diff --git a/framework/CHANGELOG.md b/framework/CHANGELOG.md
index 32e5fd4d09..e2a18ffa18 100644
--- a/framework/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/framework/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Yii Framework 2 Change Log
 - Chg: Renamed `ActiveRecord::getPopulatedRelations()` to `getRelatedRecords()` (qiangxue)
 - Chg: Renamed `attributeName` and `className` to `targetAttribute` and `targetClass` for `UniqueValidator` and `ExistValidator` (qiangxue)
 - Chg: Added `yii\widgets\InputWidget::options` (qiangxue)
-- Chg: The signature for `yii\gridview\ActionColumn::urlCreator` is changed - the `$action` parameter is moved to the first (qiangxue)
+- Chg: Changed the signature of `urlCreator` and button creators for `yii\gridview\ActionColumn` (qiangxue)
 - New #1438: [MongoDB integration](https://github.com/yiisoft/yii2-mongodb) ActiveRecord and Query (klimov-paul)
 - New #1393: [Codeception testing framework integration](https://github.com/yiisoft/yii2-codeception) (Ragazzo)
 
diff --git a/framework/yii/grid/ActionColumn.php b/framework/yii/grid/ActionColumn.php
index 9328439bdc..e97f535e6c 100644
--- a/framework/yii/grid/ActionColumn.php
+++ b/framework/yii/grid/ActionColumn.php
@@ -26,40 +26,68 @@ class ActionColumn extends Column
 	 * to each action name to form the route of the action.
 	 */
 	public $controller;
+	/**
+	 * @var string the template used for composing each cell in the action column.
+	 * Tokens enclosed within curly brackets are treated as controller action IDs (also called *button names*
+	 * in the context of action column). They will be replaced by the corresponding button rendering callbacks
+	 * specified in [[buttons]]. For example, the token `{view}` will be replaced by the result of
+	 * the callback `buttons['view']`. If a callback cannot be found, the token will be replaced with an empty string.
+	 * @see buttons
+	 */
 	public $template = '{view} {update} {delete}';
+	/**
+	 * @var array button rendering callbacks. The array keys are the button names (without curly brackets),
+	 * and the values are the corresponding button rendering callbacks. The callbacks should use the following
+	 * signature:
+	 *
+	 * ```php
+	 * function ($url, $model) {
+	 *     // return the button HTML code
+	 * }
+	 * ```
+	 *
+	 * where `$url` is the URL that the column creates for the button, and `$model` is the model object
+	 * being rendered for the current row.
+	 */
 	public $buttons = [];
+	/**
+	 * @var callback a callback that creates a button URL using the specified model information.
+	 * The signature of the callback should be the same as that of [[createUrl()]].
+	 * If this property is not set, button URLs will be created using [[createUrl()]].
+	 */
 	public $urlCreator;
 
+
+	/**
+	 * @inheritdoc
+	 */
 	public function init()
 	{
 		parent::init();
 		$this->initDefaultButtons();
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Initializes the default button rendering callbacks
+	 */
 	protected function initDefaultButtons()
 	{
 		if (!isset($this->buttons['view'])) {
-			$this->buttons['view'] = function ($model, $key, $index, $column) {
-				/** @var ActionColumn $column */
-				$url = $column->createUrl('view', $model, $key, $index);
+			$this->buttons['view'] = function ($url, $model) {
 				return Html::a('<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-eye-open"></span>', $url, [
 					'title' => Yii::t('yii', 'View'),
 				]);
 			};
 		}
 		if (!isset($this->buttons['update'])) {
-			$this->buttons['update'] = function ($model, $key, $index, $column) {
-				/** @var ActionColumn $column */
-				$url = $column->createUrl('update', $model, $key, $index);
+			$this->buttons['update'] = function ($url, $model) {
 				return Html::a('<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-pencil"></span>', $url, [
 					'title' => Yii::t('yii', 'Update'),
 				]);
 			};
 		}
 		if (!isset($this->buttons['delete'])) {
-			$this->buttons['delete'] = function ($model, $key, $index, $column) {
-				/** @var ActionColumn $column */
-				$url = $column->createUrl('delete', $model, $key, $index);
+			$this->buttons['delete'] = function ($url, $model) {
 				return Html::a('<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-trash"></span>', $url, [
 					'title' => Yii::t('yii', 'Delete'),
 					'data-confirm' => Yii::t('yii', 'Are you sure to delete this item?'),
@@ -70,11 +98,13 @@ class ActionColumn extends Column
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * @param string $action
-	 * @param \yii\db\ActiveRecord $model
+	 * Creates a URL for the given action and model.
+	 * This method is called for each button and each row.
+	 * @param string $action the button name (or action ID)
+	 * @param \yii\db\ActiveRecord $model the data model
 	 * @param mixed $key the key associated with the data model
-	 * @param integer $index
-	 * @return string
+	 * @param integer $index the current row index
+	 * @return string the created URL
 	 */
 	public function createUrl($action, $model, $key, $index)
 	{
@@ -95,7 +125,8 @@ class ActionColumn extends Column
 		return preg_replace_callback('/\\{(\w+)\\}/', function ($matches) use ($model, $key, $index) {
 			$name = $matches[1];
 			if (isset($this->buttons[$name])) {
-				return call_user_func($this->buttons[$name], $model, $key, $index, $this);
+				$url = $this->createUrl($name, $model, $key, $index);
+				return call_user_func($this->buttons[$name], $url, $model);
 			} else {
 				return '';
 			}