Router

This is a small routing package with a focus in separation of concern and logical modularity while keeping the implementation simple enough.

Starting from the need of having an HTTP router to use with my API's/projects, this project quickly turned into a big learning experience on OO and the HTTP specification.

Table of contents

1. Routing
   
2. Static routing, workflow
   
3. Dynamic routing
   
4. Subrouting(groups)
   
5. Handling
   
6. HEAD requests
   
7. Errors
   
8. Acknowledgements
   
9. Contributing
   

Installation

composer require rgjoni/router

Namespace

Gjoni\Router

Dependencies

none

Prerequisites

• PHP 7.4 or greater
• an entry script with (preferably)bootstrapping capabilities(eg index.php)
• a server configuration that points all requests to the entry script- example can be found here

Supported methods

GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE

Routing

The library offers static and dynamic routing(using placeholders), as well as subrouting(route groups) while also utilizing the Controller@method annotation and callbacks as the handler.

Controller mapping, custom 404 callbacks & json error handling are also included in the package.

Setting controller mapping

In the case of using the "Controller@method" annotation, there is a default namespace mapping set to App\Controllers(of which there may only be one). This can be overridden (as the first thing in the workflow) if you want to use your own.

Router::setMap("MyAppNamespace\Controllers");

Static routing & usage workflow

require_once dirname(__DIR__) . "/bootstrap.php";

use Gjoni\Router\Router;

Router::get("/about", $handler);

Router::run();

That's about it as far as the usage workflow goes- call the Router with the desired method, path & handler and run it.

Homepage

use Gjoni\Router\Router;

Router::get("/", $handler);

Dynamic routing

The arguments MUST be enclosed by curly brackets({arg}) and match the following regular expression

[a-zA-Z0-9\_]+

Usage:

use Gjoni\Router\Router;

Router::get("/groups/{id}", $handler);

Router::run();

The argument name(in this case id) does not have to match the one in the handler.

Multiple arguments example:

use Gjoni\Router\Router;

Router::get("/groups/{group_id}/meetups/{meetup_id}", $handler);

In the case of a route with multiple arguments, the argument names MUST NOT conflict one another, this is because of how the parser works- it creates an array key for each argument(using its name).

Subrouting

When needed, bundling routes together for specific sections is easily implemented.

Subroutes MUST be declared using the group method and placed inside a callback function- the below example will build the expected routes(eg. "/admin/settings").

The group name MUST be preceded by a slash(/), as well as the subroutes(in this example settings etc).

use Gjoni\Router\Router;

Router::group("/admin", function() {
    Router::get("/", $handler);
    Router::get("/settings", $settingsHandler);
    Router::post("/settings/{id}", $updateHandler);
    Router::get("/users", $fetchUsersHandler);
});

Nested subrouting is also possible, the groups will then just append to each other(/group1/group2/route).

Handling

As mentioned above, this router supports two types of handling:

• "Controller@method"

The first part of the handler(before @) MUST only include the controller name which in turn MUST reside in namespace (see namespace section).

use Gjoni\Router\Router;

Router::group("/api", function() {
    Router::get("/auth/login", "AuthenticationController@login");
    Router::get("/user/{id}", "UserController@profile");
});

Router::run();

Depending on how you handled your namespace, an instance of the controller will be created and the method will be called, with or without the arguments.

If no method was passed or a typo was made regarding the separator @ (eg AuthenticationControllerlogin) an exception is thrown and handled; another one is thrown if the class is not found in the namespace.

• anonymous functions

use Gjoni\Router\Router;

Router::get("/me", function() {
    /** some cool user experience */
});

Router::post("/settings/{setting_name}", function($id) {
    /** some more magic */
});

Router::run();

HEAD requests

As the RFC2616 HTTP specification implies, the router will redirect HEAD requests to identical, matching GET routes.

Error handling

The errors are all handled and returned in JSON form and are the value of an error key

404 - Not found

If for some reason the router cannot find a route in the declaration, a default 404 error will be thrown:

{"error":"Route not found."}

Custom 404's

If wanting to handle your own 404 errors, you may do so using the setNotFound method and a closure:

use Gjoni\Router\Router;

Router::setNotFound(function() {
    /** special error handling */
});

400 - Not allowed characters

If the URL matches the following pattern: [^-:\/a-zA-Z\d] an error "Not accepted characters in URL" is thrown.

405 - Method not allowed

In the case of a route having been found but the request not corresponding, a MethodNotAllowedException is thrown:

{"error":"Method not allowed."}

Acknowledgements

As I started with this project I knew next to nothing about routing and how would I go about solving this problem.

Only after having read the code of the following libraries, thinking about the patterns at play there and experimenting myself was I able to understand enough and find a solution that fit my needs and satisfied me.

• nikic/fastroute
  
• klein/klein.php
  
• noahbuscher/macaw
  
• bramus/router

Contributing

Pull requests and issues are welcome, please refer to CONTRIBUTING.md

License

MIT