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Introduction

Controllers in Aeros handle HTTP requests and return responses. They serve as the bridge between your routes and your application logic, organizing request handling in a clean, maintainable way. All controllers in Aeros extend the base Controller class and are stored in the app/controllers/ directory under the App\Controllers namespace.

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Creating Controllers

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Using the CLI

The easiest way to create a controller is using the Artisan-style command: 
php aeros make:controller User
This creates a new controller file at app/controllers/UserController.php:
UserController.php
<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

use Aeros\Src\Classes\Controller;

class UserController extends Controller
{

}
The make:controller command automatically appends “Controller” to the class name if it’s not already present.

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Manual Creation

You can also create controllers manually. Just ensure they:
  1. Extend Aeros\Src\Classes\Controller
  2. Are placed in the app/controllers/ directory
  3. Use the App\Controllers namespace
ProductController.php
<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

use Aeros\Src\Classes\Controller;

class ProductController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        return view('products.index');
    }
}

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Defining Controller Methods

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Basic Methods

Controller methods handle specific actions. They can return views, JSON responses, or any other content:
UserController.php
<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

use Aeros\Src\Classes\Controller;

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        return view('users.index');
    }

    public function show()
    {
        return view('users.show');
    }

    public function create()
    {
        return view('users.create');
    }
}

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Returning Different Response Types

Controllers can return various types of content:
ApiController.php
public function getUser()
{
    $user = ['id' => 1, 'name' => 'John Doe'];
    
    // Return JSON response
    return response($user, 200, \Aeros\Src\Classes\Response::JSON);
}

public function getXmlData()
{
    $data = '<user><id>1</id><name>John</name></user>';
    
    // Return XML response
    return response($data, 200, \Aeros\Src\Classes\Response::XML);
}

public function getHtml()
{
    // Return HTML view
    return view('pages.home', ['title' => 'Welcome']);
}

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Routing to Controllers

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Controller@Method Syntax

Routes can point to controller methods using the Controller@method syntax:
routes/web.php
use Aeros\Src\Classes\Router;

Router::get('/users', 'UserController@index');
Router::get('/users/create', 'UserController@create');
Router::post('/users', 'UserController@store');
The framework automatically prepends \App\Controllers\ to the controller name, so you don’t need to specify the full namespace in routes.

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Default Index Method

If you omit the method name, Aeros calls the index method by default:
routes/web.php
// Both of these are equivalent:
Router::get('/users', 'UserController@index');
Router::get('/users', 'UserController');

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Route Parameters

Controllers can accept route parameters. The parameter names in the route must match the method parameter names:
routes/web.php
// Define route with parameters
Router::get('/users/{id}', 'UserController@show');
Router::get('/posts/{postId}/comments/{commentId}', 'PostController@showComment');
UserController.php
public function show($id)
{
    // $id is automatically injected from the route
    return view('users.show', ['userId' => $id]);
}
PostController.php
public function showComment($postId, $commentId)
{
    // Both parameters are injected in order
    return view('comments.show', [
        'postId' => $postId,
        'commentId' => $commentId
    ]);
}
Parameter names in your controller method must exactly match the parameter names defined in the route (without the : prefix). Otherwise, Aeros will throw an exception.

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Accessing Request Data

Use the global request() helper to access request data within controllers:
UserController.php
public function store()
{
    // Get all POST data
    $data = request('post');
    
    // Get specific fields
    $name = request('post', ['name']);
    $email = request('post', ['email']);
    
    // Validate request data
    $validated = validate([
        'name' => 'required|string|max:255',
        'email' => 'required|email',
    ]);
    
    return response(['success' => true], 201, \Aeros\Src\Classes\Response::JSON);
}

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GET Requests

SearchController.php
public function search()
{
    // Access query parameters
    $query = request('get', ['q']);
    $page = request('get', ['page']) ?? 1;
    
    $results = performSearch($query, $page);
    
    return view('search.results', ['results' => $results]);
}

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Helper Functions

Aeros provides several global helper functions useful in controllers: 
// Get request instance or data
request();
request('post');
request('get', ['key']);

// Return responses
response($data, 200, Response::JSON);
abort($message, 403);

// Render views
view('template.name', $data);

// Redirect
redirect('/dashboard');
redirect('/users', ['id' => 123]);

// Access session
session()->set('key', 'value');
session()->get('key');

// Database access
db()->query('SELECT * FROM users');

// Validation
validate($rules);

// CSRF protection
csrf();

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Example: Complete CRUD Controller

Here’s a complete example of a controller handling CRUD operations:
ArticleController.php
<?php

namespace App\Controllers;

use Aeros\Src\Classes\Controller;
use Aeros\Src\Classes\Response;

class ArticleController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        $articles = db()->query('SELECT * FROM articles ORDER BY created_at DESC');
        return view('articles.index', ['articles' => $articles]);
    }

    public function show($id)
    {
        $article = db()->query('SELECT * FROM articles WHERE id = ?', [$id])[0] ?? null;
        
        if (!$article) {
            abort('Article not found', 404);
        }
        
        return view('articles.show', ['article' => $article]);
    }

    public function create()
    {
        return view('articles.create');
    }

    public function store()
    {
        $validated = validate([
            'title' => 'required|string|max:255',
            'content' => 'required|string',
            'author' => 'required|string'
        ]);
        
        db()->insert('articles', $validated);
        
        return redirect('/articles');
    }

    public function edit($id)
    {
        $article = db()->query('SELECT * FROM articles WHERE id = ?', [$id])[0] ?? null;
        
        if (!$article) {
            abort('Article not found', 404);
        }
        
        return view('articles.edit', ['article' => $article]);
    }

    public function update($id)
    {
        $validated = validate([
            'title' => 'required|string|max:255',
            'content' => 'required|string',
        ]);
        
        db()->update('articles', $validated, ['id' => $id]);
        
        return redirect('/articles/' . $id);
    }

    public function destroy($id)
    {
        db()->delete('articles', ['id' => $id]);
        
        return redirect('/articles');
    }
}
With corresponding routes:
routes/web.php
Router::get('/articles', 'ArticleController@index');
Router::get('/articles/create', 'ArticleController@create');
Router::post('/articles', 'ArticleController@store');
Router::get('/articles/{id}', 'ArticleController@show');
Router::get('/articles/{id}/edit', 'ArticleController@edit');
Router::put('/articles/{id}', 'ArticleController@update');
Router::delete('/articles/{id}', 'ArticleController@destroy');

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Best Practices

Each controller should handle a single resource or concern. If a controller grows too large, consider splitting it into multiple controllers.
Follow REST conventions: index, show, create, store, edit, update, destroy.
Always validate user input using the validate() helper before processing data.
Use abort() for error responses and check for null values when querying databases.

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Next Steps

Resource Controllers

Learn about RESTful resource controllers for streamlined CRUD operations.

Dependency Injection

Understand how to use dependency injection in your controllers.

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