HTTP Controllers

• Introduction
• Controller Middleware

Instead of defining all of your request handling logic in a single file, you may wish to organize this behavior using Controller classes. Controllers can group related HTTP request handling logic into a class. Controllers are stored in the app/Http/Controllers directory.

Here is an example of a basic controller class. All Lumen controllers should extend the base controller class included with the default Lumen installation:

We can route to the controller action like so:

$router->get('user/{id}', '');

Now, when a request matches the specified route URI, the show method on the UserController class will be executed. Of course, the route parameters will also be passed to the method.

Controllers & Namespaces

If you choose to nest or organize your controllers using PHP namespaces deeper into the App\Http\Controllers directory, simply use the specific class name relative to the App\Http\Controllers root namespace. So, if your full controller class is App\Http\Controllers\Photos\AdminController, you would register a route like so:

$router->get('foo', 'Photos\');

Naming Controller Routes

Like Closure routes, you may specify names on controller routes:

You may also use the route helper to generate a URL to a named controller route:

$url = route('name');

Middleware may be assigned to the controller's routes like so:

$router->get('profile', [
    'middleware' => 'auth',
    'uses' => ''
]);

Constructor Injection

The Lumen service container is used to resolve all Lumen controllers. As a result, you are able to type-hint any dependencies your controller may need in its constructor. The dependencies will automatically be resolved and injected into the controller instance:

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use App\Repositories\UserRepository;
class UserController extends Controller
{
     * The user repository instance.
    protected $users;
    /**
     * Create a new controller instance.
     *
     * @param  UserRepository  $users
     * @return void
     */
    public function __construct(UserRepository $users)
    {
        $this->users = $users;
    }
}

Method Injection

In addition to constructor injection, you may also type-hint dependencies on your controller's action methods. For example, let's type-hint the Illuminate\Http\Request instance on one of our methods:

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
class UserController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Store a new user.
     *
     * @param  Request  $request
     */
    {
        $name = $request->input('name');
        //
    }
}

If your controller method is also expecting input from a route parameter, simply list your route arguments after your other dependencies. For example, if your route is defined like so:

You may still type-hint the Illuminate\Http\Request and access your route parameter id by defining your controller method like the following:

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
class UserController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Update the specified user.
     *
     * @param  Request  $request
     * @param  string  $id
     * @return Response
     */
    public function update(Request $request, $id)
    {
        //
    }