Creating Custom Method Attributes

You can obviously add any additional attributes you'd like to your routable methods in controllers, but in order to create an attribute that can determine whether a route is used or not has a pattern.

Let's use an example where you want a route to only be routable if there is a user logged in on your website. We'll call this custom route #[RequireLogin()].

Barebones Custom Routable Attribute

Below is the minimum skeleton of a custom route that the Nox Router will check to determine if a route method will be considered.

<?php

    use Nox\Router\AttributeResponse;
    use Nox\Router\Interfaces\RouteAttribute;

    // Tell the attribute it can only be used on class methods
    #[Attribute(Attribute::TARGET_METHOD)]
    class RequireLogin implements RouteAttribute{

        public function getAttributeResponse(): AttributeResponse
        {
            // This will cause the attribute to always return
            // that it can be routed just fine.
            return new AttributeResponse(
                isRouteUsable: true,
            );
        }
    }

Restricting the Route From Being Used

Now, we can implement logic (assuming you have your own User system in place) and check for a current user. If there is one, allow the route to continue. However, if there is no user then we can send a 403 response code. Optionally, you can provide the parameter newRequestPath to rewrite (not redirect) the request to a different route and thus a different view. This is useful of you want the URI to still stay the same (as in, still say /page-name in the URL bar) but show your custom 403 page.

<?php
    use Nox\Router\AttributeResponse;
    use Nox\Router\Interfaces\RouteAttribute;

    // Tell the attribute it can only be used on class methods
    #[Attribute(Attribute::TARGET_METHOD)]
    class RequireLogin implements RouteAttribute{

        public function getAttributeResponse(): AttributeResponse
        {
            // Your code to fetch the current user logged in
            $currentUser = ...

            if ($currentUser === null) {
                return new AttributeResponse(
                    isRouteUsable: false,
                    responseCode: 403,
                    // Optionally, rewrite the request
                    // newRequestPath: "/errors/403",
                );
            }else{
                return new AttributeResponse(
                    isRouteUsable: true,
                );
            }
        }
    }

You do not need to provide the responseCode parameter. The only required parameter in the AttributeResponse constructor is isRouteUsable.

By providing only the isRouteUsable, the attribute will not stop the router from looking for other routes. Only provide other parameters if you want the route to discontinue searching for more routes if your attribute doesn't pass.

Your method attribute can then be added to a controller method like so.

#[Route("/user/dashboard")]
#[RequireLogin()]
public function userDashboardView(): string{
    // Code here will only run if a user is logged in
    // No need to check for one here
    return "<p>Dashboard!</p>";
}