Controller Guide

Controllers handle HTTP requests and live under src/Controllers (or src/ApiControllers for API endpoints).

Creating a Controller

Generate a controller with the CLI:

php coriander make:controller Blog
# or create an API controller
php coriander make:controller Blog --api

The web command creates src/Controllers/BlogController.php. The API command creates src/ApiControllers/BlogController.php.

Generated web controllers include a ViewRenderer instance. Use it when the controller should render a server-side view from public/public_views.

Example with prepared data:

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

namespace Controllers;

use CorianderCore\Core\Router\ViewRenderer;

final class BlogController
{
    private ViewRenderer $view;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->view = new ViewRenderer();
    }

    public function show(string $id): void
    {
        $post = [
            'id' => (int) $id,
            'title' => 'First post',
        ];

        $this->view->render('blog/show', [
            'post' => $post,
        ]);
    }
}

The array keys passed to render() become variables in the view. In this example, the view receives $post.

When the data comes from a database, move that lookup into a repository under src/Modules. The controller should call that repository instead of building SQL directly.

Best Practices

• Keep actions small and delegate business logic to separate classes.
• Name controllers in PascalCase; the CLI appends Controller automatically.
• Place API controllers under src/ApiControllers and return JSON responses.
• Validate input and use CSRF guards for state-changing requests (POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE).