🧭 Controllers

Controllers in Cardikit are responsible for handling incoming HTTP requests and returning appropriate responses. They serve as the bridge between routes and business logic.

Each controller method corresponds to a specific action and is usually tied to a route in the router.

🛠️ How Controllers Work

Routes are mapped to controller methods using:

Router::post('/login', [AuthController::class, 'login']);

This calls the login() method on the AuthController class when a POST request is made to /login.

See 🧭 routing for more information about defining routes.

🧪 Example: AuthController

Located at: App\Controllers\AuthController.php

🔹register(Request $request): void

Registers a new user after validating input.

  • Uses the Validator to enforce rules on:
    • name: required, string, 2-10 characters
    • email: required, email format, must be unique
    • password: required, string, at least 8 characters, confirmed
  • Saves the user to the database.
  • Returns response.

Response:

  • 201 Created on success
  • 422 Unprocessable Entity on validation error

🔹login(Request $request): void

Authenticates an existing user.

  • Uses the Validator to enforce rules on:
    • email: required, email format
    • password: required, string
  • Verifies credentials with password_verify().
  • Sets session variables on success.
  • Returns response.

Response:

  • 200 OK on success
  • 401 Unauthorized on authentication failure
  • 422 Unprocessable Entity on validation error

🔹logout(): void

Destroys the session and removes session cookies.

  • Clears $_SESSION and cookie via session_destroy().
  • Returns response.

Response:

  • 200 OK on success

🔹csrfToken(): void

Generates a new CSRF token.

  • Saves token to $_SESSION['csrf_token']
  • Returns token in JSON

Response:

{
    "csrf_token": "generated_token_here"
}

✨ Writing Your Own Controllers

  1. Create a class in App\Controllers
  2. Add public methods to handle specific routes
  3. Accept Request $request if needed for body or params
  4. Return output using the Response helper

Example:

class PingController
{
    public function pong(Request $request): void
    {
        Response::json(['message' => 'pong']);
    }
}

📚 Related