htaccess rewrite or php url exploding - php

Question

I am trying/attempting to create my own MVC. I am really trying to manipulate the url. I am trying to get several parameters to form a full URL.
I want to turn
http://example.com/?action=account&user=JohnDoe
to
http://example.com/account/JohnDoe
But I cant seem to get the .htaccess file to work right :/
This is what I have
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9-=_?]+)/?$ index.php?action=$1&user=$2 [NC,L]
When I go to http://example.com/account/JohnDoe I get a 404 error.

Answer 1

Your missing one parameter, try this
RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/?$ index.php?action=$1&user=$2 [NC,L]

Answer 2

Rather than set up a mod_rewrite rule for that specific URL, why not put an entire framework in place?
mod_rewrite as follows:
#URI PATH CONSTRUCTION
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^/?(.*)$ /index.php?string=$1 [L,QSA]
</IfModule>
Then have your index.php file break up $_REQUEST['string'] into an array that you can test to direct the request to where it needs to go
if (isset($_GET['string'])) {
//DEALS WITH GET PARAMETERS
if (strstr($_GET['string'],"?") !== false) {
$pos = 0;
$tailstr = substr($_GET['string'],$pos);
$endpos = strpos($tailstr, "?");
$endpos = $endpos + strlen("?");
$string = substr($_GET['string'],$pos,$endpos);
} else {
$string = $_GET['string'];
}
$path = explode("/",$_GET['string']);
}
//Depth to 5 levels
for ($i=0;$i<5;$i++) {
if (!isset($path[$i])) $path[$i] = null;
}
global $path;
You now have a global array containing the individual elements in the URI
eg
http://example.com/account/JohnDoe
would give you:
$path[0] = 'account'
$path[1] = 'JohnDoe'
$path[2] = ''
$path[3] = ''
$path[4] = ''