Poor ViewInterface::render

Hi Sirian Phalcon view can be used as standalone mode. Look at the https://docs.phalcon.io/en/latest/reference/models.html#stand-alone-component. For stand alone mode, you shold assign the $controllerName with the folder containing your template and the $actionName is the file name of the template.
I use the view engine for my Elements class, a ui elements that is used by many controllers. Here is the example of elements class that render using view engine.

/**
 * Elements
 *
 * Helps to build UI elements for the application
 */
class Elements extends \Phalcon\Mvc\User\Component
{
    protected function tmplRender($tmpl){
        $this->view->start();
        //render $tmpl.volt stored in /views/elements/$tmpl.vol 
        $this->view->render('elements',$tmpl);
        $this->view->finish();
        return $this->view->getContent();       
    }

    public function getSearchBar(){
        $this->view->setVar('categories',\Models\Categories::find());
        //render searchbar.volt
        return $this->tmplRender('searchbar');  
    }
}

Sorry wrong link. the correct link for stand alone view: https://docs.phalcon.io/en/latest/reference/views.html#stand-alone-component

You can render this way if you has filestructure like 'views_root_dir/subfolder/file.volt`' But try to render: 'views_root_dir/file.volt'

and what if i want to render 'views_root_dir/sub1/sub2/file.volt'?

$view->render('sub1/sub2', 'file')
or
$view->render('sub1', 'sub2/file')

I think render function now is ambiguous

You could add a method 'render' to your base controller and implement a similar behavior to the one you're expecting:

<?php

class ControllerBase extends Phalcon\Mvc\Controller
{

    public function render($path, $variables=null)
    {
        $this->view->disable();     
        echo $this->twig->render($path, $variables);                
    }

}

Render views in your controller:

<?php

class RobotsController extends ControllerBase
{
    public function showAction()
    {
        $this->render('sub-dir/sub-dir/template.twig');
    }
}

Register the Twig service this way:

$di['twig'] = function(){
    $loader = new \Twig_Loader_Filesystem('../app/views/');
    $twig = new \Twig_Environment($loader);
    return $twig;    
};

Yes, now i use this approach. But what if I want to use multiple engines simultaneously? Of course I can implement own DelegationEngine, or use Symfony Templating component. But in this case I will loose performance and don't understand why should I use phalcon? only for DI and dispatching?

Phalcon\Mvc\View uses a different strategy, which is more related to convention rather than explicitness, it uses a hierarchical view model where views are included in a hierarchy according to the controller and view that was executed, very different from what you mention where inheritance between views is explicitly defined by the developer in each request.

You could force Phalcon\Mvc\View to work in the way you're expecting, but keeping in mind that it's designed to work with a different approach.

So maybe you should create a delegation layer between engines and current View?

I do not know what exactly idea you have in mind, if you want you can add that functionality to the incubator and then we can port it somewhat similar way to C