Improved the Templating formats article

templating/formats.rst

@@ -4,16 +4,16 @@
 How to Work with Different Output Formats in Templates
 ======================================================
 
-Templates are a generic way to render content in *any* format. And while in
+Templates are a generic way to render content in *any* format. While in
 most cases you'll use templates to render HTML content, a template can just
 as easily generate JavaScript, CSS, XML or any other format you can dream of.
 
 For example, the same "resource" is often rendered in several formats.
 To render an article index page in XML, simply include the format in the
 template name:
 
-* *XML template name*: ``article/index.xml.twig``
-* *XML template filename*: ``index.xml.twig``
+* *XML template name*: ``article/show.xml.twig``
+* *XML template filename*: ``show.xml.twig``
 
 In reality, this is nothing more than a naming convention and the template
 isn't actually rendered differently based on its format.
@@ -22,36 +22,71 @@ In many cases, you may want to allow a single controller to render multiple
 different formats based on the "request format". For that reason, a common
 pattern is to do the following::
 
-    public function indexAction(Request $request)
+    // ...
+    use Sensio\Bundle\FrameworkExtraBundle\Configuration\Route;
+
+    class ArticleController extends Controller
     {
-        $format = $request->getRequestFormat();
+        /**
+         * @Route("/{slug}")
+         */
+        public function showAction(Request $request, $slug)
+        {
+            // retrieve the article based on $slug
+            $article = ...;
+
+            $format = $request->getRequestFormat();
 
-        return $this->render('article/index.'.$format.'.twig');
+            return $this->render('article/show.'.$format.'.twig', array(
+                'article' => $article,
+            ));
+        }
     }
 
 The ``getRequestFormat()`` on the ``Request`` object defaults to ``html``,
 but can return any other format based on the format requested by the user.
 The request format is most often managed by the routing, where a route can
-be configured so that ``/contact`` sets the request format to ``html`` while
-``/contact.xml`` sets the format to ``xml``. For more information, see this
-:ref:`Advanced Routing Example <advanced-routing-example>`.
+be configured so that ``/about-us`` sets the request format to ``html`` while
+``/about-us.xml`` sets the format to ``xml``. This can be achieved by using the
+special ``_format`` placeholder in your route definition::
+
+    /**
+     * @Route("/{slug}.{_format}", defaults={"_format": "html"})
+     */
+    public function showAction(Request $request, $slug)
+    {
+        // ...
+    }
 
-To create links that include the format parameter, include a ``_format``
-key in the parameter hash:
+Now, include the ``_format`` placeholder when generating a route for another
+format:
 
 .. configuration-block::
 
     .. code-block:: html+twig
 
-        <a href="{{ path('article_show', {'id': 123, '_format': 'pdf'}) }}">
-            PDF Version
+        <a href="{{ path('article_show', {'slug': 'about-us', '_format': 'xml'}) }}">
+            View as XML
         </a>
 
     .. code-block:: html+php
 
         <a href="<?php echo $view['router']->generate('article_show', array(
-            'id' => 123,
-            '_format' => 'pdf',
+            'slug' => 'about-us',
+            '_format' => 'xml',
         )) ?>">
-            PDF Version
+            View as XML
         </a>
+
+.. seealso::
+
+    For more information, see this :ref:`Advanced Routing Example <advanced-routing-example>`.
+
+.. tip::
+
+    When building APIs, using file name extensions often isn't the best
+    solution. The FOSRestBundle provides a request listener that uses content
+    negotiation. For more information, check out the bundle's `Request Format Listener`_
+    documentation.
+
+.. _Request Format Listener: http://symfony.com/doc/current/bundles/FOSRestBundle/3-listener-support.html#format-listener