PHP MVC Routing > How can I create a custom route? - php

Question

Im using PHP MVC for my site and I have an issue with routing.
When I go to the index (front page), I use http://www.example.com or http://www.example.com/index.
When I go to the contact page, I use http://www.example.com/contact.
When I go to the services or about pages, I use http://www.example.com/content/page/services or http://www.example.com/content/page/about.
My index and contact pages have their own controllers because they are static pages. But the services and about pages are pulled from my db, thus dynamic. So I created a controller, named it content and just pass the parameters needed to get whatever page I want.
I want to make my URLs more consistent. If I go to the services or about pages, I want to use http://www.example.com/services or http://www.example.com/about.
How can I change my routing to meet this requirement? I ultimately would like to be able to create pages in my db, and then pull the page with a URL that looks like it has its own controller. Instead of having to call the content controller to get it to work.
Below are my controllers and what methods they contain, as well as my routing code.
Controllers:
IndexController
function: index
ContentController
function: page
function: sitemap
ContactController
function: index
function: process
Routing
class Application
{
// #var mixed Instance of the controller
private $controller;
// #var array URL parameters, will be passed to used controller-method
private $parameters = array();
// #var string Just the name of the controller, useful for checks inside the view ("where am I ?")
private $controller_name;
// #var string Just the name of the controller's method, useful for checks inside the view ("where am I ?")
private $action_name;
// Start the application, analyze URL elements, call according controller/method or relocate to fallback location
public function __construct()
{
// Create array with URL parts in $url
$this->splitUrl();
// Check for controller: no controller given ? then make controller = default controller (from config)
if (!$this->controller_name) {
$this->controller_name = Config::get('DEFAULT_CONTROLLER');
}
// Check for action: no action given ? then make action = default action (from config)
if (!$this->action_name OR (strlen($this->action_name) == 0)) {
$this->action_name = Config::get('DEFAULT_ACTION');
}
// Rename controller name to real controller class/file name ("index" to "IndexController")
$this->controller_name = ucwords($this->controller_name) . 'Controller';
// Check if controller exists
if (file_exists(Config::get('PATH_CONTROLLER') . $this->controller_name . '.php')) {
// Load file and create controller
// example: if controller would be "car", then this line would translate into: $this->car = new car();
require Config::get('PATH_CONTROLLER') . $this->controller_name . '.php';
$this->controller = new $this->controller_name();
// Check for method: does such a method exist in the controller?
if (method_exists($this->controller, $this->action_name)) {
if (!empty($this->parameters)) {
// Call the method and pass arguments to it
call_user_func_array(array($this->controller, $this->action_name), $this->parameters);
} else {
// If no parameters are given, just call the method without parameters, like $this->index->index();
$this->controller->{$this->action_name}();
}
} else {
header('location: ' . Config::get('URL') . 'error');
}
} else {
header('location: ' . Config::get('URL') . 'error');
}
}
// Split URL
private function splitUrl()
{
if (Request::get('url')) {
// Split URL
$url = trim(Request::get('url'), '/');
$url = filter_var($url, FILTER_SANITIZE_URL);
$url = explode('/', $url);
// Put URL parts into according properties
$this->controller_name = isset($url[0]) ? $url[0] : null;
$this->action_name = isset($url[1]) ? $url[1] : null;
// Remove controller name and action name from the split URL
unset($url[0], $url[1]);
// rebase array keys and store the URL parameters
$this->parameters = array_values($url);
}
}
}

Answer 1

In order to do this you should map your urls to controllers, check following example:
// route mapping 'route' => 'controller:method'
$routes = array(
'/service' => 'Content:service'
);
also controller can be any php callable function.
Answer Version 2:
Brother in the simplest mode, let's say you have an entity like below:
uri: varchar(255), title: varchar(255), meta_tags: varchar(500), body: text
and have access to StaticPageController from www.example.com/page/ url and what ever it comes after this url will pass to controller as uri parameter
public function StaticPageController($uri){
// this can return a page entity
// that contains what ever a page needs.
$page = $pageRepository->findByUri($uri)
// pass it to view layer
$this->renderView('static_page.phtml', array('page' => $page));
}
I hope this helps.