silverstripe-framework/docs/en/02_Developer_Guides/01_Templates/04_Rendering_Templates.md

title: Rendering data to a template summary: Call and render SilverStripe templates manually.

Rendering data to a template

Templates do nothing on their own. Rather, they are used to render a particular object. All of the <% if %>, <% loop %> and other variables are methods or parameters that are called on the current object in scope. All that is necessary is that the object is an instance of [api:ViewableData] (or one of its subclasses).

The following will render the given data into a template. Given the template:

mysite/templates/Coach_Message.ss

:::ss
<strong>$Name</strong> is the $Role on our team.

Our application code can render into that view using renderWith. This method is called on the [api:ViewableData] instance with a template name or an array of templates to render.

mysite/code/Page.php

:::php
$arrayData = new ArrayData(array(
	'Name' => 'John',
	'Role' => 'Head Coach'
));

echo $arrayData->renderWith('Coach_Message');

// returns "<strong>John</strong> is the Head Coach on our team."

Most classes in SilverStripe you want in your template extend `ViewableData` and allow you to call `renderWith`. This includes [api:Controller], [api:FormField] and [api:DataObject] instances.

:::php
$controller->renderWith(array("MyController", "MyBaseController"));

Member::currentUser()->renderWith('Member_Profile');

renderWith can be used to override the default template process. For instance, to provide an ajax version of a template.

:::php
<?php

class Page_Controller extends ContentController {

	private static $allowed_actions = array('iwantmyajax');

	public function iwantmyajax() {
		if(Director::is_ajax()) {
			return $this->renderWith("AjaxTemplate");
		} else {
			return $this->httpError(404);
		}
	}
}

Any data you want to render into the template that does not extend ViewableData should be wrapped in an object that does, such as ArrayData or ArrayList.

:::php
<?php

class Page_Controller extends ContentController {

	..

	public function iwantmyajax() {
		if(Director::is_ajax()) {
			$experience = new ArrayList();
			$experience->push(new ArrayData(array(
				'Title' => 'First Job'
			)));

			return $this->customize(new ArrayData(array(
				'Name' => 'John',
				'Role' => 'Head Coach',
				'Experience' => $experience
			))->renderWith("AjaxTemplate");
		} else {
			return $this->httpError(404);
		}
	}
}