Routing with named parameters - cakephp

Question

I have a URL that contains named parameters, which I want to map to a more user friendly URL.
Take, for example, the following URL:
/videos/index/sort:published/direction:desc
I want to map this to a more friendly URL, like:
/videos/recent
I have tried setting it up in the Router, but it doesn't work.
Code samples from the Router:
Router::connect(
'/videos/recent/*',
array('controller' => 'videos', 'action' => 'index'),
array('sort' => 'published', 'direction' => 'desc'
));
Which doesn't work. And the following also doesn't work:
Router::connect(
'/videos/recent/*',
array('controller' => 'videos', 'action' => 'index', 'sort' => 'published', 'direction' => 'desc'));
Any ideas?

Answer 1

Use get args
The easiest way to have routes work is to avoid named arguments all together. With pagination thats easy to achieve using appropriate config:
class FoosController extends AppController {
public $components = array(
'Paginator' => array(
'paramType' => 'querystring'
)
);
}
In this way when you load /videos/recent you should find it includes urls of the form:
/videos/recent?page=2
/videos/recent?page=3
Instead of (due to route mismatching)
/videos/index/sort:published/direction:desc/page:2
/videos/index/sort:published/direction:desc/page:3
But if you really want to use named args
You'll need to update your route definition - there's no page in the route config:
Router::connect(
'/videos/recent/*',
array(
'controller' => 'videos',
'action' => 'index',
'sort' => 'published',
'direction' => 'desc'
)
);
As such, if there is a page named parameter (which there will be for all urls generated by the paginator helper), the route won't match. You should be able to fix that by adding page to the route definition:
Router::connect(
'/videos/recent/*',
array(
'controller' => 'videos',
'action' => 'index',
'sort' => 'published',
'direction' => 'desc',
'page' => 1
)
);
Though even if it works, you may find it to be fragile.

Answer 2

lets see on [Router::connect documentation](Routes are a way of connecting request urls to objects in your application)
Routes are a way of connecting request urls to objects in your application
So, it's map urls to objects and not url to url.
You have 2 options:
use Router::redirect
Something like that:
Router::redirect( '/videos/recent/*', '/videos/index/sort:published/direction:desc');
but seems that's not that you want exactly
use Router::connect
use normal Router::connect which will connect url to some action which make appropriate scope. Something like that:
Router::connect(
'/videos/recent/*',
array(
'controller' => 'videos',
'action' => 'recent'
)
);
and in VideosController
public function recent() {
$this->request->named['sort'] = 'published';
$this->request->named['direction'] = 'desc';
$this->index();
}
it works and I saw such usage, but not sure, that is will satisfy you too.
as for me, I like normal named cakephp parameters. If such scope (published and desc) is your default state, just code default state in index action. For over cases i think it's normal to use ordinary named parameters.