Redirecting to 404 action results in blank page

Question

Redirecting to 404 action results in blank page

magicalcows Mar '16

Created Mar '16	Last Reply Mar '16	Replies 2	Views 2009	Votes 0

magicalcows 3.1k

Mar '16

I have setup a router, and in it, defined a route for 404s:

<?php

use Phalcon\Mvc\Router;
$router = new Router(FALSE);
$router->removeExtraSlashes(true);

$route = $router->add('/', ['controller' => 'index', 'action' => 'index']);
$route->setName("index");

// other routes defined here...

$router->notFound([
  "controller" => "index",
  "action" => "route404"
]);

?>

My IndexController:

<?php

class IndexController extends ControllerBase
{

    public function indexAction()
    {
        // code removd for berevity 
    }

    public function route404Action() {
      // no code here, I just need to show the view.
    }

}
?>

And I have a view @ /app/views/index/route404.phtml that just has a bit of HTML in it, I even tried making it a .volt file, no luck.

When I go to a page that doesn't match any routes, it works fine. But, if I try to redirect to it, I just get a blank page. For example, in one of my controllers I have this:

if (!$category) {
        // show 404

        //Tried this next line to test, and it indeed does what you'd expect, I see "Not Found". 
        // echo "Not Found"; exit;  

        $response = new \Phalcon\Http\Response();
        $response->redirect([
          "for" => "index", 
          "controller" => "index", 
          "action" => "route404"]
        );
        return; // i return here so it won't run the code after this if statement.
      }

Any ideas? The page is completely blank (nothing in source) and there are no errors in my apache logs.

Michael Jephcote · Answer 1 · 2016-03-29T15:09:57-07:00

From what I see in your code, you are trying to redirect to the route named index which is your index action. Remove the for index from the array.

magicalcows · Answer 2 · 2016-03-30T06:01:31-07:00

It gives me this error:

It's necessary to define the route name with the parameter 'for'

I had it setup that way to start with, but got the above error, so I named the route and added the "for".

I also tried the simpler method of $response->redirect("/index/route404") but it gives the me the same blank page.

wells5609 · Answer 3 · 2016-03-30T17:18:54-07:00

Since "true" 404s seem to be routed correctly, try adding the 404 route as "normal" route (just to debug):

$router->add("/index/route404", [
    "controller" => "index",
    "action" => "route404"
]);

Alternatively, try adding a generic /:controller/:action route:

$router->add("/:controller/:action", [
    "controller" => 1,
    "action" => 2
]);

magicalcows · Answer 4 · 2016-03-31T14:42:53-07:00

magicalcows
3.1k

Mar '16

Same result...

magicalcows · Answer 5 · 2016-03-31T14:52:29-07:00

Hmmm... I added $response->send(); after the $response->redirect() call and now I'm getting a page with the 404 message, but it's also updating the URL at the top of the page to /dev... One step forward, 2 back? I don't want the URL changing, I just wan the main content to get set to my 404 message. Should I be doing this another way?

Here's an ugly hack... In my CustomView.php class I added a public property is404. I also added a notFound method that sets that to true, and sends the 404 header. Then in my controller I have it call that, and then return. In my view I check for $this->view->is404 first, include /app/view/404.inc.php and then return.

This works but it's pretty ugly... very hacky :|

magicalcows · Answer 6 · 2016-03-31T15:05:03-07:00

Ok, got a much better solution, not sure if it's "right" but it's much cleaner...

In my CustomView class I changed my notFound method to this:

  public function notFound() {
    header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
    $this->pick('404');
  }

Now in the controller I just have to call $this->view->notFound() and then return;. Now I get the 404 page, the header is sent and the URL stays the same. How's that? Anywhere near "the correct" way?

magicalcows · Answer 7 · 2016-03-31T19:28:09-07:00

I had posted this question on StackOverflow as well, and got the perfect answer. You can view it here.

I ended up moving the notFound() method to the ControllerBase class since it makes more sense, here's what that looks like:

  public function notFound() {
    $response = new \Phalcon\Http\Response();
    $response->setStatusCode(404, "File not Found");
    $this->view->pick('404');
    $this->response->send();
  }

Now in my controller I just have this:

      if (!$cat) {
        // show 404
        return $this->notFound();
      }

This makes it easy to use from multipe controllers & actions, or multiple locations within the same action!