
 /**
  * Instance of the View created during rendering. Won't be set until after Controller::render() is called.
@@ -431,7 +440,7 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 			}
 			$plugin = $pluginName . '.';
 		}
-		
+
 		if (is_subclass_of($this, $this->_mergeParent) || !empty($pluginController)) {
 			$appVars = get_class_vars($this->_mergeParent);
 			$uses = $appVars['uses'];
@@ -447,7 +456,7 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 					array_unshift($this->uses, $plugin . $this->modelClass);
 				}
 			} elseif (
-				($this->uses !== null || $this->uses !== false) && 
+				($this->uses !== null || $this->uses !== false) &&
 				is_array($this->uses) && !empty($appVars['uses'])
 			) {
 				$this->uses = array_merge($this->uses, array_diff($appVars['uses'], $this->uses));
@@ -459,7 +468,7 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 			$merge = array('components', 'helpers');
 			$appVars = get_class_vars($pluginController);
 			if (
-				($this->uses !== null || $this->uses !== false) && 
+				($this->uses !== null || $this->uses !== false) &&
 				is_array($this->uses) && !empty($appVars['uses'])
 			) {
 				$this->uses = array_merge($this->uses, array_diff($appVars['uses'], $this->uses));
@@ -636,7 +645,7 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 			extract($status, EXTR_OVERWRITE);
 		}
 		$response = $this->Components->trigger(
-			'beforeRedirect', 
+			'beforeRedirect',
 			array(&$this, $url, $status, $exit),
 			array('break' => true, 'breakOn' => false, 'collectReturn' => true)
 		);
@@ -815,21 +824,20 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 /**
  * Instantiates the correct view class, hands it its data, and uses it to render the view output.
  *
- * @param string $action Action name to render
+ * @param string $view View to use for rendering
  * @param string $layout Layout to use
- * @param string $file File to use for rendering
  * @return string Full output string of view contents
  * @link http://book.cakephp.org/view/980/render
  */
-	public function render($action = null, $layout = null, $file = null) {
+	public function render($view = null, $layout = null) {
 		$this->beforeRender();
 		$this->Components->trigger('beforeRender', array(&$this));
 
-		$viewClass = $this->view;
-		if ($this->view != 'View') {
+		$viewClass = $this->viewClass;
+		if ($this->viewClass != 'View') {
 			list($plugin, $viewClass) = pluginSplit($viewClass);
 			$viewClass = $viewClass . 'View';
-			App::import('View', $this->view);
+			App::import('View', $this->viewClass);
 		}
 
 		$this->request->params['models'] = $this->modelNames;
@@ -865,7 +873,7 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 
 		$this->autoRender = false;
 		$this->View = $View;
-		return $this->response->body($View->render($action, $layout, $file));
+		return $this->response->body($View->render($view, $layout));
 	}
 
 /**

cake/libs/view/view.php

@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ App::import('View', 'Helper', false);
  * in from the controller to render the results of the controller action.  Often this is HTML,
  * but can also take the form of JSON, XML, PDF's or streaming files.
  *
- * CakePHP uses a two-step-view pattern.  This means that the view content is rendered first, 
+ * CakePHP uses a two-step-view pattern.  This means that the view content is rendered first,
  * and then inserted into the selected layout.  A special `$content_for_layout` variable is available
- * in the layout, and it contains the rendered view.  This also means you can pass data from the view to the 
+ * in the layout, and it contains the rendered view.  This also means you can pass data from the view to the
  * layout using `$this->set()`
  *
  * @package    cake.libs.view
@@ -87,6 +87,13 @@ class View extends Object {
  */
 	public $viewVars = array();
 
+/**
+ * Name of view to use with this View.
+ *
+ * @var string
+ */
+	public $view = null;
+
 /**
  * Name of layout to use with this View.
  *
@@ -123,7 +130,7 @@ class View extends Object {
  * @var string
  */
 	public $subDir = null;
-	
+
 /**
  * Theme name.  If you are using themes, you should remember to use ThemeView as well.
  *
@@ -212,7 +219,7 @@ class View extends Object {
 /**
  * An instance of a CakeRequest object that contains information about the current request.
  * This object contains all the information about a request and several methods for reading
- * additional information about the request. 
+ * additional information about the request.
  *
  * @var CakeRequest
  */
@@ -234,7 +241,7 @@ class View extends Object {
  * @var array
  */
 	private $__passedVars = array(
-		'viewVars', 'autoLayout', 'ext', 'helpers', 'layout', 'name',
+		'viewVars', 'autoLayout', 'ext', 'helpers', 'view', 'layout', 'name',
 		'layoutPath', 'viewPath', 'request', 'plugin', 'passedArgs', 'cacheAction'
 	);
 
@@ -279,7 +286,7 @@ class View extends Object {
 /**
  * Renders a piece of PHP with provided parameters and returns HTML, XML, or any other string.
  *
- * This realizes the concept of Elements, (or "partial layouts")  and the $params array is used to send 
+ * This realizes the concept of Elements, (or "partial layouts")  and the $params array is used to send
  * data to be used in the element.  Elements can be cached improving performance by using the `cache` option.
  *
  * ### Special params
@@ -353,8 +360,7 @@ class View extends Object {
 	}
 
 /**
- * Renders view for given action and layout. If $file is given, that is used
- * for a view filename (e.g. customFunkyView.ctp).
+ * Renders view for given view file and layout.
  *
  * Render triggers helper callbacks, which are fired before and after the view are rendered,
  * as well as before and after the layout.  The helper callbacks are called
@@ -366,14 +372,12 @@ class View extends Object {
  *
  * If View::$autoRender is false and no `$layout` is provided, the view will be returned bare.
  *
- * @param string $action Name of action to render for, this will be used as the filename to render, unless
- *   $file is give as well.
+ * @param string $view Name of view file to use
  * @param string $layout Layout to use.
- * @param string $file Custom filename for view. Providing this will render a specific file for the given action.
  * @return string Rendered Element
  * @throws CakeException if there is an error in the view.
  */
-	public function render($action = null, $layout = null, $file = null) {
+	public function render($view = null, $layout = null) {
 		if ($this->hasRendered) {
 			return true;
 		}
@@ -382,11 +386,7 @@ class View extends Object {
 		}
 		$this->output = null;
 
-		if ($file != null) {
-			$action = $file;
-		}
-
-		if ($action !== false && $viewFileName = $this->_getViewFileName($action)) {
+		if ($view !== false && $viewFileName = $this->_getViewFileName($view)) {
 			$this->Helpers->trigger('beforeRender', array($viewFileName));
 			$this->output = $this->_render($viewFileName);
 			$this->Helpers->trigger('afterRender', array($viewFileName));
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ class View extends Object {
 	}
 
 /**
- * Render cached view. Works in concert with CacheHelper and Dispatcher to 
+ * Render cached view. Works in concert with CacheHelper and Dispatcher to
  * render cached view files.
  *
  * @param string $filename the cache file to include
@@ -699,7 +699,7 @@ class View extends Object {
 			}
 		}
 		$paths = $this->_paths($this->plugin);
-		
+
 		$exts = $this->_getExtensions();
 		foreach ($exts as $ext) {
 			foreach ($paths as $path) {

cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/controller.test.php

@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ class ControllerCommentsController extends ControllerTestAppController {
  * @access public
  */
 	public $name = 'ControllerComments';
-	
+
 	protected $_mergeParent = 'ControllerTestAppController';
 }
 
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ class TestController extends ControllerTestAppController {
  * @access public
  */
 	public $uses = array('ControllerComment', 'ControllerAlias');
-	
+
 	protected $_mergeParent = 'ControllerTestAppController';
 
 /**
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ class TestComponent extends Object {
  */
 	function beforeRender($controller) {
 		if ($this->viewclass) {
-			$controller->view = $this->viewclass;
+			$controller->viewClass = $this->viewclass;
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ class AnotherTestController extends ControllerTestAppController {
  * @access public
  */
 	public $uses = null;
-	
+
 	protected $_mergeParent = 'ControllerTestAppController';
 }
 
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ class ControllerTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$Controller->set(array(1 => 'one', 2 => 'two'));
 		$expected = array(3 => 'three', 4 => 'four', 1 => 'one', 2 => 'two');
 		$this->assertEqual($Controller->viewVars, $expected);
-		
+
 	}
 
 /**
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ class ControllerTest extends CakeTestCase {
 			'views' => array(TEST_CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH . 'tests' . DS . 'test_app' . DS . 'views'. DS)
 		), true);
 		$request = new CakeRequest('controller_posts/index');
-
+		$request->params['action'] = 'index';
 
 		$Controller = new Controller($request, $this->getMock('CakeResponse'));
 		$Controller->viewPath = 'posts';
@@ -649,8 +649,13 @@ class ControllerTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$result = $Controller->render('index');
 		$this->assertPattern('/posts index/', $result);
 
+		$Controller->view = 'index';
+		$result = $Controller->render();
+		$this->assertPattern('/posts index/', $result);
+
 		$result = $Controller->render('/elements/test_element');
 		$this->assertPattern('/this is the test element/', $result);
+		$Controller->view = null;
 
 		$Controller = new TestController($request);
 		$Controller->helpers = array('Html');
@@ -986,7 +991,7 @@ class ControllerTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$this->assertEqual($result, '/posts/index');
 
 		$request = $this->getMock('CakeRequest');
-	
+
 		$request->expects($this->any())->method('referer')
 			->with(false)
 			->will($this->returnValue('http://localhost/posts/index'));