FuelPHP templates

Question 1

There isn't really such a thing as a template in FuelPHP.

There is a template controller, which will allow you to set a view as a 'page template', and will automatically render it when your controller action is finished.

So the template in that controller is a normal view. Passing sections to it is nothing more then passing variables to it, that may contain another View object (for example a header or a footer view). http://fuelphp.com/docs/general/views.html has an example, under 'nested views'.

If you want a more flexible system, you should have a look at the Theme class, which works with themes (multiple), templates, partials, theme fallback, central view folders, etc.

Question 2

For using fonctionalities of Fuelphp Controller_Template, create a default view called template.php with the basics elements:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/html" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/html" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/html">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>Website<?php echo isset($title) ? ' - '.$title : ''; ?></title>
    <?php echo Asset::css('style.css'); ?>
    <?php echo Asset::js('global.js'); ?>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="header">
        <!-- Some code -->
    </div>
    <div class="container">
        <?php echo isset($content) ? $content : ''; ?>
        <hr/>
        <footer>
            <!-- Some code -->
        </footer>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Then in the Controller of your page (ex: Controller_Home) extends the Controller_Template and put those variable in a function before():

class Controller_Home extends \Fuel\Core\Controller_Template
{
    public function before()
    {
        parent::before();
        $this->template->menu = 'home';
        $this->template->title = 'Home';
    }
}

Then when you want to call a page in this Controller (ex: index.php) try this:

public function action_index()
{
    $this->template->content = View::forge('home/index');
}

It will display the template and your page (view) index.php.