The response object is the logical counterpart to the request object. Its
purpose is to collate content and/or headers so that they may be
returned en masse. Additionally, the front controller will pass any
caught exceptions to the response object, allowing the developer to
gracefully handle exceptions. This functionality may be overridden
by setting
Zend_Controller_Front::throwExceptions(true):
<?php
$front->throwExceptions(true);
To send the response output, including headers, use
sendResponse().
<?php
$response->sendResponse();
Note
By default, the front controller calls sendResponse()
when it has finished dispatching the request; typically you will
never need to call it. However, if you wish to manipulate the
response or use it in testing, you can override this
behaviour by setting the returnResponse flag with
Zend_Controller_Front::returnResponse(true):
<?php
$front->returnResponse(true);
$response = $front->dispatch();
// do some more processing, such as logging...
// and then send the output:
$response->sendResponse();
Developers should make use of the response object in their action controllers. Instead of directly rendering output and sending headers, push them to the response object:
<?php
// Within an action controller action:
// Set a header
$this->getResponse()
->setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html')
->appendBody($content);
By doing this, all headers get sent at once, just prior to displaying the content.
Note
If using the action controller view
integration, you do not need to set the rendered view
script content in the response object, as
Zend_Controller_Action::render() does this by default.
Should an exception occur in an application, check the response object's
isException() flag, and retrieve the exception using
getException(). Additionally, one may create custom
response objects that redirect to error pages, log exception messages,
do pretty formatting of exception messages (for development
environments), etc.
You may retrieve the response object following the front controller
dispatch(), or request the front controller to return the
response object instead of rendering output.
<?php
// retrieve post-dispatch:
$front->dispatch();
$response = $front->getResponse();
if ($response->isException()) {
// log, mail, etc...
}
// Or, have the front controller dispatch() process return it
$front->returnResponse(true);
$response = $front->dispatch();
// do some processing...
// finally, echo the response
$response->sendResponse();
By default, exception messages are not displayed. This behaviour may be
overridden by calling renderExceptions(), or enabling the
front controller to throwExceptions(), as shown above:
<?php
$response->renderExceptions(true);
$front->dispatch($request, $response);
// or:
$front->returnResponse(true);
$response = $front->dispatch();
$response->renderExceptions();
$response->sendResponse();
// or:
$front->throwExceptions(true);
$front->dispatch();