Learn how to route url's and uri's in ProdigyView. Also learn how to configure the server's rewrite rules to handle route.

1. URL Routing Basics

2. Overview
Objective
Learn the basics setting up routing in your application with
ProdigyView. This tutorial simulates an MVC.
Requirements
 Understanding of an url
 Installed version of ProdigyView with a database
 An understanding of MVC Design
Estimated Time
15 minutes
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3. Follow Along With Code
Example
1. Download a copy of the example code at
www.prodigyview.com/source.
2. Install the system in an environment you feel comfortable
testing in.
3. Proceed to mvc/helium/config/bootstrap/router.php
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4. What is Routing
Routing is process of selecting a path to send traffic too. In
PHP, url routing is the process of directing traffic to a location
on a website.
Most frameworks and CMS using a front end controller to
control the process of routing. In this tuturial, we are going to
use Helium's routing example.
The first thing we have to do is make sure your server is
configured to handle routing.
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5. Routing - Apache
Depending on your server set up, you can achieve routing
in apache by modifying the .htaccess file in site’s root
location. For this example, copy the code below into your
.htaccess file and the rewrite rule will work.

6. Routing - Nginx
If you are on a Nginx Server, routing is handled a little
differently. In your sites-available, modify the location section
of your sites configuration.
Add this to the location for routing

7. Examples
In ProdigyView, routing is governed by rules. Refer to
helium’s config/bootstrap/router.php for an example of
the rule. Each rule below can correspond to a different
action.
Remember these rules, they will be used throughout this tutorial
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8. Rules
In routing, a rule is when a certain uri matches a rules. The rules can be
exact or general match. Examples are below.
Exact Match
Rule – ‘/user/login’
Will react only if the uri is ‘/user/login’
Variable Match
Rule – ‘/:controller/:action’
Will react to a uri that has two elements. This mean the uri such as
‘/something/random’ will have a match.
These uri will not match with the rule aboe.
‘/something/random/more’ or ‘/something’ .
Using ‘/:variable_name’ will make the rule match any variable in the uri

9. Uri and Rules
Examples of uri that will match certain rules are below.

10. Rules and Your Application
Once a rule is found, is up to your application to handle
the how the rule influences the execution of your code.
The rules in this tutorial were designed for an mvc, but
they can change to fit your application. Our next example
will show helium uses the rule.
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11. Use the rules in application
Below is Helium’s MVC and how it routes based on the
rules.
1. Get the route 2. If the route’s controller and action is not set, use the
variables form the uri. Otherwise, use variables in route..
3. Set the default value for the 4. Call the controller based upon the variables
controller and action above.

12. Get Route Variable
Taking a closer look at Helium's router, we can see that the
PVRouter::getRouteVariable() method is retrieving a variable.
If the variable is defined in one of our rules and is in the uri, it
will be retrieved.
In this example, if the uri is /posts/view, it matches one of our
rules. Therefore we can retrieve the variable by calling the part of
the rule and assign it to our action in our mvc.
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13. Get Route Variable In
Controller
We have a way of retrieving our controller and action in
our mvc. But there will be times we need to retrieve other
variables in our application such as an id. Again, we can
use Helium as our example. Proceed to Helium’s post
controller.
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14. Inside the Controller
Look at the beginning of our view method in the the controller.
From the rules we set before, we can retrieve the ID and use it
find data and pass it too our view.

15. Challenge!
To help better your understanding of routing, complete this
optional challenge.
1. Create a front end controller has multiple actions to execute.
2. In your router, add route route rules.
3. In your front end controller, set up a mapping system that
executes commands depending on if the rule matches.
4. Run your front end controller and ensure that the correct
commands are executed based on the route passed.

16. Review
1. Define route rules with the method
PVRouter::addRouteRule()
2. Configure your web server (Apache or Nginx) to
handle rewrite rules
3. Using a string form such as /:controller to define
variable routes.
4. Use PVRouter::getRouteVariable() to retrieve
variables from a route.
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17. API Reference
For a better understanding of the PVRouter, check out the
api at the two links below.
PVRouter
More Tutorials
For more tutorials, please visit:
http://www.prodigyview.com/tutorials
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