there's a new feature in 0.11-svn (RC2 is coming tonight!) that  
allows to switch actions into a "simple" mode.

An action running in simple mode will
- not be execute()d - control jumps directly to the view indicated by  
getDefaultViewName()
- therefor not pass any validation
- not get any request data except for arguments set on the container  
(as you would do when creating slots, for instance)
- not run through action filters (and therefor NOT THROUGH THE  
SECURITY FILTER EITHER, MIND YOU!)

The ideal use case for simple actions are slots. Which brings me to  
another addition: two new convenience methods in the view:

createForwardContainer() and createSlotContainer().

They both work like createExecutionContainer, but accept an array in  
addition to a request data holder as their third argument. This array  
will then be used as "parameters" in a request data holder that's  
created transparently to the calling code. Also, these methods will  
set an "is_forward" or "is_slot" parameter on the container. You can  
use this to determine whether or not the current action/view is  
running as a slot. This might come in handy:

public function isSimple()
{
   return $this->container->getParameter('is_slot', false);

Let me know if you have any questions.

Greetings,

David

P.S: next mail is about caching!