Yes, setting the helpers in the beforeRender() method would be a more logical alternative. But in principle I think the definition of the helpers should happen where the helpers are actually used, see also my latest article.

@cakebaker : but you noticed that I didn’t like the approach of loading models in the view template? Controller has the beforeRender method, if you mind about logic, you could set your helpers there, after all, it’s totally connected with the rendering process… seems more logical, no?

@Brendon: Hm, if you have to use model data in views rendered by the PagesController you should consider to use a separate controller and then push the data with the set method to the views. The PagesController is meant for rendering static pages.

@Kim: Wow, quite a performance difference! You should open an enhancement ticket ;-)

@Daniel: Yes, that’s the approach I usually use when I need some data in all views.

@Martin: Yes, teknoid’s approach looks very interesting.

@Rafael, Tarique: I agree with you that it is a bit illogical to define helpers in the controller but to use them in the views. At the moment I don’t see a better solution than creating them in the view as shown by Rafael. But I have to think more about it ;-)

I got your point, and it’s really considerably interesting, I just don’t think it’s necessary/clean/simple… :)

I use TimeHelper outside views…

Where do we define which Behaviours a model uses – in the model
Where do we define which Components a controller uses – in the controller

Do controllers use helpers? No! Views use helpers! QED

Ok, I think data controller’s actions shouldn’t behave different independently of the content type being requested as you said, but your idea seems just too abstract for me… I can’t see a good reason for that… not even a logical reason, as I presented a logical reason for controllers do that…

IMO actions per-se need not be aware of what *kind* of view (RSS, JSON, PDF) is being rendered hence they need not bother about which helpers to load.

//views/modules/posts/view.ctp
<?php
$view = new ViewHelper(); // what about the inner Helpers?
$js = new JavascriptHelper();
$html = new HtmlHelper();
//or
$this->loadHelper('Rss', 'Html', 'Javascript'); // how would the var be extracted?
// or
echo $this->Js->object($data); // too big...
?>

Is it worthy?