A way to mark a view model as terminal, and thus skip the layout

Listener.php

<?php

/**
 * A listener attached as such:
 * $app->events()->attach('route', $listener, -100);
 */
public function onRouteComplete($e)
{
    $routeMatch = $e->getRouteMatch();
    if (!$routeMatch) {
        return;
    }

    $action = $routeMatch->getParam('action', false);
    if (!$action || !strstr($action, 'ajax')) {
        return;
    }

    $app     = $e->getTarget();
    $locator = $app->getLocator();
    $view    = $locator->get('Zend\View\View');
    $jsonStr = $locator->get('Custom\View\JsonStrategy');
    $view->addRendererStrategy($jsonStr, 100);

    $app->events()->attach('dispatch', function($e) {
        // logic from other gist here
    }, -90);
}

TerminateViewModelListener.php

<?php
namespace Custom\View;

use Zend\EventManager\EventCollection as Events,
    Zend\EventManager\ListenerAggregate,
    Zend\Mvc\MvcEvent,
    Zend\Mvc\Router\RouteMatch,
    Zend\View\Model as ViewModel;

class TerminateAjaxModelListener implements ListenerAggregate
{
    protected $listeners = array();

     */
    public function attach(Events $events)
    {
        // -90, so that it's between when a view model is auto-created, and when we inject it in the layout.
        $this->listeners[] = $events->attach('dispatch', array($this, 'terminateViewModel'), -90);
    }

    public function detach(Events $events)
    {
        foreach ($this->listeners as $index => $listener) {
            if ($events->detach($listener)) {
                unset($this->listeners[$index]);
            }
        }
    }

    public function terminateViewModel(MvcEvent $e)
    {
        $result = $e->getResult();
        if (!$result instanceof ViewModel) {
            return;
        }

        $model = $e->getViewModel();
        $model->setTerminal(true);
    }
}

/*
 * Grab the application eventmanager instance:
 *     $app = $e->getTarget();
 * Attach this to the 'dispatch' event:
 *     $listener = new TerminateViewModelListener();
 *     $app->events->attach('dispatch', $listener);
 * Make sure you do this only when you _know_ that the request
 * should result in a response that doesn't require a layout --
 * likely you can do this at the same time you register your
 * custom JsonStrategy.
 */