[5.6] Allow callable array syntax in route definition

[hulkur]

This PR will allow defining route actions as arrays

Route::get('smth', [SomeController::class, 'methodName']);

This has no direct benefit code-wise, but enables better navigation in IDE-s.

is_callable validates that specified class and method exist and only is_array check is needed.

[browner12]

what is the better navigation, that you can click through to the controller?

[hulkur]

yes, navigating to correct controller from string is bothersome

[RikSomers]

Can't you just do that already manually, with about the same number of characters?

Route::get('smth', SomeController::class . '@methodName');

[hulkur]

i guess you can, but in php array is one of the callable syntaxes so I added that

[devcircus]

Nice addition. I've hacked this in for years.

[rentalhost]

It should works with code like \Route::get('x', [ 'uses' => [ A::class, 'b' ] ])?

[hulkur]

It does not currently.

[rentalhost]

Can you implement that? Seems that it could be done on line 47. It will make me very happy, once that I commonly use with uses. 😄

[hagabaka]

I think there are two problems with this implementation:

1. It doesn't honor the Router's group namespace. By default (set in RouteServiceProvider), routes will look up controllers in the App\Http\Controllers namespace, so using the traditional syntax the controller name does not need to have that namespace prepended, including things like Route::resource('users', UserController::class). But the array syntax requires the full class name.
2. It doesn't work with magic controller methods using __call(), Whereas using Controller@method works when the Controller does not have that method but handles it through __call.

I think these problems as well as lack of support of ['uses' => [Controller::class, 'method']] can be fixed by changing Router::actionReferencesController and Router::convertToControllerAction, which normalizes the route action into the ['uses' => ...] form and applies the group namespace.

[williamdes]

I would just add that you can not do :

Route::get('/hello-world/{userId}', [
    'as'   => 'call_hello_world_please',
    'uses' => [ Hello::class, 'world' ],
]);

So you need to fallback to the string syntax ... 💀

Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalThrowableError: ReflectionFunction::__construct() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in file vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/RouteSignatureParameters.php on line 22
Stack trace:
  1. Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalThrowableError->() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/RouteSignatureParameters.php:22
  2. ReflectionFunction->__construct() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/RouteSignatureParameters.php:22
  3. Illuminate\Routing\RouteSignatureParameters->fromAction() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Route.php:471
  4. Illuminate\Routing\Route->signatureParameters() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/ImplicitRouteBinding.php:24
  5. Illuminate\Routing\ImplicitRouteBinding->resolveForRoute() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Router.php:787
  6. Illuminate\Routing\Router->substituteImplicitBindings() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Middleware/SubstituteBindings.php:39
  7. Illuminate\Routing\Middleware\SubstituteBindings->handle() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:163
  8. Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Pipeline.php:53
  9. Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Auth/Middleware/Authenticate.php:43
 10. Illuminate\Auth\Middleware\Authenticate->handle() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:163
 11. Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Pipeline.php:53
 12. Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Middleware/ThrottleRequests.php:58
 13. Illuminate\Routing\Middleware\ThrottleRequests->handle() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:163
 14. Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Routing/Pipeline.php:53
 15. Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}() vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Pipeline/Pipeline.php:104

[hulkur]

This was rejected in #24589