Optional param Zend Route Regex

Question

Hello,

How to make route regex parameters optionals with Zend ?

I try to make well formatted URLs ("search?s=mp&t=w" instead of "search/index/s/mp/t/w") for search filters, ex. :

Popularity

• Most popular (s=mp)
• Most viewed (s=mv, default)
• Top rated (s=tr)
• Most commented (s=mc)

Period

• All period (t=a, default)
• Today (t=d)
• This week (t=w)
• This month (t=m)

So, to get all top rated items from today i will have : search?s=tr&t=d

With regex routes i must specify defaults values and the problem is that the url view helper generates links with the default values and not with the current values.

Here is my route :

resources.router.routes.search.type = "Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Regex"
resources.router.routes.search.route = "search\?s\=(.+)\&t\=(.+)"
resources.router.routes.search.map.1 = s
resources.router.routes.search.map.2 = t
resources.router.routes.search.defaults.module = front
resources.router.routes.search.defaults.controller = search
resources.router.routes.search.defaults.action = index
resources.router.routes.search.defaults.s = mv
resources.router.routes.search.defaults.t = a
resources.router.routes.search.reverse = "search?s=%s&t=%s"

and links :

<div class="filters note">
    <div class="filters-content">
        <h3>Popularity</h3>
        <ul class="filters-list">
            <li>
                <a href="<?=$this->url(array('s' => 'mp'), 'search')?>">
                    Most popular
                </a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="<?=$this->url(array('s' => 'mv'), 'search')?>">
                    Most viewed
                </a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="<?=$this->url(array('s' => 'tr'), 'search')?>">
                    Top rated
                </a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="<?=$this->url(array('s' => 'mc'), 'search')?>">
                    Most commented
                </a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>
<div class="filters period">
    <div class="filters-content">
        <h3>Period</h3>
        <ul class="filters-list">
            <li>
                <a href="<?=$this->url(array('t' => 'a'), 'search')?>">
                    All period
                </a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="<?=$this->url(array('t' => 'd'), 'search')?>">
                    Today
                </a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="<?=$this->url(array('t' => 'w'), 'search')?>">
                    This week
                </a>
            </li>
            <li>
                <a href="<?=$this->url(array('t' => 'm'), 'search')?>">
                    This month
                </a>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>

For example, if current page is "search?s=tr&t=d" and i clic on "This week", the link is : "search?s=mv&t=w" instead of "search?s=tr&t=w" because of the default values.

I must specify default values or i get an error.

Any idea ?

Thanks, Benjamin.

Answer 1

I haven't used the regex routes, but I have seen this error. Basically, the defaults.[param] parts need values. I my custom route, I am setting them to be empty:

; Navigation ID Route (uses navigation id)
resources.router.routes.nav.route = "p/:id/:title/*"
resources.router.routes.nav.defaults.module = "default"
resources.router.routes.nav.defaults.controller = "index"
resources.router.routes.nav.defaults.action = "index"
resources.router.routes.nav.defaults.id = 
resources.router.routes.nav.defaults.title = 
resources.router.routes.nav.reqs.id = "\d+"
resources.router.routes.nav.reqs.title = ".*"

Answer 2

are you sure you want to do it this way? a few times i've tried to "fight the framework" but found out the framework knew better (grin). can i suggest another way? (that Google may like better: makes your URLs more "people friendly" too). Use URLs like

/top-rated-widgets/today
/most-viewed-widgets/this-month
/most-commented-widgets 

where you replace "widgets" with whatever your site is about eg "videos", "blog posts", "unicycles" whatever.

then each of the above routes to your search controller