Routing

Routing is the act of matching a request to a given controller.

Typically, routing will examine the request URI, and attempt to match the URI path segment against provided constraints. If the constraints match, a set of “matches” are returned, one of which should be the controller name to execute. Routing can utilize other portions of the request URI or environment as well – for example, the host or scheme, query parameters, headers, request method, and more.

Routing has been written from the ground up for Zend Framework 2.0. Execution is quite similar, but the internal workings are more consistent, performant, and often simpler.

Note

If you are a developer with knowledge of the routing system in Zend Framework 1.x, you should know that some of the old terminology does not apply in Zend Framework 2.x. In the new routing system we don’t have a router as such, as every route can match and assemble URIs by themselves, which makes them routers, too.

That said, in most cases the developer does not need to worry about this, because Zend Framework 2.x will take care of this “under the hood”. The work of the router will be done by Zend\Mvc\Router\SimpleRouteStack or Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\TreeRouteStack.

The base unit of routing is a Route:

namespace Zend\Mvc\Router;

use Zend\Stdlib\RequestInterface as Request;

interface RouteInterface
{
    public static function factory(array $options = array());
    public function match(Request $request);
    public function assemble(array $params = array(), array $options = array());
}

A Route accepts a Request, and determines if it matches. If so, it returns a RouteMatch object:

namespace Zend\Mvc\Router;

class RouteMatch
{
    public function __construct(array $params);
    public function setMatchedRouteName($name);
    public function getMatchedRouteName();
    public function setParam($name, $value);
    public function getParams();
    public function getParam($name, $default = null);
}

Typically, when a Route matches, it will define one or more parameters. These are passed into the RouteMatch, and objects may query the RouteMatch for their values.

$id = $routeMatch->getParam('id', false);
if (!$id) {
    throw new Exception('Required identifier is missing!');
}
$entity = $resource->get($id);

Usually you will have multiple routes you wish to test against. In order to facilitate this, you will use a route aggregate, usually implementing RouteStack:

namespace Zend\Mvc\Router;

interface RouteStackInterface extends RouteInterface
{
    public function addRoute($name, $route, $priority = null);
    public function addRoutes(array $routes);
    public function removeRoute($name);
    public function setRoutes(array $routes);
}

Typically, routes should be queried in a LIFO order, and hence the reason behind the name RouteStack. Zend Framework provides two implementations of this interface, SimpleRouteStack and TreeRouteStack. In each, you register routes either one at a time using addRoute(), or in bulk using addRoutes().

// One at a time:
$route = Literal::factory(array(
    'route' => '/foo',
    'defaults' => array(
        'controller' => 'foo-index',
        'action'     => 'index',
    ),
));
$router->addRoute('foo', $route);

// In bulk:
$router->addRoutes(array(
    // using already instantiated routes:
    'foo' => $route,

    // providing configuration to allow lazy-loading routes:
    'bar' => array(
        'type' => 'literal',
        'options' => array(
            'route' => '/bar',
            'defaults' => array(
                'controller' => 'bar-index',
                'action'     => 'index',
            ),
        ),
    ),
));

Router Types

Two routers are provided, the SimpleRouteStack and TreeRouteStack. Each works with the above interface, but utilize slightly different options and execution paths. By default, the Zend\Mvc uses the TreeRouteStack as the router.

SimpleRouteStack

This router simply takes individual routes that provide their full matching logic in one go, and loops through them in LIFO order until a match is found. As such, routes that will match most often should be registered last, and least common routes first. Additionally, you will need to ensure that routes that potentially overlap are registered such that the most specific match will match first (i.e., register later). Alternatively, you can set priorities by giving the priority as third parameter to the addRoute() method, specifying the priority in the route specifications or setting the priority property within a route instance before adding it to the route stack.

TreeRouteStack

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\TreeRouteStack provides the ability to register trees of routes, and will use a B-tree algorithm to match routes. As such, you register a single route with many children.

A TreeRouteStack will consist of the following configuration:

• A base “route”, which describes the base match needed, the root of the tree.
• An optional “route_plugins”, which is a configured Zend\Mvc\Router\RoutePluginManager that can lazy-load routes.
• The option “may_terminate”, which hints to the router that no other segments will follow it.
• An optional “child_routes” array, which contains additional routes that stem from the base “route” (i.e., build from it). Each child route can itself be a TreeRouteStack if desired; in fact, the Part route works exactly this way.

When a route matches against a TreeRouteStack, the matched parameters from each segment of the tree will be returned.

A TreeRouteStack can be your sole route for your application, or describe particular path segments of the application.

An example of a TreeRouteStack is provided in the documentation of the Part route.

HTTP Route Types

Zend Framework 2.0 ships with the following HTTP route types.

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Hostname

The Hostname route attempts to match the hostname registered in the request against specific criteria. Typically, this will be in one of the following forms:

• “subdomain.domain.tld”
• ”:subdomain.domain.tld”

In the above, the second route would return a “subdomain” key as part of the route match.

For any given hostname segment, you may also provide a constraint. As an example, if the “subdomain” segment needed to match only if it started with “fw” and contained exactly 2 digits following, the following route would be needed:

$route = Hostname::factory(array(
    'route' => ':subdomain.domain.tld',
    'constraints' => array(
        'subdomain' => 'fw\d{2}',
    ),
));

In the above example, only a “subdomain” key will be returned in the RouteMatch. If you wanted to also provide other information based on matching, or a default value to return for the subdomain, you need to also provide defaults.

$route = Hostname::factory(array(
    'route' => ':subdomain.domain.tld',
    'constraints' => array(
        'subdomain' => 'fw\d{2}',
    ),
    'defaults' => array(
        'type' => 'json',
    ),
));

When matched, the above will return two keys in the RouteMatch, “subdomain” and “type”.

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Literal

The Literal route is for doing exact matching of the URI path. Configuration therefore is solely the path you want to match, and the “defaults”, or parameters you want returned on a match.

$route = Literal::factory(array(
    'route' => '/foo',
    'defaults' => array(
        'controller' => 'Application\Controller\IndexController',
        'action' => 'foo',
    ),
));

The above route would match a path “/foo”, and return the key “action” in the RouteMatch, with the value “foo”.

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Method

The Method route is used to match the http method or ‘verb’ specified in the request (See RFC 2616 Sec. 5.1.1). It can optionally be configured to match against multiple methods by providing a comma-separated list of method tokens.

$route = Method::factory(array(
    'verb' => 'post,put',
    'defaults' => array(
        'controller' => 'Application\Controller\IndexController',
        'action' => 'form-submit',
    ),
));

The above route would match an http “POST” or “PUT” request and return a RouteMatch object containing a key “action” with a value of “form-submit”.

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Part

A Part route allows crafting a tree of possible routes based on segments of the URI path. It actually extends the TreeRouteStack.

Part routes are difficult to describe, so we’ll simply provide a sample one here.

$route = Part::factory(array(
    'route' => array(
        'type' => 'literal',
        'options' => array(
            'route' => '/',
            'defaults' => array(
                'controller' => 'Application\Controller\IndexController',
                'action' => 'index',
            ),
        ),
    ),
    'route_plugins' => $routePlugins,
    'may_terminate' => true,
    'child_routes' => array(
        'blog' => array(
            'type' => 'literal',
            'options' => array(
                'route' => '/blog',
                'defaults' => array(
                    'controller' => 'Application\Controller\BlogController',
                    'action' => 'index',
                ),
            ),
            'may_terminate' => true,
            'child_routes' => array(
                'rss' => array(
                    'type' => 'literal',
                    'options' => array(
                        'route' => '/rss',
                        'defaults' => array(
                            'action' => 'rss',
                        )
                    ),
                    'may_terminate' => true,
                    'child_routes' => array(
                        'subrss' => array(
                            'type' => 'literal',
                            'options' => array(
                                'route' => '/sub',
                                'defaults' => array(
                                    'action' => 'subrss',
                                ),
                            ),
                        ),
                    ),
                ),
            ),
        ),
        'forum' => array(
            'type' => 'literal',
            'options' => array(
                'route' => 'forum',
                'defaults' => array(
                    'controller' => 'Application\Controller\ForumController',
                    'action' => 'index',
                ),
            ),
        ),
    ),
));

The above would match the following:

• “/” would load the “Index” controller, “index” action.
• “/blog” would load the “Blog” controller, “index” action.
• “/blog/rss” would load the “Blog” controller, “rss” action.
• “/blog/rss/sub” would load the “Blog” controller, “subrss” action.
• “/forum” would load the “Forum” controller, “index” action.

You may use any route type as a child route of a Part route.

Note

Part routes are not meant to be used directly. When you add definitions for child_routes to any route type, that route will become a Part route. As already said, describing Part routes with words is difficult, so hopefully the additional examples at the end will provide further insight.

Note

In the above example, the $routePlugins is an instance of Zend\Mvc\Router\RoutePluginManager.

$routePlugins = new Zend\Mvc\Router\RoutePluginManager();
$plugins = array(
    'hostname' => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Hostname',
    'literal'  => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Literal',
    'part'     => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Part',
    'regex'    => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Regex',
    'scheme'   => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Scheme',
    'segment'  => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Segment',
    'wildcard' => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Wildcard',
    'query'    => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Query',
    'method'   => 'Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Method',
);
$foreach ($plugins as $name => $class) {
    $routePlugins->setInvokableClass($name, $class);
}

When using Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\TreeRouteStack, the RoutePluginManager is set up by default, and the developer does not need to worry about the autoloading of standard HTTP routes.

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Regex

A Regex route utilizes a regular expression to match against the URI path. Any valid regular expression is allowed; our recommendation is to use named captures for any values you want to return in the RouteMatch.

Since regular expression routes are often complex, you must specify a “spec” or specification to use when assembling URLs from regex routes. The spec is simply a string; replacements are identified using “%keyname%” within the string, with the keys coming from either the captured values or named parameters passed to the assemble() method.

Just like other routes, the Regex route can accept “defaults”, parameters to include in the RouteMatch when successfully matched.

$route = Regex::factory(array(
    'regex' => '/blog/(?<id>[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)(\.(?<format>(json|html|xml|rss)))?',
    'defaults' => array(
        'controller' => 'Application\Controller\BlogController',
        'action'     => 'view',
        'format'     => 'html',
    ),
    'spec' => '/blog/%id%.%format%',
));

The above would match “/blog/001-some-blog_slug-here.html”, and return four items in the RouteMatch, an “id”, the “controller”, the “action”, and the “format”. When assembling a URL from this route, the “id” and “format” values would be used to fill the specification.

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Scheme

The Scheme route matches the URI scheme only, and must be an exact match. As such, this route, like the Literal route, simply takes what you want to match and the “defaults”, parameters to return on a match.

$route = Scheme::factory(array(
    'scheme' => 'https',
    'defaults' => array(
        'https' => true,
    ),
));

The above route would match the “https” scheme, and return the key “https” in the RouteMatch with a boolean true value.

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Segment

A Segment route allows matching any segment of a URI path. Segments are denoted using a colon, followed by alphanumeric characters; if a segment is optional, it should be surrounded by brackets. As an example, “/:foo[/:bar]” would match a “/” followed by text and assign it to the key “foo”; if any additional “/” characters are found, any text following the last one will be assigned to the key “bar”.

The separation between literal and named segments can be anything. For example, the above could be done as “/:foo{-}[-:bar] as well. The {-} after the :foo parameter indicates a set of one or more delimiters, after which matching of the parameter itself ends.

Each segment may have constraints associated with it. Each constraint should simply be a regular expression expressing the conditions under which that segment should match.

Also, as you can in other routes, you may provide defaults to use; these are particularly useful when using optional segments.

As a complex example:

$route = Segment::factory(array(
    'route' => '/:controller[/:action]',
    'constraints' => array(
        'controller' => '[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]+',
        'action'     => '[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]+',
    ),
    'defaults' => array(
        'controller' => 'Application\Controller\IndexController',
        'action'     => 'index',
    ),
));

Zend\Mvc\Router\Http\Query (Deprecated)

This route part is deprecated since you can now add query parameters without a query route.

The Query route part allows you to specify and capture query string parameters for a given route.

The intention of the Query part is that you do not instantiate it in its own right but to use it as a child of another route part.

An example of its usage would be

$route = Part::factory(array(
    'route' => array(
        'type'    => 'literal',
        'options' => array(
            'route'    => 'page',
            'defaults' => array(
            ),
        ),
    ),
    'may_terminate' => true,
    'route_plugins' => $routePlugins,
    'child_routes'  => array(
        'query' => array(
            'type' => 'Query',
            'options' => array(
                'defaults' => array(
                    'foo' => 'bar',
                ),
            ),
        ),
    ),
));

As you can see, it’s pretty straight forward to specify the query part. This then allows you to create query strings using the url view helper.

$this->url(
    'page/query',
    array(
        'name'   => 'my-test-page',
        'format' => 'rss',
        'limit'  => 10,
    )
);

As you can see above, you must add “/query” to your route name in order to append a query string. If you do not specify “/query” in the route name then no query string will be appended.

Our example “page” route has only one defined parameter of “name” (“/page[/:name]”), meaning that the remaining parameters of “format” and “limit” will then be appended as a query string.

The output from our example should then be “/page/my-test-page?format=rss&limit=10”

HTTP Routing Examples

Most of the routing definitions will be done in module configuration files, so the following examples will show how to set up routes in config files.

Simple example with two literal routes

return array(
    'router' => array(
        'routes' => array(
            // Literal route named "home"
            'home' => array(
                'type' => 'literal',
                'options' => array(
                    'route' => '/',
                    'defaults' => array(
                        'controller' => 'Application\Controller\IndexController',
                        'action' => 'index',
                    ),
                ),
            ),
            // Literal route named "contact"
            'contact' => array(
                'type' => 'literal',
                'options' => array(
                    'route' => 'contact',
                    'defaults' => array(
                        'controller' => 'Application\Controller\ContactController',
                        'action' => 'form',
                    ),
                ),
            ),
        ),
    ),
);

A complex example with child routes

return array(
    'router' => array(
        'routes' => array(
            // Literal route named "home"
            'home' => array(
                'type' => 'literal',
                'options' => array(
                    'route' => '/',
                    'defaults' => array(
                        'controller' => 'Application\Controller\IndexController',
                        'action' => 'index',
                    ),
                ),
            ),
            // Literal route named "blog", with child routes
            'blog' => array(
                'type' => 'literal',
                'options' => array(
                    'route' => '/blog',
                    'defaults' => array(
                        'controller' => 'Application\Controller\BlogController',
                        'action' => 'index',
                    ),
                ),
                'may_terminate' => true,
                'child_routes' => array(
                    // Segment route for viewing one blog post
                    'post' => array(
                        'type' => 'segment',
                        'options' => array(
                            'route' => '/[:slug]',
                            'constraints' => array(
                                'slug' => '[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+',
                            ),
                            'defaults' => array(
                                'action' => 'view',
                            ),
                        ),
                    ),
                    // Literal route for viewing blog RSS feed
                    'rss' => array(
                        'type' => 'literal',
                        'options' => array(
                            'route' => '/rss',
                            'defaults' => array(
                                'action' => 'rss',
                            ),
                        ),
                    ),
                ),
            ),
        ),
    ),
);

When using child routes, naming of the routes follows the parent/child pattern, so to use the child routes from the above example:

echo $this->url('blog'); // gives "/blog"
echo $this->url('blog/post', array('slug' => 'my-post')); // gives "/blog/my-post"
echo $this->url('blog/rss'); // gives "/blog/rss"

Warning

When defining child routes pay attention that the may_terminate and child_routes definitions are in same level as the options and type definitions. A common pitfall is to have those two definitions nested in options, which will not result in the desired routes.

Console Route Types

Zend Framework 2.0 also comes with routes for writing Console based applications, which is explained in the Console routes and routing section.