Question

I create a URL like this:

$app->createAbsoluteUrl('/', array(
     'param1' => 'val1',
     'param2' => 'var2',
);

The generated URL is:

http://mysite.com/param1/var1/param2/var2

But I expect a url like this:

http://mysite.com/?param1=var1&param2=var2

In function manual it says:

$params array additional GET parameters (name=>value). Both the name and value will be URL-encoded.

But it doesn’t seem to work like that. How I can generate the expected URL? Thanks.

Answer 1

You need to specify that the urlManager application component should use the “get” format for the URLs it generates; the default is to use the “path” format. The Yii guide explains how to do it inside your application configuration:

array(
    ......
    'components'=>array(
        ......
        'urlManager'=>array(
            'urlFormat'=>'get',
        ),
    ),
);

Update: So your urlFormat is “path” and that’s by design… what about alternatives?

If you don’t mind extending CWebApplication and using your own derived class in its place then you have several options such as:

1. Define your own createUrlEx method based on the original createUrl. It could look like this:

   public function createUrlEx($format,$route,$params=array(),$ampersand='&')
   {
       $oldFormat = $this->getUrlManager()->getUrlFormat();
       $this->getUrlManager()->setUrlFormat($format);
       $url = $this->getUrlManager()->createUrl($route,$params,$ampersand);
       $this->getUrlManager()->setUrlFormat($oldFormat);
       return $url;
   }
   

2. Override registerCoreComponents so that you can have a second url manager:

   protected function registerCoreComponents()
   {
       parent::registerCoreComponents();
   
       $components=array(
           'specialUrlManager'=>array(
               'class'=>'CUrlManager',
               'urlFormat'=>'get',
           ),
       );
   
       $this->setComponents($components);
   }
   

   You can now call Yii::app()->specialUrlManager->createUrl(...) anytime.

You can also approach the problem in other ways:

1. Extend CUrlManager and expose a method that allows you to select the flavor of url to create on the spot.

2. If you only need “get” urls in one or two places, you can always create a new CUrlManager object, configure it on the spot, call createUrl and then discard it. You could also hide this ugliness behind a free function. Essentially this (admittedly not recommended) approach is a low-tech version of the first workaround given that has the advantage that you don’t need to extend CWebApplication.