How to Embed Controllers in a Template

In some cases, you need to do more than include a simple template. Suppose you have a sidebar in your layout that contains the three most recent articles. Retrieving the three articles may include querying the database or performing other heavy logic that can't be done from within a template.

The solution is to simply embed the result of an entire controller from your template. First, create a controller that renders a certain number of recent articles:

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// src/AppBundle/Controller/ArticleController.php
namespace AppBundle\Controller;

// ...

class ArticleController extends Controller
{
    public function recentArticlesAction($max = 3)
    {
        // make a database call or other logic
        // to get the "$max" most recent articles
        $articles = ...;

        return $this->render(
            'article/recent_list.html.twig',
            array('articles' => $articles)
        );
    }
}

The recent_list template is perfectly straightforward:

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{# app/Resources/views/article/recent_list.html.twig #}
{% for article in articles %}
    <a href="/article/{{ article.slug }}">
        {{ article.title }}
    </a>
{% endfor %}

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<!-- app/Resources/views/article/recent_list.html.php -->
<?php foreach ($articles as $article): ?>
    <a href="/article/<?php echo $article->getSlug() ?>">
        <?php echo $article->getTitle() ?>
    </a>
<?php endforeach ?>

To include the controller, you'll need to refer to it using the standard string syntax for controllers (i.e. bundle:controller:action):

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{# app/Resources/views/base.html.twig #}

{# ... #}
<div id="sidebar">
    {{ render(controller(
        'AppBundle:Article:recentArticles',
        { 'max': 3 }
    )) }}
</div>

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<!-- app/Resources/views/base.html.php -->

<!-- ... -->
<div id="sidebar">
    <?php echo $view['actions']->render(
        new \Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Controller\ControllerReference(
            'AppBundle:Article:recentArticles',
            array('max' => 3)
        )
    ) ?>
</div>

The result of an embedded controller can also be cached