Laminas Router Laravel Package

Getting Started

Begin by installing via Composer: composer require laminas/laminas-router. The core entry points are Laminas\Router\Http\TreeRouteStack (for composed route hierarchies) and Laminas\Router\Http\RouteInterface implementations like Laminas\Router\Http\Segment. Start with defining a basic route in config or a route provider class:

use Laminas\Router\Http\Segment;
use Laminas\Router\RouteStack;

$router = new RouteStack();
$router->addRoute(
    'home',
    new Segment('/[:controller][/:action]', [
        'controller' => 'IndexController',
        'action'     => 'index',
    ])
);

Parse an incoming request using $router->match($request) and generate URLs with $router->assemble($params, $name = 'home'). The RouteStack is PSR-7 compatible — it works with ServerRequestInterface and integrates seamlessly into custom middleware pipelines.

Implementation Patterns

• Modular Route Aggregation: Use TreeRouteStack::addRoute() per module/service provider to build a composite router. Routes are evaluated in priority order; lower priority numbers match first.

• Child Routes for RESTful Nesting: Define parent-child relationships to avoid repetition:

  $router->addRoute('users', new Segment('/users', [
      'controller' => 'UserController',
  ]), [
      'child_routes' => [
          'user-detail' => new Segment('/[:id]', ['action' => 'view']),
          'user-edit'   => new Segment('/[:id]/edit', ['action' => 'edit']),
      ]
  ]);
  

• PSR-15 Middleware Interoperability: Combine with middleware-based stacks (e.g., Mezzio or custom handlers). The matched route’s match() result contains params, controller, action, etc., usable in your next middleware.

• Dynamic Route Discovery: Implement RouteInterface or extend SimpleRouteStack for database-backed or configuration-driven routes (e.g., CMS-based CMS slugs). Use RouteStack::addRoute() with an object to inject dependencies (e.g., doctrine repo).

• URL Generation Best Practice: Always use named routes and assemble() rather than hardcoding paths — changes to route definitions auto-update generated links.

Gotchas and Tips

• Route Priority Matters: Routes are matched in LIFO order by default unless priority is set. Misordered routes cause unexpected matches (e.g., Segment('/[:slug]') matching early). Always set explicit priorities (priority => 1) for critical routes like admin panels.

• Default Parameters Are Not Substituted: When assemble() omits a param used in the path but has a default in the route config, it won’t be reinserted unless explicitly passed. Ensure defaults are re-provided if needed.

• Regex Routes Are Performance-Heavy: Avoid regex-based routes in hot paths — they’re slower than Segment. Prefer constraints in segment options ('constraints' => ['id' => '\d+']) instead.

• Child Routes Don’t Inherit Defaults Unless Specified: Child routes get their own defaults unless explicitly merged. Use ‘merge_defaults’ => true in child definition if needed.

• Test with Real Requests: Use ServerRequestFactory::fromGlobals() to build test requests rather than mocking — regex matching and parameter extraction depend on real request attributes (like PATH_INFO).

• Extensibility via Plugin Manager: Extend Laminas\Router\Http\RoutePluginManager to register custom route types (MyRoute::class) and resolve via $router->getRoutePluginManager()->get('my_route').

• Debugging Match Failures: Enable logging inside a custom router listener or patch TreeRouteStack::match() temporarily to dump which routes are attempted — the stack is evaluated depth-first on failure.