Multiple routes to same controller

Question

I'm trying to build a restfull API and I came to a point where I think, and REST ain't very explicit about it, that one resource should be accessible by more than one URL. Let me put an example.

Route::group(['prefix' => 'forum'], function(){

    Route::resource('categories', 'CategoriesController');

    Route::resource('categories.discussions', 'DiscussionsController');

    Route::resource('discussions', 'DiscussionsController');

});

My intention is to be able to access each discussion either by appending it to the category it belongs:

localhost/forum/categories/{category_id}/discussions

or by this url

localhost/forum/discussions

Has anybody got something like this to work without rewriting the complete controller.

This is my discussions controller:

class DiscussionsController extends ApiController {


public function __construct(DiscussionRepositoryInterface $discussion)
{
    $this->discussions = $discussion;
}

/**
 * Display a listing of the resource.
 *
 * @return Response
 */
public function index($category = null)
{
    $response = $this->discussions->all($category);

    return $this->respond($response->getData());
}

/**
 * Show the form for creating a new resource.
 *
 * @return Response
 */
public function create()
{
    if (!$this->hasPermission('forum.create.discussion'))
    {
        return $this->respondNotAllowed();
    }

    return $this->respondSuccess('Granted');
}

/**
 * Store a newly created resource in storage.
 *
 * @return Response
 */
public function store($category)
{
    if (!$this->hasPermission('forum.create.discussion'))
    {
        return $this->respondNotAllowed();
    }

    return $this->respondSuccess('Granted');

}

/**
 * Display the specified resource.
 *
 * @param  int  $id
 * @return Response
 */
public function show($categories = null, $discussions)
{
    $discussion =  $this->discussions->find($categories, $discussions);

    if ($discussion == null)
        return $this->respondNotFound('Discussion not found');

    $data = [
        'discussions' => $discussion
    ];

    return $this->respond($data);
}

/**
 * Show the form for editing the specified resource.
 *
 * @param  int  $id
 * @return Response
 */
public function edit($id)
{
    if (!$this->hasPermission('forum.edit.discussion'))
    {
        return $this->respondNotAllowed();
    }

    return $this->respondSuccess('Granted');
}

/**
 * Update the specified resource in storage.
 *
 * @param  int  $id
 * @return Response
 */
public function update($id, $data)
{

    if (!$this->hasPermission('forum.edit.discussion'))
    {
        return $this->respondNotAllowed();
    }

    $data = Input::only('category_id', 'user_id', 'desc', 'title');

    $data = $this->clearNullInput($data);

    if ($this->discussions->update($id, $data))
        return $this->respondError('Couldnt update discussion');

    return $this->respondSuccess('Discussion updated successfully');
}

/**
 * Remove the specified resource from storage.
 *
 * @param  int  $id
 * @return Response
 */
public function destroy($id)
{
    if (!$this->hasPermission('forum.delete.discussion'))
    {
        return $this->respondNotAllowed();
    }

    if (!$this->discussions->delete($id))
        return $this->respondError('Couldnt destroy user');

    return $this->respondSuccess('Granted');
}

}

The index method works, fine in both calls (localhost/forum/categories/id/discussions and localhost/forum/discussions)

But when I try to show the resource, only the long version works the short one throws the following execption:

ErrorException in DiscussionsController.php line 68:
Missing argument 2 for App\Http\Controllers\DiscussionsController::show()

I would say laravel goes crazy because he can't identify the id's, is there any clever workaround or am I gonna have to rewrite controller¿?

Any opinion is highly apreciated, thanks

Answer 1

You can try something like this

public function show(Category $category, Discussion $discussion)

If you are calling localhost/forum/categories/{categories}/discussions/{discussions} then both variables have their exact values. If you call localhost/forum/discussions/{discussions} then Category will be just new Category

Make sure you will bind the values in your RouteServiceProvider as

$router->model('discussions', 'App\Discussion');
$router->model('categories', 'App\Category');