Routing to specific controller in case controller/method is not found.

Hello there,

I'm trying to archieve to create custom url for specific content.

For example, i have blog and page tables in my database.

URL structure for the blog posts is "example.com/blog/view/post-slug-here" and it's working as intended.

Exclusively for page content, i want to create a URL structure like "example.com/page-slug-here".

Since this route taking priority over all rules:

PHP Code:

$route['(:any)'] = 'page/view/$1'; 


I couldn't managed to archieve it so far.

In fact, i can archieve this this 404_override. But i have doubt that i'll have trouble when things getting complex.

For example, when i need to create sub site as follows:

Code:

"example.com/sub-site"
"example.com/sub-site/blog/view/post-slug-here"
"example.com/sub-site/controller/method"

Probably i need to route sub-site's "example.com/sub-site/page-slug-here" to a controller other than 404_override.

What is the best way to archieve this?

I'm not sure I completely understand your issue, but any route which is specifically defined in the routes config will be matched before any RegEx rules are evaluated (':any' or ':num' is converted to a RegEx). So, if you have:

Code:

$route['sub-site'] = 'sub_site';

Then example.com/sub-site will work. Of course, that still creates an issue for the routes beneath it (example.com/sub-site/blog, etc.). For that, you would need to define another RegEx route for your sub-site, which means the router will loop through the list of RegEx routes until it finds a match.

This means that you need to define your RegEx routes in order from the most specific to the least specific in order to correctly match a route. So, your sub-site RegEx must be defined before your '(:any)' route. Once you do this, the only issue you should run into is that you won't be able to use 'sub-site' as a slug unless you use the URL example.com/page/view/sub-site.

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Try something like this:

PHP Code:

$route['controller-1/method-1/(:any)'] = 'controller-1/method-1/$1';
$route['controller-2/(:any)'] = 'controller-2/method-2/$1';
$route['(:any)'] = 'controller-3/method-3/$1'; 


You can also use:

PHP Code:

$route['something-1/controller-1/method-1/(:any)'] = 'controller-1/method-1/$1';
$route['something-2/controller-2/(:any)'] = 'controller-2/method-2/$1';
$route['something-3/(:any)'] = 'controller-3/method-3/$1'; 


If you did not, read the URI Routing in the documentation, where you can find more tips.

I think you are looking for a catch all controller. When a /db-page-slug does not match any “physical” controller the system falls back on this catch all controller. With this controller you can then perfrom a DB search for the given slug. If still nothing is found you can revert to your 404 controller

Thank you for your interest @mwhitney.

Let me be more specific on the issue.

Let's say,

i'm showing list of blog posts on example.com/blog which points to controller/Blog.php->index()

and, i'm showing single blog post on example.com/blog/view/post-slug-here which points to controller/Blog.php->view($slug)

and maybe my contact page on example.com/contact which points to controller/Contact.php->index()

these are expected behaviour of CI and should work perfecty.

in addition to this scenario, (blog and contact page) there is another content (eg: page table on database) which i want to serve from url pattern like this: "example.com/page-title"

there maybe tens of dynamic content. so i cannot create controller for each of these content.

Exaple Page Table

Code:

ID   TITLE           CONTENT
1    brown-fox       The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
2    fox-origin      The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
..
99   where-is-lazy   The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

To archieve this behaviour i tried following route:

PHP Code:

$route['(:any)'] = 'page/view/$1'; 


Since this approach archieves my needs, it's also breaking other blogs/pages etc.
Because any string just after example.com/anystring routing to [b]controller/Page.php->view($title)[/b]

So, is there a way to tell to CI that,

1) If requested controller/method exists, execute it. ( eg: example.com/blog => controller/Blog.php->index() )
2) And in case if it's not exists , execute a specified controller/method.

I think you are looking for a catch all controller. When a /db-page-slug does not match any “physical” controller the system falls back on this catch all controller. With this controller you can then perfrom a DB search for the given slug. If still nothing is found you can revert to your 404 controller

Yes, this is one of the things that i want to archieve.

Could you please help me on "catch all controller" because i couldn't find any info about it.

I don't have a working example for CI 3. Only a working version for CI 2.x

The Router has changed quite a bit between versions.

What i have seen is people use the $router['404_override'] as a catchall_controller.

Hello again;

Thanks for everyone who tried to help me in this thread.  I appreciate your interest.

I've solved my issue with following approach. (I know it's a little bit dirty but i couldn't find an elegant solution to this.)

PHP Code:

$route['(:any)'] = function($slug)
{
    // find out which class(controller)/method to execute.
    $validated = $this->_validate_request( array_values($this->uri->segments) );
    
    // cleanup. (which set by _validate_request())
    $directory = $this->directory;
    $this->directory = NULL;

    // extract class(controller) & method name.
    if(array_key_exists(0,$validated))
    {
        // class(controller) name found.
        $class_name = ucfirst($validated[0]);
    }
    else
    {
        // class(controller) name not found. route to desired controller.
        return 'page/view/'.$slug;
    }
    $method_name = array_key_exists(1,$validated) ? $validated[1] : 'index';
    
    // class(controller) file to load.
    $class_path = APPPATH.'controllers/'. $directory . $class_name . '.php';
    
    // cleanup. (which set by _validate_request())
    $this->directory = NULL;
    
    // class(controller) exists?
    if(file_exists($class_path))
    {
        // load CI_Controller core class and our class(controller).
        include_once(FCPATH.'system/core/Controller.php');
        include_once($class_path);
        
        // does method exists?
        if(method_exists($class_name,$method_name))
        {
            // if class(controller) and method exists, we should execute it.
            return implode('/',$this->uri->segments);
        }
        else
        {
            // well, if not, it's time to route to desired controller.
            return 'page/view/'.$slug;
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // if class(controller) doesnt exists, route to desired controller.
        return 'page/view/'.$slug;
    }
}; 


This code works as follows:

Scenario: Physically Exists
example.com/controller/method => controllers/Controller.php->method();
example.com/controller => controllers/Controller.php->index();

Scenario: Not Exists
example.com/non-controller => controllers/page.php->view($slug);


Sub-Site Example

PHP Code:

$route['subsite/(:any)'] = /* same code as above */ 


Scenario: Physically Exists
example.com/subsite/controller/method => controllers/subsite/Controller.php->method();
example.com/subsite/controller => controllers/subsite/Controller.php->index();

Scenario: Not Exists
example.com/subsite/non-controller => controllers/page.php->view($slug);

Hi,

I see you have found a solution. Should you still be interested in using a catch all controller I have been able to extend the core Router class to make use of this option.

Add the following line to your routes.php config file in ./application/config

PHP Code:

$route['catchall_controller'] = 'your_catch_all'; 


Copy MY_Router.php and add it to your ./application/core directory

PHP Code:

<?php  if (! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

/**
 * My Router
 *
 * This class extends the Crossfire core Router. It adds a catch all
 * controller for routing DB pages
 *
 * @author  Martin Langenberg
 */

 class MY_Router extends CI_Router {
 
 /**
  * Catchall controller
  *
  * @var string
  */
 public $catchall_controller;
 
     public function __construct() {
         log_message('debug', "Class ".get_class($this)." Initialized.");
 
         parent::__construct();
 }
 
 /**
  * Set route mapping
  *
  * Determines what should be served based on the URI request,
  * as well as any "routes" that have been set in the routing config file.
  *
  * @return void
  */
 protected function _set_routing()
 {
     // Are query strings enabled in the config file? Normally CI doesn't utilize query strings
     // since URI segments are more search-engine friendly, but they can optionally be used.
     // If this feature is enabled, we will gather the directory/class/method a little differently
     if ($this->enable_query_strings)
     {
         // If the directory is set at this time, it means an override exists, so skip the checks
         if ( ! isset($this->directory))
         {
             $_d = $this->config->item('directory_trigger');
             $_d = isset($_GET[$_d]) ? trim($_GET[$_d], " \t\n\r\0\x0B/") : '';
 
             if ($_d !== '')
             {
                 $this->uri->filter_uri($_d);
                 $this->set_directory($_d);
             }
         }
 
         $_c = trim($this->config->item('controller_trigger'));
         if ( ! empty($_GET[$_c]))
         {
             $this->uri->filter_uri($_GET[$_c]);
             $this->set_class($_GET[$_c]);
 
             $_f = trim($this->config->item('function_trigger'));
             if ( ! empty($_GET[$_f]))
             {
                 $this->uri->filter_uri($_GET[$_f]);
                 $this->set_method($_GET[$_f]);
             }
 
             $this->uri->rsegments = array(
                 1 => $this->class,
                 2 => $this->method
                 );
         }
         else
         {
             $this->_set_default_controller();
         }
 
         // Routing rules don't apply to query strings and we don't need to detect
         // directories, so we're done here
         return;
     }
 
     // Load the routes.php file.
     if (file_exists(APPPATH.'config/routes.php'))
     {
         include(APPPATH.'config/routes.php');
     }
 
     if (file_exists(APPPATH.'config/'.ENVIRONMENT.'/routes.php'))
     {
         include(APPPATH.'config/'.ENVIRONMENT.'/routes.php');
     }
 
     // Validate & get reserved routes
     if (isset($route) && is_array($route))
     {
         isset($route['default_controller']) && $this->default_controller = $route['default_controller'];
         // Set the catch all controller
         isset($route['catchall_controller']) && $this->catchall_controller = $route['catchall_controller'];
         isset($route['translate_uri_dashes']) && $this->translate_uri_dashes = $route['translate_uri_dashes'];
         unset($route['default_controller'], $route['translate_uri_dashes'], $route['catchall_controller']);
         $this->routes = $route;
     }
 
     // Is there anything to parse?
     if ($this->uri->uri_string !== '')
     {
         $this->_parse_routes();
     }
     else
     {
         $this->_set_default_controller();
     }
 }
 
 /**
  * Set request route
  *
  * Takes an array of URI segments as input and sets the class/method
  * to be called.
  *
  * @used-by CI_Router::_parse_routes()
  * @param array $segments URI segments
  * @return void
  */
 protected function _set_request($segments = array())
 {
     $segments = $this->_validate_request($segments);
     // If we don't have any segments left - try the default controller;
     // WARNING: Directories get shifted out of the segments array!
     if (empty($segments))
     {
         $this->_set_default_controller();
         return;
     }

     if ($this->translate_uri_dashes === TRUE)
     {
         $segments[0] = str_replace('-', '_', $segments[0]);
         if (isset($segments[1]))
         {
             $segments[1] = str_replace('-', '_', $segments[1]);
         }
     }

     $this->set_class($segments[0]);
     if (isset($segments[1]))
     {
         $this->set_method($segments[1]);
     }
     else
     {
         $segments[1] = 'index';
     }
 
     // Check if a valid controller is set, else call the catchall
     if( ! $this->_is_controller($segments[0]) ) {
         $this->_set_catchall_controller();
         return;
     }

     array_unshift($segments, NULL);
     unset($segments[0]);
     $this->uri->rsegments = $segments;
 }
 
 /**
  * Set default controller
  *
  * @return void
  */
 protected function _set_catchall_controller()
 {
     // Catch all controller empty? Set the default controller
     if (empty($this->catchall_controller))
     {
         $this->_set_default_controller();
     }
 
     // Is the method being specified?
     if (sscanf($this->catchall_controller, '%[^/]/%s', $class, $method) !== 2)
     {
         $method = 'index';
     }
 
     if ( ! file_exists(APPPATH.'controllers/'.$this->directory.ucfirst($class).'.php'))
     {
         // No file found for the catch all controller
         $this->_set_default_controller();
     }
 
     $this->set_class($class);
     $this->set_method($method);
 
     // Assign routed segments, index starting from 1
     $this->uri->rsegments = array(
         1 => $class,
         2 => $method,
         3 => implode('/', $this->uri->segments)
         );
 
     log_message('debug', "No matching controller. Catch all controller {$this->catchall_controller} set.");
 }
 
 protected function _is_controller($controller) {
     $dir = realpath(APPPATH.'controllers/'.$this->directory);
 
     if( ! file_exists(realpath($dir.'/'.$controller.'.php')) ) {
         // Clear, or set the directory for the use of the catchall controller
         $this->set_directory(NULL);
         return FALSE;
     }
 
     return TRUE;
 }
 
} 


The (:any) has to be the last route in your routes.php file for it to work correct.

What did you Try? What did you Get? What did you Expect?

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