It allows you to omit templates if you just need to emit JSON string as response.
In your controller, you could do the following:
$this->set(['posts' => $posts]);
$this->set('_serialize', true);
When the view is rendered, the $posts view variable will be serialized
into JSON.
You can also set multiple view variables for serialization. This will create
a top level object containing all the named view variables:
$this->set(compact('posts', 'users', 'stuff'));
$this->set('_serialize', true);
The above would generate a JSON object that looks like:
{"posts": [...], "users": [...]}
You can also set '_serialize' to a string or array to serialize only the
specified view variables.
If you don't use the _serialize, you will need a view template. You can use
extended views to provide layout-like functionality.
You can also enable JSONP support by setting parameter _jsonp to true or a
string to specify custom query string parameter name which will contain the
callback function name.
/**
* Initialization hook method.
*
* @return void
*/
public function initialize()
{
parent::initialize();
Hook::applyHelpers($this);
}
/**
* Returns data to be serialized.
*
* @param array|string|bool $serialize The name(s) of the view variable(s) that
* need(s) to be serialized. If true all available view variables will be used.
* @return mixed The data to serialize.
*/
protected function _dataToSerialize($serialize = true)
{
$data = parent::_dataToSerialize($serialize);
$serializer = $this->getSerializer();
$includes = $this->get('_includes');
$manager = new Manager();
$manager->setSerializer($serializer);
if ($includes) {
$manager->parseIncludes($includes);
}
if (is_array($data)) {
foreach ($data as $varName => &$var) {
$var = $this->transform($manager, $var, $varName);
}
unset($var);
} else {
$data = $this->transform($manager, $data);
}
return $data;
}