Architecture

Netgen Layouts is a Symfony based application. It can be installed on top of existing Symfony based apps like Ibexa CMS, Sylius or any other Symfony full-stack application (based on website skeleton). It can be a standalone Symfony app querying the Backend data via REST or SOAP. Making new integrations is easy for any Symfony/PHP developer.

Layouts do not reinvent the wheel and reuse/inherit Symfony features like routing and Twig. It should be noted that Layouts don’t have anything to do with frontend assets, they can be used in any Symfony-friendly way.

Layouts only renders Twig templates and these templates can be easily overridden, even have different variations/themes.

Extending

Currently, there are dozen extension points, from custom block view types (Twig templates) to custom query types (Symfony services), all created to implement project-specific features. You can:

• extend built-in blocks with Block Plugins and Block Views

• create custom Blocks and Containers

• add new Layout Types

• create custom Query Types

• create custom Targets and Conditions

• extend Content Browser

How Layouts are connected to a specific page or URL?

When a Symfony controller renders a Twig template, Layouts are being invoked. Instead of inheriting the master Twig template, a special Layouts Twig module is inherited, trying to resolve which layouts should be rendered based on Layout mappings, a priority list of targeted URLs and conditions. First layout that matches the target and additional conditions will be rendered with all its blocks.

What happened to the original Twig you might ask?

It is still available and you can include the output in the layout by using special Blocks that render Twig code. These Blocks have an identifier which is used to find the same block identifier in the original Twig template and render that output as a part of the layout. This is the most powerful and unique feature of Netgen Layouts.