ZF2

By default, Zend Framework 2 (ZF2) controller plugins cannot force the request to end. Typically, the controller action calls plugin methods and then does what it wishes with the returned value. However, there are some circumstances (such as user authentication), where you may want to end the request if certain conditions are met in the controller plugin.

Zend Framework 2 introduced a new controller abstract class: AbstractRestfulController (more docs here). This is used to create restful services (which will communicate with javascript in the browser, for example).