Auto Routing (Improved)

New in version 4.2.0.

What is Auto Routing (Improved) ?

By default, all routes must be defined in the configuration file.

However, with Auto Routing (Improved), you can define the controller name and its method name according to the convention and it will be automatically routed. In other words, there is no need to define routes manually.

If you enable Auto Routing (Improved), when no defined route is found that matches the URI, the system will attempt to match that URI against the controllers and methods.

Important

For security reasons, if a controller is used in the defined routes, Auto Routing (Improved) does not route to the controller.

Note

Auto Routing (Improved) is disabled by default. To use it, see Enable Auto Routing (Improved).

Differences from Auto Routing (Legacy)

Auto Routing (Legacy) is a routing system from CodeIgniter 3. If you are not familiar with it, go to the next section.

If you know it well, these are some changes in Auto Routing (Improved):

A controller method needs HTTP verb prefix like getIndex(), postCreate().
- Since developers always know the HTTP method, a request with an unexpected HTTP method will never execute the controller.
The Default Controller (Home by default) and the Default Method (index by default) must be omitted in the URI.
- It restricts one-to-one correspondence between controller methods and URIs.
- E.g. by default, you can access /, but /home and /home/index will be 404 Not Found.
It checks method parameter count.
- If there are more parameters in the URI than the method parameters, it results in 404 Not Found.
It does not support _remap() method.
- It restricts one-to-one correspondence between controller methods and URIs.
- But it has the Default Method Fallback feature instead.
Can’t access controllers in Defined Routes.
- It completely separates controllers accessible via Auto Routing from those accessible via Defined Routes.

Enable Auto Routing (Improved)

To use it, you need to change the setting $autoRoute option to true in app/Config/Routing.php:

public bool $autoRoute = true;

And you need to change the property $autoRoutesImproved to true in app/Config/Feature.php:

public bool $autoRoutesImproved = true;

Important

When you use Auto Routing (Improved), you must remove the line $routes->get('/', 'Home::index'); in app/Config/Routes.php. Because defined routes take precedence over Auto Routing, and controllers defined in the defined routes are denied access by Auto Routing (Improved) for security reasons.

URI Segments 

The segments in the URL, in following with the Model-View-Controller approach, usually represent:

http://example.com/{class}/{method}/{param1}

The first segment represents the controller class that should be invoked.
The second segment represents the class method that should be called.
The third, and any additional segments, represent any parameters that will be passed to the controller method.

Consider this URI:

http://example.com/hello-world/hello/1

In the above example, when you send an HTTP request with GET method, Auto Routing (Improved) would attempt to find a controller named App\Controllers\HelloWorld and executes getHello() method with passing '1' as the first parameter.

Note

A controller method that will be executed by Auto Routing (Improved) needs HTTP verb (get, post, put, etc.) prefix like getIndex(), postCreate().

Note

When a controller’s short name matches the first segment of a URI, it will be loaded.

Let’s try it: Hello World!

Let’s create a simple controller so you can see it in action.

Create a Controller 

Using your text editor, create a file called HelloWorld.php in your app/Controllers directory, and put the following code in it.

<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

class HelloWorld extends BaseController
{
    public function getIndex()
    {
        return 'Hello World!';
    }
}

Important

The file must be called HelloWorld.php. When you use Auto Routing (Improved), controller class names MUST be CamelCase.

You will notice that the HelloWorld Controller is extending the BaseController. You can also extend the CodeIgniter\Controller if you do not need the functionality of the BaseController.

The BaseController provides a convenient place for loading components and performing functions that are needed by all your controllers. You can extend this class in any new controller.

Important

A controller method that will be executed by Auto Routing (Improved) needs HTTP verb (get, post, put, etc.) prefix like getIndex(), postCreate().

Check the Routes 

You can check your routes with the spark routes command.

php spark routes

If you did it right, you should see:

+-----------+-------------+------+---------------------------------------+----------------+---------------+
| Method    | Route       | Name | Handler                               | Before Filters | After Filters |
+-----------+-------------+------+---------------------------------------+----------------+---------------+
| GET(auto) | hello-world |      | \App\Controllers\HelloWorld::getIndex |                |               |
+-----------+-------------+------+---------------------------------------+----------------+---------------+

See spark routes for the output details.

Visit Your Site 

Now visit your site using a URL similar to this:

http://example.com/hello-world

The system automatically translates URI with dashes (-) to CamelCase in the controller and method URI segments.

For example, the URI sub-dir/hello-controller/some-method will execute the SubDir\HelloController::getSomeMethod() method.

If you did it right, you should see:

Hello World!

Examples of Controller Names 

The following is an valid controller name. Because App\Controllers\HelloWorld is CamelCase.

<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

class HelloWorld extends BaseController
{
    // ...
}

The following is not valid. Because the first letter (h) is not capital.

<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

class helloworld extends BaseController
{
    // ...
}

The following is also not valid. Because the first letter (h) is not capital.

<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

class helloWorld extends BaseController
{
    // ...
}

Controller Methods 

Method Visibility 

When you define a method that is executable via HTTP request, the method must be declared as public.

Warning

For security reasons be sure to declare any new utility methods as protected or private.

Default Method 

In the above example, the method name is getIndex(). The method (HTTP verb + Index()) is called the Default Method, and is loaded if the second segment of the URI is empty.

Normal Methods 

The second segment of the URI determines which method in the controller gets called.

Let’s try it. Add a new method to your controller:

<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

class HelloWorld extends BaseController
{
    public function getIndex()
    {
        return 'Hello World!';
    }

    public function getComment()
    {
        return 'I am not flat!';
    }
}

Now load the following URL to see the getComment() method:

http://example.com/hello-world/comment/

You should see your new message.

Passing URI Segments to Your Methods 

If your URI contains more than two segments they will be passed to your method as parameters.

For example, let’s say you have a URI like this:

http://example.com/products/shoes/sandals/123

Your method will be passed URI segments 3 and 4 ('sandals' and '123'):

<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

class Products extends BaseController
{
    public function getShoes($type, $id)
    {
        return $type . $id;
    }
}

Note

If there are more parameters in the URI than the method parameters, Auto Routing (Improved) does not execute the method, and it results in 404 Not Found.

Default Controller 

The Default Controller is a special controller that is used when a URI ends with a directory name or when a URI is not present, as will be the case when only your site root URL is requested.

By default, the Default Controller is Home.

Note

Define only the default method (getIndex() for GET requests) in the default controller. If you define any other public method, that method will not be executed.

For more information, please refer to the Configuration Options.

Default Method Fallback 

New in version 4.4.0.

If the controller method corresponding to the URI segment of the method name does not exist, and if the default method is defined, the remaining URI segments are passed to the default method for execution.

<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

class Product extends BaseController
{
    public function getIndex($id = null, $action = '')
    {
        // ...
    }
}

Load the following URL:

http://example.com/product/15/edit

The method will be passed URI segments 2 and 3 ('15' and 'edit'):

Important

If there are more parameters in the URI than the method parameters, Auto Routing (Improved) does not execute the method, and it results in 404 Not Found.

Fallback to Default Controller 

If the controller corresponding to the URI segment of the controller name does not exist, and if the default controller (Home by default) exists in the directory, the remaining URI segments are passed to the default controller’s default method.

For example, when you have the following default controller Home in the app/Controllers/News directory:

<?php

namespace App\Controllers\News;

use App\Controllers\BaseController;

class Home extends BaseController
{
    public function getIndex($id = null)
    {
        // ...
    }
}

Load the following URL:

http://example.com/news/101

The News\Home controller and the default getIndex() method will be found. So the default method will get the second URI segment ('101'):

Note

If there is App\Controllers\News controller, it takes precedence. The URI segments are searched sequentially and the first controller found is used.

Note

If there are more parameters in the URI than the method parameters, Auto Routing (Improved) does not execute the method, and it results in 404 Not Found.

Organizing Your Controllers into Sub-directories 

If you are building a large application you might want to hierarchically organize or structure your controllers into sub-directories. CodeIgniter permits you to do this.

Simply create sub-directories under the main app/Controllers, and place your controller classes within them.

Important

Directory names MUST start with an uppercase letter and be CamelCase.

When using this feature the first segment of your URI must specify the directory. For example, let’s say you have a controller located here:

app/Controllers/Products/Shoes.php

To call the above controller your URI will look something like this:

http://example.com/products/shoes/show/123

Note

You cannot have directories with the same name in app/Controllers and public. This is because if there is a directory, the web server will search for it and it will not be routed to CodeIgniter.

Each of your sub-directories may contain a default controller which will be called if the URL contains only the sub-directory. Simply put a controller in there that matches the name of your default controller as specified in your app/Config/Routing.php file.

Examples of Controller/Methods and URIs 

In the case of a GET request with the default configuration, the mapping between controller/methods and URIs is as follows:

Controller/Method	URI	Description
`Home::getIndex()`	/	The default controller and the default method.
`Blog::getIndex()`	/blog	The default method.
`UserProfile::getIndex()`	/user-profile	The default method.
`Blog::getTags()`	/blog/tags
`Blog::getNews($id)`	/blog/news/123
`Blog\Home::getIndex()`	/blog	Sub-directory `Blog` and the default controller and the default method. If there is `Blog` controller, it takes precedence.
`Blog\Tags::getIndex()`	/blog/tags	Sub-directory `Blog` and the default method. If there is `Blog` controller, it takes precedence.
`Blog\News::getIndex($id)`	/blog/news/123	Sub-directory `Blog` and the default method fallback. If there is `Blog` controller, it takes precedence.

Applying Filters 

Applying controller filters allows you to add processing before and after the controller method execution. This is especially handy during authentication or api logging.

If you use Auto Routing, set the filters to be applied in app/Config/Filters.php. See Controller Filters for more information on setting up filters.

Configuration Options 

These options are available in the app/Config/Routing.php file.

Default Controller 

For Site Root URI 

When a user visits the root of your site (i.e., http://example.com) the controller to use is determined by the value set to the $defaultController property, unless a route exists for it explicitly.

The default value for this is Home which matches the controller at app/Controllers/Home.php:

public string $defaultController = 'Home';

For Directory URI 

The default controller is also used when no matching route has been found, and the URI would point to a directory in the controllers directory. For example, if the user visits http://example.com/admin, if a controller was found at app/Controllers/Admin/Home.php, it would be used.

Important

You cannot access the default controller with the URI of the controller name. When the default controller is Home, you can access http://example.com/, but if you access http://example.com/home, it will be not found.

Default Method 

This works similar to the default controller setting, but is used to determine the default method that is used when a controller is found that matches the URI, but no segment exists for the method. The default value is index.

In this example, if the user were to visit example.com/products, and a Products controller existed, the Products::getListAll() method would be executed:

public string $defaultMethod = 'listAll';

Important

You cannot access the controller with the URI of the default method name. In the example above, you can access example.com/products, but if you access example.com/products/listall, it will be not found.

Translate URI To CamelCase 

New in version 4.5.0.

Note

Since v4.6.0, the $translateUriToCamelCase option is enabled by default.

Since v4.5.0, the $translateUriToCamelCase option has been implemented, which works well with the current CodeIgniter’s coding standards.

This option enables you to automatically translate URI with dashes (-) to CamelCase in the controller and method URI segments.

For example, the URI sub-dir/hello-controller/some-method will execute the SubDir\HelloController::getSomeMethod() method.

Note

When this option is enabled, the $translateURIDashes option is ignored.

Disable Translate URI To CamelCase 

Note

The option to disable “Translate URI To CamelCase” exists only for backward compatibility. We don’t recommend to disable it.

To disable it, you need to change the setting $translateUriToCamelCase option to false in app/Config/Routing.php:

public bool $translateUriToCamelCase = false;

Module Routing 

New in version 4.4.0.

You can use auto routing even if you use Code Modules and place the controllers in a different namespace.

To route to a module, the $moduleRoutes property in app/Config/Routing.php must be set:

public array $moduleRoutes = [
    'blog' => 'Acme\Blog\Controllers',
];

The key is the first URI segment for the module, and the value is the controller namespace. In the above configuration, http://localhost:8080/blog/foo/bar will be routed to Acme\Blog\Controllers\Foo::getBar().

Note

If you define $moduleRoutes, the routing for the module takes precedence. In the above example, even if you have the App\Controllers\Blog controller, http://localhost:8080/blog will be routed to the default controller Acme\Blog\Controllers\Home.