[drupal-devel] [feature] URL rewrite hook

Goba drupal-devel at drupal.org
Wed Sep 14 09:09:22 UTC 2005


Issue status update for 
http://drupal.org/node/29030
Post a follow up: 
http://drupal.org/project/comments/add/29030

 Project:      Drupal
 Version:      cvs
 Component:    base system
 Category:     feature requests
 Priority:     normal
 Assigned to:  chx
 Reported by:  chx
 Updated by:   Goba
-Status:       patch (code needs work)
+Status:       patch (code needs review)

I like chx's generic version (url_rewrite_5.patch) best, as it replaces
an awkward URL rewrite mechanism (introduced by myself, pressed by
performance reasons), with a lot cleaner, albeit a little bit less
performant solution. BTW there is a spelling mistake, chx written
'inccoming' in the patch, plus I see no reason to check for
empty($arguments) in arg() at all, since having the $q set properly
(after this patch) would also ensure that $arguments is properly set.
Note that this patch also fixes  a small performance problem in arg():
now it always tries to do an explode, if $_GET['q'] is empty, that is
on the homepage.




Goba



Previous comments:
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Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:39:12 +0000 : chx

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/url_rewrite.patch (1.35 KB)

I need a URL rewrite hook sometimes, here is an implementation, with
ample comments. I looked into arg() to see whether it needs a reset
parameter, and it does not, but it contained a minor bug, which is also
fixed.




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Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:46:45 +0000 : chx

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/url_rewrite_0.patch (1.73 KB)

Performance boost.




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Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:48:51 +0000 : Jose A Reyero

+1


This is really needed by i18n module, and maybe other modules could use
it to add some extra information in the query string.




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Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:50:16 +0000 : killes at www.drop.org

this seems just an evil plot to cater for the evil hack that i18n.module
is. --




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Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:57:23 +0000 : chx

killes, while I know you do not like the current implementation of i18n,
that module exists and even works. If you do not like the current
approach, you can always write a better one. And also, please note we
try to introduce non-i18n specific solutions this time.




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Wed, 17 Aug 2005 12:05:10 +0000 : killes at www.drop.org

"it works" has never been a consideration in Drupal development, don't
let us start to use it. I don't need an i18n module. Had I had the urge
to write one, it would have been based on walkah's excellent start to be
seen here:


http://cvs.drupal.org/viewcvs/drupal/contributions/sandbox/walkah/translate_node/


I don't see anything non-i18n specific here. let us not pollute low
level functions such as url() with custom hacks.




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Wed, 17 Aug 2005 12:26:11 +0000 : Goba

Why extend url() and why not the alias retrieval functions? BTW at that
time it was decided that a single function should be used
(conf_url_rewrite()) and not a hook, because of performance reasons. If
you provide the functionality this was, then conf_url_rewrite() gets
confusing, and even meaningless if you do it in the alias retrieval
functions themselfs.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 12:49:30 +0000 : chx

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/url_rewrite_1.patch (1.95 KB)

Goba is so right, that I was already working on it.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 11:11:39 +0000 : Jose A Reyero

This second version is more limited, and wont be that useful, because in
case an alias exists, the rewritting is skipped.


IMHO, the aim for this patch should be allowing modules to add
information in the path or in the query string, for *all* the outgoing
urls. I was thinking of i18n module and language information, but this
can be useful for other modules too. 


So please, let's stick to the previous version of the patch




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 11:45:23 +0000 : Goba

Jose, so you advocate only mangling URLs on output? Really?




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 15:41:41 +0000 : Jose A Reyero

Goba, yes, my idea was to provide a hook, so any module can mangle the
path/query string. What will happen with that incoming paths is a
different story, I mean any module can access the query string any time
later... And I'd like this to be separated from path aliasing, which can
be done in a different step...


Ideally, of course, this would be done for outgoing and incoming urls,
but there's a number of issues, like incoming path processing being
done before module loading, in common.inc... Another issue, IMHO, is
that current url handling is a bit messy and could be better
streamlined. 


But the first patch was simple enough and quite straight forward, at
least it works for *all* outgoing URLs, and allows to rewrite query
strings, while the second one, I see much more limited use for it....




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 17:07:13 +0000 : Goba

Jose, AFAIS if you mangle with the outgoing URLs (eg. put 'en/' before
all URLs), and there will be nothing in the incoming processing to
strip that, this will directly lead to 'page not found' replies. But I
probably fail to see the exact use case you would like to propose this
for.




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Thu, 18 Aug 2005 17:48:13 +0000 : Jose A Reyero

Goba, yes, basically you are right... But these are my use cases:


For i18n
----------
- Add language prefix at the beginning of the outgoing urls
- Remove it in the module init hook. 


Yes, I know... this is probably some of what killes calls evil hacks
:-(


But with this new hook, I could also think of adding language in the
query string. And maybe some other modules could want to add some info
in the query string. There are a number of reasons for language to be
in the URL -search engines, links...- and also the ability to create
path aliases with or without language...


Hackish? Yes. But right now we are facing the following dilemma: no
specific calls for non core modules -which I dont disagree with- but
then any implementation of this, for not to require patching, will have
to be in a module, and then incoming paths are first processed before
module loading, and on top of that we have the cache system.... so its
quite a complex thing....


I'd be happy with any idea to implement this more cleanly, or maybe we
should aim higher, like reworking the whole init thing and path
pre-processing... What we are trying for the moment is to introduce
only some general use hooks, like this small patch... otherwise it is a
too big all-or-nothing question to get this working in Drupal....


Thanks for your comments and I'd appreciate any suggestion.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:54:48 +0000 : Jose A Reyero

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/url_rewrite_2.patch (713 bytes)

Updated simplified patch.


As other patches are already in, we only need this to run i18n module
with Drupal 4.7 without patching!!




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Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:29:45 +0000 : DFG

I would be more useful to have a similar hook in drupal_get_path_alias()
and drupal_get_internal_path().




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Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:26:27 +0000 : fago

patch applies (with offset) and doesn't break anything, as i could see.


a lot of people are interested in i18n, so please include this last
one.
further the possibilty inject a query-string might be useful in other
cases.


+1




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Tue, 13 Sep 2005 12:48:29 +0000 : mgifford

This is a worth while hook to add to the core code.  It will ease the
implementation of more multi-lingual sites in drupal and provide better
support for a broader community of users/developers.


+1




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 15:22:10 +0000 : Souvent22

+1. This patch is needed. We don't live in a vacum ya know, there are
more languages than english. :).  Hope this gets in, I just made a site
for someone in Italy, and this could help out when making modules.




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Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:02:25 +0000 : Dries

If this patch gets committed, there will be a third mechanism to rewrite
URLs.  Also, it is a well-known fact that url() and l() are a
performance bottleneck.  I think we need to take a step back, see how
we can overcome the limitations of the current system and come to a
simple yet fast URL rewrite mechanism.  There ought to be a better way.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:24:22 +0000 : chx

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/url_rewrite_3.patch (1.87 KB)

This version implements a hook in drupal_get_path_alias and in
drupal_get_normal_path . Performance hit should be negligeble in most
cases: a foreach on an empty array.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:46:39 +0000 : chx

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/url_rewrite_4.patch (1.89 KB)




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Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:50:22 +0000 : Dries

Moving the code around doesn't change a thing; it's still a third/new
mechanism to rewrite URLs.  I'll take a closer look at this as time
permits.




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Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:00:54 +0000 : chx

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/url_rewrite_5.patch (1.89 KB)

No, it's a second mechanism only as it removes conf_url_rewrite --
conf_url_rewrite routines can be moved to a module and thus shared as a
module. And you can have more than one rewrite, this way.




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Tue, 13 Sep 2005 23:48:42 +0000 : Jose A Reyero

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/url_rewrite_alt.patch (1.61 KB)

+1 for chx (plus alternative patch)


I like chx's patch, and I think also that getting rid of
'conf_url_rewrite' and replacing it with a hook is a good thing.


However, if the main concern is performance, we could use too
'conf_url_rewrite', if only all paths were run through it
unconditionally.


So, making clear I'd prefer chx's solution, here's an alternative one.







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