Possible Duplicate:
What is the difference between redirect and forward in Zend framework

I'm new to zend framework, when i try to use foward, redirect, setViewRender in controller, what are their diffences?

• php
• zend-framework

As the official docs say:

• _forward($action, $controller = null, $module = null, array $params = null): perform another action. If called in preDispatch(), the currently requested action will be skipped in favor of the new one. Otherwise, after the current action is processed, the action requested in _forward() will be executed.
• _redirect($url, array $options = array()): redirect to another location. This method takes a URL and an optional set of options. By default, it performs an HTTP 302 redirect.

Read more to understand it better.

i'm pretty sure that a redirect redirects you to a particular page/ controller therefore going through all of the pre view processes including if you can view the page, setViewRender will just output the view you have selected and disregard all of the stuff the controller etc handles. (i haven't used zend for a while however)

_redirect creates a completely new http request, where as _forward simply forwards the request. I realized this when setting a variable in zend_registry, well this might sound a little off the track but when you use _request all the request variables and headers and registry variables are completely reset where as in case of _forward it simply forwards all those things. This is like you can have previously provided information along with some more information in case of _forward.

Well for setViewRenderer I really like this idea, I mean this is something like dependency injection. You dont really need to have a default view, you could provide a new view for the given action. I think you would get the best answer if you look into this.

_forward is an internal redirect. Where as _redirect sends a header that tells the client's browser to go to some other URL, _forward tells the Dispatcher to internally redirect the request somewhere else.

If you consider the normal dispatch order of:

 preDispatch()
 someAction()
 anotherAction()
 postDispatch()

Calling _forward at any point in that progression will cause the following steps to not be executed. So if you call _forward in preDispatch(), someAction() will not be called and so on. If you _forward() in someAction() and you are using the viewRenderer action helper to render your views (you are letting the framework choose what view script to render), then no view script will be rendered in someAction().

When the request is forwarded to the new Controller / Module the entire dispatch process will be repeated there.

Note:

If you forward inside someAction() to anotherAction() you must do it like this

return $this->_forward('another');

You should add a return to $this->_forward() or your current Action will continue to execute before forwarding to the other Action.

Also note that the view that will be rendered will be another.phtml

While when doing a redirect, ZF would instruct the browser to load http://example.com/controller-name/action-name as _redirect() sends a header, meaning you create a new HTTP Request and go through the entire dispatch process with it.

Last to render a certain view inside an action use the viewRenderer Action helper:

 // Bar controller class, foo module:
    class Foo_BarController extends Zend_Controller_Action
    {
        public function addAction()
        {
            // Render 'bar/form.phtml' instead of 'bar/add.phtml'
            $this->_helper->viewRenderer('form');
        }

        public function editAction()
        {
            // Render 'bar/form.phtml' instead of 'bar/edit.phtml'
            $this->_helper->viewRenderer->setScriptAction('form');
        }

        public function processAction()
        {
            // do some validation...
            if (!$valid) {
                // Render 'bar/form.phtml' instead of 'bar/process.phtml'
                $this->_helper->viewRenderer->setRender('form');
                return;
            }

            // otherwise continue processing...
        }

    }