Automated sitemap in CakePHP

Question

I'm following this tutorial for creating automated sitemaps in CakePHP. Everything is easy, but I'm not able to output XML. The controller looks like

function sitemap ()
{
    Configure::write ('debug', 0);
    $cats = $this->Category->find('all', array('fields' => array('nicename', 'modified')), null, -1);
    $posts = $this->Post->find('all', array('fields' => array('name', 'modified')), null, -1);
    $this->set(compact('cats','posts'));
    $this->RequestHandler->respondAs('xml');
    $this->viewPath .= '/xml';
    $this->layoutPath = 'xml';
}

so it uses the layout app/views/layouts/xml/default.ctp

The problem is that I have no clue what to put in the layout file, and in the tutorial there is no indication. If I put

<?php
    echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>'. "\n";
    echo $content_for_layout;
?>

I obtain a file in the correct format, but as text. If I put

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?php echo $content_for_layout; ?>

I obtain an XML file (it is displayed differently in Firefox) but completely empty, so the XML parser complains. What is the right way?

Answer 1

Hi, I just stumbled upon your question and was sad to see it unanswered. So let's give it a try.

In your controller you already have $this->RequestHandler->respondAs('xml'); so according to this comment, it should be plenty enough. Did you try leaving out the layout blank?

Also, you should have var $components = array('RequestHandler');at some point either in your sitemap controller, or your app_controller.