Allow to render template separately

library/Zend/Form/View/Helper/FormCollection.php

@@ -64,13 +64,7 @@ public function render(ElementInterface $element)
         $elementHelper = $this->getElementHelper();
 
         if ($element instanceof CollectionElement && $element->shouldCreateTemplate()) {
-            $elementOrFieldset = $element->getTemplateElement();
-
-            if ($elementOrFieldset instanceof FieldsetInterface) {
-                $templateMarkup .= $this->render($elementOrFieldset);
-            } elseif ($elementOrFieldset instanceof ElementInterface) {
-                $templateMarkup .= $elementHelper($elementOrFieldset);
-            }
+            $templateMarkup = $this->renderTemplate($element);
         }
 
         foreach ($element->getIterator() as $elementOrFieldset) {
@@ -83,12 +77,7 @@ public function render(ElementInterface $element)
 
         // If $templateMarkup is not empty, use it for simplify adding new element in JavaScript
         if (!empty($templateMarkup)) {
-            $escapeHtmlAttribHelper = $this->getEscapeHtmlAttrHelper();
-
-            $markup .= sprintf(
-                '<span data-template="%s"></span>',
-                $escapeHtmlAttribHelper($templateMarkup)
-            );
+            $markup .= $templateMarkup;
         }
 
         // Every collection is wrapped by a fieldset if needed
@@ -109,6 +98,32 @@ public function render(ElementInterface $element)
         return $markup;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Only render a template
+     *
+     * @param  CollectionElement            $collection
+     * @return string
+     */
+    public function renderTemplate(CollectionElement $collection)
+    {
+        $elementHelper          = $this->getElementHelper();
+        $escapeHtmlAttribHelper = $this->getEscapeHtmlAttrHelper();
+        $templateMarkup         = '';
+
+        $elementOrFieldset = $collection->getTemplateElement();
+
+        if ($elementOrFieldset instanceof FieldsetInterface) {
+            $templateMarkup .= $this->render($elementOrFieldset);
+        } elseif ($elementOrFieldset instanceof ElementInterface) {
+            $templateMarkup .= $elementHelper($elementOrFieldset);
+        }
+
+        return sprintf(
+            '<span data-template="%s"></span>',
+            $escapeHtmlAttribHelper($templateMarkup)
+        );
+    }
+
     /**
      * Invoke helper as function
      *

tests/ZendTest/Form/View/Helper/FormCollectionTest.php

@@ -139,5 +139,14 @@ public function testSetDefaultElementHelperToFoo()
         $this->assertSame('foo', $defaultElement);
     }
 
+    public function testCanRenderTemplateAlone()
+    {
+        $form = $this->getForm();
+        $collection = $form->get('colors');
+        $collection->setShouldCreateTemplate(true);
 
+        $markup = $this->helper->renderTemplate($collection);
+        $this->assertContains('<span data-template', $markup);
+        $this->assertContains($collection->getTemplatePlaceholder(), $markup);
+    }
 }