Answers.Body: <p><strong>Figured it out!</strong></p>
  
  <p>I went ahead and took at look at how Craft's <code>renderTemplate</code> method works which cleared it up for me. A few things...</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Craft caches CSS/JS resources inside of <code>getHeadHtml()</code> and <code>getFootHtml()</code> which are automatically injected into every template rendered through <code>renderTemplate</code>. Injecting these into my template fixed the JS problem.</li>
  <li>I forgot to set both the <code>Content-Type</code> and <code>charset</code> headers. Not necessary in my case but it's something that's good to add anyway. </li>
  <li>To keep things consistent with the way Craft does things I outputted everything into a buffer and terminated the request.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Here's the working concept of my <code>renderPluginTemplate</code> method; I borrowed lots from Craft's <code>renderTemplate</code> function within the <code>BaseController</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>protected function renderPluginTemplate($template, $variables = array())
    {
  
      // Grab the new template's content
      // ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  
      $oldPath = craft()-&gt;path-&gt;getTemplatesPath();
      $newPath = craft()-&gt;path-&gt;getPluginsPath() . 'plugin/templates';
  
      // Set template path to the plugin directory (temporarily)
      craft()-&gt;path-&gt;setTemplatesPath($newPath);
  
      // Attempt to fetch the template content/extension.
      if(!$templatePath = craft()-&gt;templates-&gt;findTemplate($template)) {
        throw new Exception(Craft::t('Could not find template with path: ' . $template));
      } else {
        $templateContent   = file_get_contents($templatePath);
        $templateExtension = IOHelper::getExtension($templatePath, 'html');
      }
  
      // Reset the template path
      craft()-&gt;path-&gt;setTemplatesPath($oldPath);
  
      // Set up the headers and render the template
      // ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  
      if($output = craft()-&gt;templates-&gt;renderString($templateContent, $variables)) {
        // Set the MIME type for the request based on the matched template's file extension (unless the
        // Content-Type header was already set, perhaps by the template via the {% header %} tag)
        if (!HeaderHelper::isHeaderSet('Content-Type')) {
          HeaderHelper::setContentTypeByExtension($templateExtension);
        }
  
        // Set the charset header
        HeaderHelper::setHeader(array('charset' =&gt; 'utf-8'));
  
        // Are we serving HTML or XHTML?
        if(in_array(HeaderHelper::getMimeType(), array('text/html', 'application/xhtml+xml'))) {
          // Are there any header/footer nodes in the queue?
          $headHtml = craft()-&gt;templates-&gt;getHeadHtml();
          $footHtml = craft()-&gt;templates-&gt;getFootHtml();
  
          if($headHtml) {
            if(($endHeadPos = mb_stripos($output, '&lt;/head&gt;')) !== false) {
              $output = mb_substr($output, 0, $endHeadPos).$headHtml.mb_substr($output, $endHeadPos);
            } else {
              $output .= $headHtml;
            }
          }
          if($footHtml) {
            if(($endBodyPos = mb_stripos($output, '&lt;/body&gt;')) !== false) {
              $output = mb_substr($output, 0, $endBodyPos).$footHtml.mb_substr($output, $endBodyPos);
            } else {
              $output .= $footHtml;
            }
          }
        }
  
        // Output it into a buffer, in case TasksService wants to close the connection prematurely
        ob_start();
        echo $output;
  
        // End the request
        craft()-&gt;end();
      }
    }
  </code></pre>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-06-09T20:47:02.037Z
Answers.Text: Thanks for that, Jon. For anyone interested in a Craft 3 Solution:
  
  Set Headers: `Craft::$app->response->headers->set('charset', 'utf-8');`
  To render: `$markup = Craft::$app->view->renderString($template, $variables);`
  Head HTML: `$headHtml = Craft::$app->view->getHeadHtml();`
  Body HTML: `$bodyHtml = Craft::$app->view->getBodyHtml();`
Answers.UserDisplayName: Max Strebel
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-02-12T01:20:44.450Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-02-12T01:20:44.450Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon
Body: <p>Right now I'm trying to accomplish routing users through a controller action before rendering the plugin's CP template...</p>
  
  <p><strong>[Plugin]Plugin.php</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>// ...
  public function registerCpRoutes()
    {
      return [
        'plugin/controller' =&gt; ['action' =&gt; 'plugin/controller/action']
      ];
    }
  // ...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The idea here is that I want to perform validation checks in the controller before I serve up the view.</p>
  
  <p>I'm running into two issues when it comes to rendering the template from the controller:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>The template path is set to the core template directory (which makes plugin templates inaccessible)</li>
  <li>If I reset the template path to, say, the plugin's directory then I can no-longer extend core layouts (like <code>_layouts/cp</code>) within my template.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>My solution was to then just fetch the plugin's template as a string and then render it using the <code>renderString</code> method so that way I can use the template without modifying any path variables...</p>
  
  <p><strong>[Plugin]Controller.php</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>// ...
  protected function renderPluginTemplate($template, $variables = array())
    {
      $oldPath = craft()-&gt;path-&gt;getTemplatesPath();
      $newPath = craft()-&gt;path-&gt;getPluginsPath() . 'plugin/templates';
  
      craft()-&gt;path-&gt;setTemplatesPath($newPath);
  
      if(!$templatePath = craft()-&gt;templates-&gt;findTemplate($template)) {
        throw new Exception(Craft::t('Could not find template with path: ' . $template));
      } else {
        $templateContent = file_get_contents($templatePath);
      }
  
      craft()-&gt;path-&gt;setTemplatesPath($oldPath);
  
      echo craft()-&gt;templates-&gt;renderString($templateContent, $variables);
    }
  // ...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This works <strong>for the most part</strong>. Now the layout isn't pulling in the right Javascript dependencies – no JS gets fired – so the panel content is hidden and the dropdown menus don't work.</p>
  
  <p>There must be a better way to do this. I'd be super grateful if anyone could provide any insight.</p>
  
  <p>Jon</p>
  
Tags: <plugin-development><controller><routing>
Title: Rendering templates from plugin controller
ThreadText: # Rendering templates from plugin controller
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-02-12)
  
  Right now I'm trying to accomplish routing users through a controller action before rendering the plugin's CP template...
  
  **[Plugin]Plugin.php**
  
  ```
  // ...
  public function registerCpRoutes()
    {
      return [
        'plugin/controller' => ['action' => 'plugin/controller/action']
      ];
    }
  // ...
  
  ```
  
  The idea here is that I want to perform validation checks in the controller before I serve up the view.
  
  I'm running into two issues when it comes to rendering the template from the controller:
  
  1. The template path is set to the core template directory (which makes plugin templates inaccessible)
  2. If I reset the template path to, say, the plugin's directory then I can no-longer extend core layouts (like `_layouts/cp`) within my template.
  
  My solution was to then just fetch the plugin's template as a string and then render it using the `renderString` method so that way I can use the template without modifying any path variables...
  
  **[Plugin]Controller.php**
  
  ```
  // ...
  protected function renderPluginTemplate($template, $variables = array())
    {
      $oldPath = craft()->path->getTemplatesPath();
      $newPath = craft()->path->getPluginsPath() . 'plugin/templates';
  
      craft()->path->setTemplatesPath($newPath);
  
      if(!$templatePath = craft()->templates->findTemplate($template)) {
        throw new Exception(Craft::t('Could not find template with path: ' . $template));
      } else {
        $templateContent = file_get_contents($templatePath);
      }
  
      craft()->path->setTemplatesPath($oldPath);
  
      echo craft()->templates->renderString($templateContent, $variables);
    }
  // ...
  
  ```
  
  This works **for the most part**. Now the layout isn't pulling in the right Javascript dependencies – no JS gets fired – so the panel content is hidden and the dropdown menus don't work.
  
  There must be a better way to do this. I'd be super grateful if anyone could provide any insight.
  
  Jon
  
  **Tags:** plugin-development, controller, routing
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_0 on 2015-02-12. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
  
  **Figured it out!**
  
  I went ahead and took at look at how Craft's `renderTemplate` method works which cleared it up for me. A few things...
  
  * Craft caches CSS/JS resources inside of `getHeadHtml()` and `getFootHtml()` which are automatically injected into every template rendered through `renderTemplate`. Injecting these into my template fixed the JS problem.
  * I forgot to set both the `Content-Type` and `charset` headers. Not necessary in my case but it's something that's good to add anyway.
  * To keep things consistent with the way Craft does things I outputted everything into a buffer and terminated the request.
  
  Here's the working concept of my `renderPluginTemplate` method; I borrowed lots from Craft's `renderTemplate` function within the `BaseController`:
  
  ```
  protected function renderPluginTemplate($template, $variables = array())
    {
  
      // Grab the new template's content
      // ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  
      $oldPath = craft()->path->getTemplatesPath();
      $newPath = craft()->path->getPluginsPath() . 'plugin/templates';
  
      // Set template path to the plugin directory (temporarily)
      craft()->path->setTemplatesPath($newPath);
  
      // Attempt to fetch the template content/extension.
      if(!$templatePath = craft()->templates->findTemplate($template)) {
        throw new Exception(Craft::t('Could not find template with path: ' . $template));
      } else {
        $templateContent   = file_get_contents($templatePath);
        $templateExtension = IOHelper::getExtension($templatePath, 'html');
      }
  
      // Reset the template path
      craft()->path->setTemplatesPath($oldPath);
  
      // Set up the headers and render the template
      // ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  
      if($output = craft()->templates->renderString($templateContent, $variables)) {
        // Set the MIME type for the request based on the matched template's file extension (unless the
        // Content-Type header was already set, perhaps by the template via the {% header %} tag)
        if (!HeaderHelper::isHeaderSet('Content-Type')) {
          HeaderHelper::setContentTypeByExtension($templateExtension);
        }
  
        // Set the charset header
        HeaderHelper::setHeader(array('charset' => 'utf-8'));
  
        // Are we serving HTML or XHTML?
        if(in_array(HeaderHelper::getMimeType(), array('text/html', 'application/xhtml+xml'))) {
          // Are there any header/footer nodes in the queue?
          $headHtml = craft()->templates->getHeadHtml();
          $footHtml = craft()->templates->getFootHtml();
  
          if($headHtml) {
            if(($endHeadPos = mb_stripos($output, '</head>')) !== false) {
              $output = mb_substr($output, 0, $endHeadPos).$headHtml.mb_substr($output, $endHeadPos);
            } else {
              $output .= $headHtml;
            }
          }
          if($footHtml) {
            if(($endBodyPos = mb_stripos($output, '</body>')) !== false) {
              $output = mb_substr($output, 0, $endBodyPos).$footHtml.mb_substr($output, $endBodyPos);
            } else {
              $output .= $footHtml;
            }
          }
        }
  
        // Output it into a buffer, in case TasksService wants to close the connection prematurely
        ob_start();
        echo $output;
  
        // End the request
        craft()->end();
      }
    }
  
  ```
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Thanks for that, Jon. For anyone interested in a Craft 3 Solution:  Set Headers: `Craft::$app->response->headers->set('charset', 'utf-8');` To render: `$markup = Craft::$app->view->renderString($template, $variables);` Head HTML: `$headHtml = Craft::$app->view->getHeadHtml();` Body HTML: `$bodyHtml = Craft::$app->view->getBodyHtml();`  
  
  ---
  
  