Bug: Missing argument in route when using `url_to` or `route_to` with regex routes

bgeneto commented 2 weeks ago

PHP Version

8.3

CodeIgniter4 Version

CodeIgniter 4.5.5

CodeIgniter4 Installation Method

Composer (using codeigniter4/appstarter)

Which operating systems have you tested for this bug?

Debian 12

Which server did you use?

fpm-fcgi

Database

N/A

What happened?

The following route definition works fine as long as you don't use url_to or route_to to refer to it:

$routes->get('/test(/(:any))?', 'Test::direct/$1', ['as' => 'test']);

Linking as below works:

<a href="/test">No parameter</a>
<a href="/test/param1">1 parameter</a>
<a href="/test/param1/param2">2 parameters</a>

But using both url_to or route_to fails:

<a href="<?= url_to('test') ?>">No parameter</a>
<a href="<?= url_to('test', 'param1') ?>">1 parameter</a>
<a href="<?= url_to('test', 'param1', 'param2') ?>">2 parameters</a>

Steps to Reproduce

Add the new routes in Routes.php:

$routes->get('/test(/(:any))?', 'Test::direct/$1', ['as' => 'test']);
$routes->get('/test_urlto(/(:any))?', 'Test::urlto/$1', ['as' => 'urlto']);
$routes->get('/test_routeto(/(:any))?', 'Test::routeto/$1', ['as' => 'routeto']);

Create the Test controller:
```
<?php
```

namespace App\Controllers;

class Test extends BaseController { public function direct(...$params): string { return view('test', ['params' => $params]); }

public function urlto(...$params): string
{
    return view('test_urlto', ['params' => $params]);
}

public function routeto(...$params): string
{
    return view('test_routeto', ['params' => $params]);
}

}


3. Create the respective views:

A) direct view 

```html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Testing CI4 Routing with Parameters</h1>

    <h2>Test using string directly</h2>
    <ul>
        <li>
            <a href="/test">No parameter</a>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="/test/param1">1 parameter</a>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="/test/param1/param2">2 parameters</a>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="/test/param1/param2/param3">3 parameters</a>
        </li>
    </ul>
    <h3>Passed Parameters</h3>
    <ul>
        <?php foreach ($params as $param) : ?>
            <li><?= $param ?></li>
        <?php endforeach; ?>
</body>
</html>

B) view using url_to

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Test</title>
</head>

<body>
    <h1>Testing CI4 Routing with Parameters</h1>
    <h2>Test using <code>url_to</code></h2>
    <ul>
        <li>
            <a href="<?= url_to('urlto') ?>">No parameter</a>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="<?= url_to('urlto', 'param1') ?>">1 parameter</a>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="<?= url_to('urlto', 'param1', 'param2') ?>">2 parameters</a>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="<?= url_to('urlto', 'param1', 'param2', 'param3') ?>">3 parameters</a>
        </li>
    </ul>

    <h3>Passed Parameters</h3>
    <ul>
        <?php foreach ($params as $param) : ?>
            <li><?= $param ?></li>
        <?php endforeach; ?>
</body>
</html>

Access those views at: /test and /test_urlto

Expected Output

No InvalidArgumentException, Missing argument for "(/(:any)" in route "test_urlto(/(:any))?" while using both url_to and route_to .

Anything else?

One can try it with public bool $multipleSegmentsOneParam = true; or public bool $multipleSegmentsOneParam = false; in Routing.php. The error is the same in both situations (just the parameters are treated differently, as expected).
One can also use a regex like '(/(.+))?' instead of (/(:any))?. The error remains.

michalsn commented 2 weeks ago

Using the (:any) placeholder in the route does not mean that the parameter value is optional. You must always put a value.

You can use: url_to('urlto', ''), although in general I don't think it will behave as you expect - the route will not be found.

In any case, this is not a bug.

neznaika0 commented 2 weeks ago

I've been trying to use regex in routes for a long time. It failed. Try to create several routes to get rid of the "?".

$routes->get('/test/(:any)', 'Test::direct/$1', ['as' => 'test_ext']);
$routes->get('/test', 'Test::direct/$1', ['as' => 'test']);

To work, you need to specify a string for :any and not an array url_to('urlto', 'param1/param2/param3') not url_to('urlto', 'param1', 'param2', 'param3')

bgeneto commented 2 weeks ago

Using the (:any) placeholder in the route does not mean that the parameter value is optional. You must always put a value.

You can use: url_to('urlto', ''), although in general I don't think it will behave as you expect - the route will not be found.

In any case, this is not a bug.

I couldn't disagree more... Because I'm using regular expressions (note the ? char) with (:any). And it also fails for '(/(.+))?' as mentioned in this carefully written bug report.

And, by running the examples, one can see that routing mechanism is working flawlessly with or without arguments. Problem arises when using url_to. For me this is, at least, a framework inconsistency or missing feature (if not a bug). 😥

bgeneto commented 2 weeks ago

I've been trying to use regex in routes for a long time. It failed. Try to create several routes to get rid of the "?".
$routes->get('/test/(:any)', 'Test::direct/$1', ['as' => 'test_ext']);
$routes->get('/test', 'Test::direct/$1', ['as' => 'test']);
To work, you need to specify a string for :any and not an array url_to('urlto', 'param1/param2/param3') not url_to('urlto', 'param1', 'param2', 'param3')

Yeah! Unfortunately every time this subject comes up it is treated as a feature, read the docs etc....

So I kindly suggest to remove the partial regex support from routes (a great loss since routing works fine with regex, only additional framework related functions like url_to or route_to do not support it).

We could also explicitly says in the docs not to use the special '?' char in routes because of missing support.

As I carefully showed in this bug report examples, regex with '?' works with or without arguments. Problem is framework support from related helper functions.

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