Action Helpers allow developers to inject runtime and/or on-demand
functionality into any Action Controllers that extend
Zend_Controller_Action. Action Helpers aim to minimize the
necessity to extend the abstract Action Controller in order to
inject common Action Controller functionality.
There are a number of ways to use Action Helpers. Action Helpers
employ the use of a brokerage system, similar to the types of
brokerage you see in Zend_View_Helper, and that
of Zend_Controller_Plugin.
Action Helpers (like Zend_View_Helper) may be
loaded and called on demand, or they may be instantiated at
request time (bootstrap) or action controller creation time
(init()). To understand this more fully, please see the usage
section below.