How do you specify an HTTP status code in Cakephp?

Question

In my controller, I check a condition to see if the user is allowed to do something. If the check fails, I want to send a 403 back to the browser. How do I do that in Cakephp?

Answer 1

Perhaps something in this section of the cakephp manual can help you.

redirect(string $url, integer $status, boolean $exit)

The flow control method you’ll use most often is redirect(). This method takes its first parameter in the form of a CakePHP-relative URL. When a user has successfully placed an order, you might wish to redirect them to a receipt screen. The second parameter of redirect() allows you to define an HTTP status code to accompany the redirect. You may want to use 301 (moved permanently) or 303 (see other), depending on the nature of the redirect.

The method will issue an exit() after the redirect unless you set the third parameter to false.

Answer 2

By looking at the relevant API code from the previous comment, it seems you can call Controller::header($status) to output a header without redirection. In your case, the proper usage is most likely:

$this->header('HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden');

Answer 3

Upon revisiting this question, and reading Adriano's comment on my previous answer (regarding redirecting the user to a friendly page), I have come up with a new solution.

Within a controller you can call $this->cakeError('error404') to generate a friendly 404 page. This can can be customised (as with other errors) by creating file at 'app/views/errors/error404.ctp'.

After having a closer look at the code for cakeError, my recommendation is to try extending Cake's ErrorHandler by creating a file at 'app/error.php' or (possibly more preferable) 'app/app_error.php'.

The code for your error403 (mimicking the error404 code) could read as follows:

class AppError extends ErrorHandler {
    function error403($params) {
        extract($params, EXTR_OVERWRITE);
        $this->error(array(
            'code' => '403',
            'name' => 'Forbidden',
            'message' => sprintf(__("Access was forbidden to the requested address %s on this server.", true), $url, $message)));
            $this->_stop();
     }
}

You should also be able to provide a custom view for this error by creating 'app/views/errors/error403.ctp'. Here is a modified version of the error404 view:

<h2><?php echo $name; ?></h2>
<p class="error">
    <strong>Error: </strong>
    <?php echo sprintf(__("Access was forbidden to the requested address %s on this server.", true), "<strong>'{$message}'</strong>")?>
</p>