Url Manager question

KJedi · December 8, 2008, 10:09am

I have a site where there is a number of categories and that categories have tags, that act as subcategories.

I need URLs like:

Sure, I need IDs of that category and tag to display the data.

So I have 2 questions:

How to set up url manager for this case?
How to convert between categoryName and categoryID effectively?

Currectly I have the following config:

'urlManager' => array(


        	'urlFormat' => 'path',


        	'urlSuffix' => '.html',


        	'showScriptName' => false,


        	'rules' => array(


        		'<categoryID:s+>' => 'search/index',


        		'<categoryID:s+>/<tagID:s+>' => 'search/index'


        	),

But when I go to:

ste.com/Dresses.html, it tells me there is no such controller - dresses

Then I tried:

'rules' => array(


        		'search/<categoryID:s+>' => 'search/index',


        		'search/<categoryID:s+>/<tagID:s+>' => 'search/index'


        	),

Now it tells me that action Dresses is not found! Why is it so?

As I can see, the problem is that name of the category can't be distinguished from the name of controller. And name of subcategory - from the controller action.

How to solve this?

qiang · December 8, 2008, 11:43am

The regular expression is not correct for the category. You are using "\s" which means space. I think what you want is "\w" or something.

KJedi · December 8, 2008, 12:33pm

yeah, really, that works perfectly!

So simple solution for this task! I like this framework

KJedi · December 8, 2008, 12:36pm

Um… not so simple…

Now when I type

site.com/category/, it does not redirect me to the category controller, it tries to use "category" as categoryID…

What can be done here?

qiang · December 8, 2008, 3:39pm

For category ID, you should define a new rule which uses pattern "\d+".

KJedi · December 8, 2008, 5:07pm

No, I need this to be letters!

site.com/Dresses/blue.html should show list of blue dresses

qiang · December 8, 2008, 5:29pm

You want to use /category/ to represent the default action of the category controller? Then insert a new rule before your other category rules.

KJedi · December 9, 2008, 7:27am

It works, but I have to list ALL controllers and ALL their actions before these 2 lines:

'urlManager' => array(


        	'urlFormat' => 'path',


        	'urlSuffix' => '.html',


        	'showScriptName' => false,


        	'rules' => array(


...................................


        		//look


        		'look' => 'look',


        		'look/create' => 'look/create',


        		'look/list' => 'look/list',


        		'look/show' => 'look/show',


        		'look/update' => 'look/update',


        		'look/delete' => 'look/delete',


....................................................        		


        		'categories' => 'category',


        		'<categoryID:w+>/<tagID:w+>' => 'search/index',


        		'<categoryID:w+>' => 'search/index',


        	),


        ),

So all actions should be listed for each controller. 2 disadvantages:

boring to write all that
will slow the application

Any ideas?

qiang · December 9, 2008, 1:56pm

You can avoid those "look" rules if you specify some more complex regular expressions with your "category" rules. A simple "\w+" of course will cause problem because it matches "look".

KJedi · December 9, 2008, 2:24pm

I understand this, but such structure is a requirement

I need just site.com/Dresses.html or site.com/Dresses/new.html

qiang · December 9, 2008, 4:52pm

Now I'm confused…

A side note: if your URL scheme is fixed (you do not want to change to use a different one), using Apache's URL rewriting is probably a better choice.

hnprashanth · July 25, 2009, 4:33am

Hi KJedi,

Have you found any solution to this?

I am stuck at the same thing, I want to redirect ‘user/username’ to ‘user/show/id/<id>’

Again, it’s the same thing, Yii always look for ‘Id’ rather than ‘username’.

Please tell me if you have found any solution to this

KJedi · July 25, 2009, 5:27am

Yes, I’ve got it done. Lots of rules though.

Here are my URL rewriting rules:


'urlManager'=>array(

			'urlFormat' => 'path',

			'urlSuffix' => '.html',

			'showScriptName' => false,

			'rules' => array(

					'/profiles/<userID:\d+>'=>'user/profile',

					'/myStyle'=>'user/profile',

					'/myStyle/profile'=>'user/profile',

					'/myStyle/register'=>'user/register',

					'/myStyle/register/thankYou'=>'user/thankYou',

					'/myStyle/register/avatar/<userID:\d+>'=>'user/avatar',

					'/myStyle/activate'=>'user/activate',

					'/myStyle/login'=>'user/login',

					'/myStyle/recoverPassword'=>'user/recover',

					

					'/profiles/<userID:\d+>/favourites/looks'=>'favourite/listLooks',

					'/myStyle/favourites/looks'=>'favourite/listLooks',

					'/profiles/<userID:\d+>/favourites/products'=>'favourite/listProducts',

					'/myStyle/favourites/products'=>'favourite/listProducts',

					'/myStyle/favourites/products/delete'=>'favourite/delete',

					'/profiles/<userID:\d+>/comments'=>'comment/list',

					'/myStyle/comments'=>'comment/list',

					'/profiles/<userID:\d+>/recommendations'=>'alternative/list',

					'/myStyle/recommendations'=>'alternative/list',

					'/profiles/<userID:\d+>/looks'=>'look/listUser',

					'/myStyle/looks'=>'look/listUser',

					'/myStyle/looks/create'=>'look/create',

					'/myStyle/looks/update/<lookID:\d+>'=>'look/update',

					'/myStyle/looks/delete/<lookID:\d+>'=>'look/delete',

					

					'/myStyle/account'=>'user/account',

					

					'/admin/users'=>'admin.user/list',

					'/admin/users/create'=>'admin.user/create',

					'/admin/users/update'=>'admin.user/update',

					

					'/womens/looks/' => 'look/list',

					

					'/womens/'=>'site/womens',

					'/womens/clothing/'=>'site/clothing',


					'/womens/clothing/popular' => 'search/popular',

					'/womens/clothing/brandNew' => 'search/brandNew',

					'/womens/clothing/onSale' => 'search/onSale',

					'/womens/clothing/<productName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>__<productID:\d+>' => 'product/view',

					'/womens/clothing/<productID:\d+>' => 'product/view',

					

					'/womens/clothing/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryTagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<tagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>__/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/category',

					'/womens/clothing/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<tagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>__/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/category',

					'/womens/clothing/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryTagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/category',

					'/womens/clothing/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/category',

					'/womens/clothing/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryTagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<tagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>__' => 'search/category',

					'/womens/clothing/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<tagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>__' => 'search/category',

					'/womens/clothing/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryTagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>' => 'search/category',

					'/womens/clothing/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>' => 'search/category',

					

					'/womens/shops'=>'site/shops',

					'/womens/shops/<shopName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryTagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/shop',

					'/womens/shops/<shopName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/shop',

					'/womens/shops/<shopName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/shop',

					'/womens/shops/<shopName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryTagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>' => 'search/shop',

					'/womens/shops/<shopName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>/<categoryName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>' => 'search/shop',

					'/womens/shops/<shopName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>' => 'search/shop',

					

					'/womens/clothes' => 'site/clothes',

					'/womens/clothes/<tagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_]+>/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/tag',

					'/womens/clothes/<tagName:[a-zA-Z0-9_]+>' => 'search/tag',

					

					'/womens/search' => 'site/clothes',

					'/womens/search/<term:.+>/p<page:\d+>' => 'search/term',

					'/womens/search/<term:.+>' => 'search/term',


					'/rss/latest/<subscribeID:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>' => 'subscription/get',

					'/rss/latest' => 'subscription/get',

					'/rss/author<authorID:\d>/<subscribeID:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>' => 'subscription/get',

					'/rss/author<authorID:\d>' => 'subscription/get',


					'/looks/<lookName:[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+>__<lookID:\d+>' => 'look/view',

					'/looks/<lookID:\d+>' => 'look/view',


					'/terms-and-conditions' => 'site/tc',

					'/privacy-policy' => 'site/privacy',

					'/about-us' => 'site/about',

					'/contact-us' => 'site/contact',


				),

			),

qiang · July 25, 2009, 11:06am

@KJedi: you may reduce the number of rules a lot by using more complex regexp and parameters in route. For example:




'/myStyle/<action:(profile|register|activate|login)>'=>'user/<action>',

is equivalent to the following 4 rules:




'/myStyle/profile'=>'user/profile',

'/myStyle/register'=>'user/register',

'/myStyle/activate'=>'user/activate',

'/myStyle/login'=>'user/login',

KJedi · July 25, 2009, 11:17am

Cool! Thank you!

By the way, I have to add sorting order and colour into the URLs now.

So example urls should be (components don’t contain dashes or underscores):

/womens/clothing/Dresses.html (simple)

/womens/clothing/Black_Dresses.html

/womens/clothing/Cheap_Dresses.html

/womens/clothing/Cheap_Black_Dresses.html

/womens/clothing/Cheap_Black_Dresses_Evening.html (Evening is subcategory)

/womens/clothing/shop_Topshop_Black.html

/womens/clothing/shop_Topshop_Cheap_Black.html

/womens/clothing/shop_Topshop_Cheap_Black_Dresses.html

/womens/clothing/shop_Topshop_Cheap_Black_Dresses_Evening.html

I proposed changing them and replace underscore with dash so I could distinguish colour from category or shop.

Sorting order should not be distinguished, I have a fixed list for this. So urls turn into:

/womens/clothing/Dresses.html (simple)

/womens/clothing/Black-Dresses.html

/womens/clothing/Cheap_Dresses.html

/womens/clothing/Cheap_Black-Dresses.html

/womens/clothing/Cheap_Black-Dresses_Evening.html (Evening is subcategory)

/womens/clothing/shop_Topshop-Black.html(only shop and colour is selected)

/womens/clothing/shop_Topshop_Cheap-Black.html(only shop, sorting order and colour is selected)

/womens/clothing/shop_Topshop_Cheap-Black_Dresses.html (plus category)

/womens/clothing/shop_Topshop_Cheap-Black_Dresses_Evening.html (plus subcategory)

Urls like /womens/clothing/* should redirect to search/category and /woments/clothing/shop_* - to search/shop

Any ideas how to write clever rules to suit all that?

I don’t want to use mod_rewrite because I’ll not be able to use createUrl() method. Maybe writing custom URL management class will do better for me? If so, how to do it?

qiang · July 25, 2009, 11:22am

In these "optional" parameters, currently there is no good solution. We may consider supporting this feature in future.