My layout isn't loading in my Magento admin view

Question

Here's my controller

<?php
class Desbest_Brands_Adminhtml_BrandController extends Mage_Adminhtml_Controller_action {
    public function indexAction() {
        //echo "showing 123 works!";
        $this->loadLayout(); $this->renderLayout();
    }

And here's my layout

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="1.0.0">
<brands_adminhtml_brand_index>
    <reference name="content">
        <block type="brands/adminhtml_brand" name="brand" />
        <block type="newsletter/subscribe" name="left.newsletter" template="newsletter/subscribe.phtml"/>
    </reference>
</brands_adminhtml_brand_index>
</layout>

Yet nothing loads up when I show the view in my admin, not even the email subscribe form.

Answer 1

If your action is called correctly (echo 123 shown), other than cache issue, there might be something's wrong with your handle.

In your action, try to put this code after $this->loadLayout() :

var_dump(Mage::getSingleton('core/layout')->getUpdate()->getHandles());
die();

It will show all the handles loaded for that request.

The handle is generated from fullActionName, in simple way, we can say that it is generated as:

route + controller + action

Take a look at your config.xml.

If your config.xml like:

<admin>
    <routers>
        <brands>
            <use>admin</use>
            <args>
                <module>Desbest_Brands</module>
                <frontName>brands</frontName>
            </args>
        </brands>
    </routers>
</admin>

For your action, it will generate handle: <brands_adminhtml_brand_index>

If your config.xml like:

<admin>
    <routers>
        <brandsadmin>
            <use>admin</use>
            <args>
                <module>Desbest_Brands</module>
                <frontName>brands</frontName>
            </args>
        </brandsadmin>
    </routers>
</admin>

For your action, it will generate handle: <brandsadmin_adminhtml_brand_index>

Update:

And don't forget to define your admin layout in your config.xml, eg:

<adminhtml>
    <layout>
        <updates>
            <brandsadmin>
                <file>yourlayoutname.xml</file>
            </brandsadmin>
        </updates>
    </layout>
</adminhtml>

Put it under app/design/adminhtml/default/[default/youradmintheme]/layout/yourlayoutname.xml