NewRouter

a simple, fast and powerful PHP router.

• Simple Syntax
• Light Weight (single file, ~160 LOC)
• Feature Full
• Tested & Fast

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Table of contents

• Installation
• Hello World
• Routes
  • Any method
  • Parameterized Route
  • Using patterns in route URL
• Callbacks
  • Callback return value
  • Callback arguments
  • Multiple callbacks
• Prefixing Routes (grouping)
• Middleware
• No Match
• Serving Static Files
• Examples
• Tests

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Installation

require('newrouter.php');

PHP >= 5.3

Hello World

require('newrouter.php');

$router = new NewRouter();
$router->route('GET /', function(){
	echo 'Hello World!';
});

$router->dispatch();

Routes

Routes can be added by route() method. First argument of this method can be a string combined of HTTP method and URL path and second argument is a callback for the specified route.

$router->route('GET /some/path', function(){});
$router->route('POST /some/path', function(){});
$router->route('PUT /some/path', function(){});

Routes will be tested in the same order they are added.

Any method

Not specifying a method will match all HTTP methods.

$router->route('/some/path', function(){}); // this will match GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.

Parameterized Route

Use :parameterName: syntax to define parameterized routes. parameterName will be available in arguments passed to callback function.

$router->route('GET /user/:id:', function($request){
	// this route will match:
	//    http://site.com/user/123
	//    http://site.com/user/abc
	//    etc.
	echo 'user id is ' . $request->params['id']; // id is either 123 or abc
});

Using patterns in route URL

You can use below patterns in routings.

Pattern	Meaning	Example Route	Example Match
*	Anything or nothing	GET /users/*	site.com/users/ site.com/users/profile site.com/users/profile/images
+	Anything but not empty	GET /users/+	site.com/users/profile site.com/users/profile/images
:param:	Anything except /	GET /users/:id:	site.com/users/profile site.com/users/123

Callbacks

Route callbacks can be a Closure, a Callable string or an instance of NewRouter.

// closure example
$router->route('GET /', function(){
	// this will be executed on GET /
});

// class method example
class Foo {
	static public function bar() {
		// this will be executed on GET /
	}
}
$router->route('GET /', 'Foo::bar');

See Prefixing Routes for router instance as callback example.

Callback return value

Return value of callback can change routing behavior. An explicit True tells NewRouter to continue trying to match next routes. An implicit False or Null means next routes should be stopped.

Note: Not returning anything inside a callback is same as returning Null.

Callback arguments

An instance of stdClass will be passed to callbacks when a route is matched. Below is list of defined properties in this object.

Property	Description
params	An associative array where keys are captured parameters when using parameterized routes. See Parameterized routing for example.
url	The URL part that route has matched.
path	The whole URI without queries.

Note: Callbacks can capture $request by reference and manipulate it. See Middleware for more.

Multiple callbacks for a route

A route can have multiple callbacks. Callbacks will be executed in the same order they are added.

$router->route('GET /user/profile', $callback1, $callback2, $callback3);

In above example, callback1 is executed first. Then if it returns true, callback2 gets executed and so on. This is useful for use cases like authorization, see below example.

$isRequestAuthorized = function() {
	// do checkings here and return true or false
}
$showUserProfile = function() {
	// show profile here
}
$router->route('GET /user/profile', $isRequestAuthorized, $showUserProfile);

Prefixing Routes (grouping)

By passing an instance of NewRouter as callback, you can delegate all routes to that instance. This is useful when prefixing/grouping routes.

// define a router for user APIs
$userRouter = new NewRouter();
$userRouter->route('GET /', function(){
	// this route is prefixed with /users/
});
$userRouter->route('GET /profile/:id:', function($request){
	// this route is prefixed with /users/
});

// define the main router
$mainRouter = new NewRouter();
// delegate all requests to /users/* to $userRouter
$mainRouter->route('/users/*', $userRouter); // prefix $userRouter with /users/ path
//define other routes

$mainRouter->dispatch();

In above example routes like /users/ and /users/profile/123 will be handled by userRouter.

Middleware

You can omit route string and only pass callbacks. This kind of callbacks will get executed on all requests.

$router->route(function(){}); // this will get executed on all requests

This could be useful for uses case like logging and intercepting. Below is an example for parsing JWT token.

$router->route(function(&$request){ // notice the capture by reference
	$request->decodedJWT = '{"sub": "1234", "name": "John Doe", "iat": 1516239022}'; // in real-world you need to actually read JWT from headers and decode it
	return true; // this is necessary to continue next routes
});

$router->route('GET /profile', function($request) {
	// $request->decodedJWT is {"sub": "1234", "name": "John Doe", "iat": 1516239022} here
});

You can also define middlewares for a specific HTTP method. Below example defines a callback which gets executed on all POST requests.

$router->route('POST', function(){
	// this is executed on all POST requests
});

No Match

You can use a middleware as final route to capture no match. example:

// define routes
$route->route('GET /a', function(){});
$route->route('GET /b', function(){});
// ...
$route->route(function() {
	// no routes matched
	echo 'invalid route';
});

Serving Static Files

To serve static files such as images, CSS files, and JavaScript files, use the NewRouterStatic::serve method. You just need to include newrouterstatic.php and call NewRouterStatic::serve as callback for a route. The function signature is:

NewRouterStatic::serve($root, [$options]);

For example, use the following code to serve static files in a directory named asset for routes starting with /public/:

require('newrouterstatic.php');

$router->route('/public/*', NewRouterStatic::serve('./asset/'));

Above example will map all routes to virtual path /public/* to static files under ./asset/ directory. For example the route /public/logo.jpg will be mapped as /asset/logo.jpg.

Note: You can have several static routes.

Options

The second argument of NewRouterStatic::serve can be an assosiative array of options. The following table describes the keys for options argument

Key	Description	Default
lastModified	A boolean value specifying if last-modified HTTP header should be provided	true
etag	a Boolean value specifying if etag HTTP header should be provided	true

Examples

See example directory for more detailed examples.

Tests

Run below commands in shell to run all tests (210 tests).

cd test
php index.php

Run performance tests only

php performance.php

TODO

• import/export routes
• regex patterns
• numbers only pattern
• JSON parser middleware
• CORS middleware