Rendering a template from a controller - unable to find template

Question

Once again going out of my mind trying to figure something out... I have a custom controller which I want to return a rendered template. The template should, ideally, reside in my front end templates directory.

But I can't for the life of me figure out the path to use. The template I want is at ./templates/how-to-book/holidays-for-destination-options.twig but my controller is unable to find it seemingly regardless of how I try to write the path.

This is a sketchy version of the controller (I'm not getting any data yet, just want to render the correct template)

public function actionLoadHolidays()
    {
        $request = Craft::$app->request;
        $destination = $request->post('destination');
        
        $holidays = [];
        
        $oldMode = Craft::$app->view->getTemplateMode();
        Craft::$app->getView()->setTemplateMode(View::TEMPLATE_MODE_SITE);
    
        $this->renderTemplate('how-to-book/holidays-for-destination-options.twig', array(
            'destination' => $destination,
            'holidays' => $holidays
        ));
        Craft::$app->view->setTemplateMode($oldMode);

    }

Using the path as shown, I get the response Not Found: Template not found: actions/my-module/holidays/load-holidays

I'm hitting this controller via an Ajax request if that has any bearing.

Can someone please help me figure this out - I'm feeling dumb!

Answer 1

Yes I was being dumb....

I wasn't returning the rendered template. Controller should be

public function actionLoadHolidays()
    {
        $request = Craft::$app->request;
        $destination = $request->post('destination');
        
        $holidays = [];
        
        $oldMode = Craft::$app->view->getTemplateMode();
        Craft::$app->getView()->setTemplateMode(View::TEMPLATE_MODE_SITE);
    
        return $this->renderTemplate('how-to-book/holidays-for-destination-options.twig', array(
            'destination' => $destination,
            'holidays' => $holidays
        ));

    }