Routing

Table of contents

  1. Overview
  2. How It Works
  3. Default Conventions
  4. Fallbacks
  5. No Route File? Why?
  6. Pros and Cons
  7. Redirect


1. Overview Table of Contents

Routing System (Dynamic Routing) Unlike many modern PHP frameworks that use a route definition file (e.g., routes/web.php), Chappy.php uses dynamic routing. This means routes are automatically resolved based on the URL structure and available controllers/methods—no manual route registration required.


2. How It Works Table of Contents

The Router class parses incoming requests and maps them directly to controller methods using the URL pattern:

/controller/method/optional/params

For example:
| URL                    | Resolved Method                          |
|------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| `/home/index`          | `HomeController::index()`                |
| `/user/profile/42`     | `UserController::profile(42)`            |
| `/auth/login`          | `AuthController::login()`                |

If the URL is /, it defaults to:

HomeController::index()


3. Default Conventions Table of Contents

  • Controller classes must be located in app/Controllers/.
  • Controller names should end with Controller (e.g., UserController).
  • Method names in controllers map 1:1 with URL segments.
  • Additional URL segments are passed as arguments to the controller method.


4. Fallbacks Table of Contents

If a controller does not exist the user is redirected to a view indicating the issue. When an action does not exist then whoops displays an error indicating the function does not exist in the controller.


5. No Route File? Why? Table of Contents

Chappy.php uses dynamic routing to keep your application lightweight, fast, and convention-driven, eliminating the need to register every route manually.

  • This pattern is ideal for:
  • Small to medium-sized applications
  • Developers who prefer convention over configuration
  • Rapid prototyping and reduced boilerplate


6. Pros and Cons Table of Contents

Pros

  • No route files to maintain
  • Easy to follow MVC conventions
  • Clear structure: URL = Controller → Method


Considerations

  • You can’t assign route names or middleware per route (yet)
  • Custom route aliases or regex pattern matching aren’t supported out of the box
  • You should avoid duplicate method names across controllers that could cause confusion


7. Redirect Table of Contents

This function comes with a static redirect function that can be called in two different ways.

  • Router::redirect('admindashboard.details', [$user->id]) - Directly calls static function
  • redirect('admindashboard.details', [$user->id]) - Shorthand publicly available global function