Minimal PHP Routing

Set callbacks for hierarchical routes in a simple associative array structure.

Setup

composer require grogorick/php-routing

Example

# api.php

require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';
use Grogorick\PhpRouting as R;

...

function get_feed($GET_data) {
  $feed_data = ...
  if ($feed_data)
    R\respond($feed_data);
  else
    R\respond(null, R\Response::ERROR_NOT_FOUND);
}

...

R\route([
  'v1' => [
    'sign-in' => [
      'POST' => 'App\Auth\sign_in'
    ],
    '(authenticated)' => R\Check('App\Auth\verify_authorization_header', [
      'accounts' => R\Entity([
        'POST' => fn() => R\respond('create account'),
        'GET' => fn() => R\respond('list accounts'),
        '/\w+/' => fn($account_slug) => R\Item([
          'GET' => fn() => R\respond('get account ' . $account_slug),
          'PUT' => fn() => R\respond('replace account ' . $account_slug),
          'PATCH' => fn() => R\respond('update account ' . $account_slug),
          'DELETE' => fn() => R\respond('delete account ' . $account_slug)
        ]),
        ...
      ]),
      'posts' => R\Entity([
        /* post_id */ '/\d+/' => R\IntParam([
          'GET' => fn($post_id) => R\respond('get post ' . $post_id),
          ...
        ]),
        ...
      ]),
      'feed' => [
        'GET' => fn($GET_data) => get_feed($GET_data),
        ...
      ],
      ...
    ]),
    ...
  ],
  ...
]);

Routes Array Syntax

route-literal => [subroutes array]
static route literal string => subroutes array

/regex/ => subroutes function
regex to match a URL parameter => subroutes function getting the parsed parameter, generating a subroutes array

(subroutes group) => subroutes function
subroutes group name in parentheses => subroutes function generating a subroutes array

METHOD => callable
request METHOD in full uppercase => action callable to be called for this route

Action callables will be called with the following arguments:

URL parameters — in their order withing the respective route
form data — via $_POST or file_get_contents('php://input')
search parameters — via $_GET

Reference

route($routes)
Main function to parse the current request URL and call the corresponding callback function.
$routes (associative array)
— route literal string => subroute array
— route parameter regex => closure with parsed parameter as argument, returning a subroute array
— request method (POST/GET/PUT/PATCH/DELETE) => callback function

respond($response, $code = 200)
Helper function to output the retrieved response as JSON-encoded string, and set an optional status code. Stops execution afterwards.
$response (any) — JSON-serializable response object
$code (int) — HTTP response status code

Check($check, $subroutes)
Wrapper for subroutes array with restricted access.
$check (callable) — callback function to check for access permission
$subroutes — see route($routes)

respond_error_if_no_other_route_matches($error)
Report error during Check(...) without directly stopping routing.
$error (string) — error message

Param($convert, $subroutes)
Wrapper for subroutes array to convert a parsed url parameter.
$convert (callable) — callback function to convert the latest parameter
$subroutes — see route($routes)

IntParam($subroutes)
Shorthand for Param('intval', $subroutes)
$subroutes — see route($routes)

Entity($subroutes)
Item($subroutes)
Wrapper for subroutes array to generate recommended response status codes for undefined request methods.
$subroutes — see route($routes)

set_response_headers($headers)
add_response_header($header)
Replace/add headers that are automatically applied when using respond(...).
$headers (array) — headers to replace all default/previously set headers
$header (string) — header to add

set_options($options)
Set options available in \Options.
$options (associative array) — options to set, using values from \Options as array keys

Server Configuration

Additional Request Methods

By default, most Apache configurations only allow GET and POST requests. Add the following to allow further methods (PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS).

# .htaccess
<Limit GET POST PUT PATCH DELETE HEAD OPTIONS>
    Require all granted
</Limit>
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Methods "GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS"

For this to work, the httpd.conf should include

<VirtualHost ...>
    <Directory ...>
        ...
        AllowOverride All
        ...

Response Headers

Response headers can be set either via PHP, which allows to set them dynamically, e.g., to support multiple specific origins:

R\set_response_headers([
  "Access-Control-Allow-Origin: $approved_request_origin",
  'Access-Control-Allow-Headers: content-type',
  'Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8'
]);

or via .htaccess if static settings are sufficient:

Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "https://your-app.domain"
Header always set Access-Control-Allow-Headers "content-type"
Header always set Content-Type "application/json; charset=UTF-8"

URL Syntax

Short

https://your-api.domain /v1/accounts/42

# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine on
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /api.php/$1 [L,QSA]
</IfModule>

Medium

https://your-api.domain /api.php/v1/accounts/42
(pre-configured on most systems)

# httpd.conf
<VirtualHost ...>
    ...
    AcceptPathInfo On
    ...

or

# .htaccess
AcceptPathInfo On

Long

https://your-api.domain /api.php?request=/v1/accounts/42
(vanilla PHP)