Routing with variable number of parameters

gilad · #1 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 02:39 PM

I want to implement SEO URLs in my application, of the type:
http://www.mysite.com/archive/2008_apr_5

This is easy to do using a regex route, EG:

Code:

routes.archive.type = "Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Regex"
routes.archive.route = "archive/([1|2][0-9]{3})_([^_]+)_([0-9]{,2})"
routes.archive.reverse = "archive/%d_%s_%d"
routes.archive.defaults.module = "archive"
routes.archive.defaults.controller = "index"
routes.archive.defaults.action = "index"
routes.archive.map.1 = "year"
routes.archive.map.2 = "month"
routes.archive.map.3 = "day"

The catch is I want the number of parameters to change, that is, all this links will go to the same controller and same action but with a different set of request parameters:
http://www.mysite.com/archive/2008_apr_5
http://www.mysite.com/archive/2008_may
http://www.mysite.com/archive/2007
http://www.mysite.com/archive/

So the question is, what is the best way to achieve this. I can think of 2 options:

Have multiple regex routes, one for each parameters count, each having a different name
Write my own custom 'multi-regex' route which knows how to handle these options

None of these options are perfect though...

Any thoughts anyone?

Thanks

Tekerson · #2 (**permalink**) 07-11-2008, 04:06 AM

Instead of multiple routing rules, you can probably handle use a more advanced regex. Making the different sections optional. Something like:

Code:

archive/(?:([12][0-9]{3})(?:_([^_]+)(?:_([0-9]{1,2}))?)?)?$

Then setting defaults for the year, month and day values if they aren't present should do the trick.

gilad · #3 (**permalink**) 07-11-2008, 09:32 AM

This should work great for one direction (the matching).
But if I get it right the reverse (assembling) will still always need the full number of parameters?

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