How to setup multiple Layouts in Zend Framework. Eg. Public/Logged in/Various combinations of modules

I know & used the very basic Zend Framework's Layouts where I used 1 layout throughout the whole site. But now I need a more intermediate/organized setup.

The public site layout will have the div#mainContent taking up the whole 12 columns (using 960gs)
The logged in site will have div#mainContent taking up 9 columns + side bar with 3 columns
In the sidebar of the logged in site, various pages may contain various modules (not Zend Framework's modules, more like "boxes/widgets")
They will have different nav menus too

I am thinking of using 1 base layout where the 2 sub layouts will "extend". The base layout will just contain the <html> declarations headScripts etc till the <body> then the sublayouts will contain definations for the wrapping divs div.grid_12, grid_9, grid_3. How can I implement this "extending", basically, I just want to reuse code

Also whats a good way to render sidebar boxes/widgets

Solution

I'm switching between layouts depending on the subdomain of my website.

Here's the layout plugin I'm using...

class App_Layout_Controller_Plugin_Layout extends Zend_Layout_Controller_Plugin_Layout
{

    public function preDispatch(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
    {
        $layout = $this->getLayout();
        $filename = $layout->getLayoutPath() . '/' . $request->getModuleName() . '.' . $layout->getViewSuffix();

        //check if the layout template exists, if not use the default layout set in application.ini
        if (file_exists($filename))
        {
            $this->getLayout()->setLayout($request->getModuleName());
        }
    }

}

Of course you can modify this for your own needs.

Make sure you set up you application.ini correctly too including elements like the following...

resources.layout.layout = "default"
resources.layout.layoutPath = APPLICATION_PATH "/layouts/scripts"
resources.layout.pluginClass = "App_Layout_Controller_Plugin_Layout"

In my case I have:

default.phtml, admin.phtml, clients.phtml

I hope this helps...
Angel