API Reference

The following make up the primary API of Stratigility.

Middleware

Laminas\Stratigility\MiddlewarePipe is the primary application interface, and has been discussed previously. Its API is:

namespace Laminas\Stratigility;

use Interop\Http\ServerMiddleware\DelegateInterface;
use Interop\Http\ServerMiddleware\MiddlewareInterface as ServerMiddlewareInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;

class MiddlewarePipe implements ServerMiddlewareInterface
{
    public function pipe(
        string|callable|ServerMiddlewareInterface $path,
        callable|ServerMiddlewareInterface $middleware = null
    );

    public function __invoke(
        ServerRequestInterface $request,
        ResponseInterface $response,
        $delegate
    ) : ResponseInterface;

    public function process(
        ServerRequestInterface $request,
        DelegateInterface $delegate
    ) : ResponseInterface;
}

pipe() takes up to two arguments. If only one argument is provided, $middleware will be assigned that value, and $path will be re-assigned to the value /; this is an indication that the $middleware should be invoked for any path. If $path is provided, the $middleware will only be executed for that path and any subpaths.

Request path changes when path matched

When you pipe middleware using a path (other than '' or '/'), the middleware is dispatched with a request that strips the matched segment(s) from the start of the path.

If, for example, you executed $pipeline->pipe('/api', $api), and this was matched via a URI with the path /api/users/foo, the $api middleware will receive a request with the path /users/foo. This allows middleware segregated by path to be re-used without changes to its own internal routing.

Middleware is executed in the order in which it is piped to the MiddlewarePipe instance.

The MiddlewarePipe is itself middleware, and can be executed in stacks that expect the __invoke() signature (via the __invoke() signature), or stacks expecting http-interop middleware signatures (via the process() method).

When using __invoke(), the callable $out argument should either implement delegator/request handler interface from http-interop/http-middleware (depends on version you are using), or use the signature:

use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;

function (
    ServerRequestInterface $request,
    ResponseInterface $response
) : ResponseInterface

Most often, you can pass an instance of Laminas\Stratigility\NoopFinalHandler for $out if invoking a middleware pipeline manually; otherwise, a suitable callback will be provided for you (typically an instance of Laminas\Stratigility\Next, which MiddlewarePipe creates internally before dispatching to the various middleware in its pipeline).

Middleware should either return a response, or the result of $next()/DelegateInterface::process()/RequestHandlerInterface::handle() (which should eventually evaluate to a response instance).

Within Stratigility, Laminas\Stratigility\Next provides an implementation compatible with either usage.

MiddlewarePipe implements the http-interop/http-middleware server-side middleware interface, and thus provides a process() method. This method requires a ServerRequestInterface instance and an http-interop/http-middleware DelegateInterface instance on invocation; the latter can be a Next instance, as it also implements that interface.

Internally, for both __invoke() and process(), MiddlewarePipe creates an instance of Laminas\Stratigility\Next (feeding it its queue), executes it, and returns its response.

Response prototype

You may compose a "response prototype" in the MiddlewarePipe. When present, any callable middleware piped to the instance will be wrapped in a decorator (see the section on middleware decorators, below) such that it will now conform to http-interop middleware interfaces.

To use this functionality, inject the prototype before piping middleware:

$pipeline = new MiddlewarePipe();
$pipeline->setResponsePrototype(new Response());

Next

Laminas\Stratigility\Next is primarily an implementation detail of middleware, and exists to allow delegating to middleware registered later in the stack. It is implemented both as a functor and as an http-interop/http-middleware DelegateInterface.

Functor invocation

Because Psr\Http\Message's interfaces are immutable, if you make changes to your Request and/or Response instances, you will have new instances, and will need to make these known to the next middleware in the chain. Next expects these arguments for every invocation.

class Next
{
    public function __invoke(
        Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface $request,
        Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface $response
    ) : Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
}

You should always either capture or return the return value of $next() when calling it in your application, or return a response yourself.

$response argument

Using the $response argument is unsafe when using delegation, as an inner layer could return an entirely different response, ignoring any changes you may have introduced previously. Additionally, when manipulating the response from an inner layer, you may be inheriting unwanted context.

As such, we recommend ignoring the $response argument and doing one of the following:

  • For innermost middleware that will be returning a response without delegation, we recommend instantiating and returning a concrete response instance. Diactoros provides a number of convenient custom responses.
  • For middleware delegating to another layer, operate on the returned response instead:
$response = $next($request, $response);
return $response->withHeader('X-Foo', 'Bar');

Delegate invocation

When invoked as a DelegateInterface, the process() method will be invoked, and passed a ServerRequestInterface instance only. If you need to return a response, you will need to:

  • Compose a response prototype in the middleware to use to build a response, or a canned response to return, OR
  • Create and return a concrete response type, OR
  • Operate on a response returned by invoking the delegate.

Providing an altered request

// Standard invokable:
function ($request, $response, $next) use ($bodyParser)
{
    $bodyParams = $bodyParser($request);
    return $next(
        $request->withBodyParams($bodyParams), // Next will pass the new
        $response                              // request instance
    );
}

// http-interop invokable:
function ($request, DelegateInterface $delegate) use ($bodyParser)
{
    $bodyParams = $bodyParser($request);

    // Delegate will receive the new request instance:
    return $delegate->process(
        $request->withBodyParams($bodyParams)
    );
}

Providing an altered request and operating on the returned response

function ($request, $response, $next) use ($bodyParser)
{
    $response = $next(
        $request->withBodyParams($bodyParser($request)),
        $response
    );

    return $response->withAddedHeader('Cache-Control', [
}

// http-interop invokable:
function ($request, DelegateInterface $delegate) use ($bodyParser)
{
    $bodyParams = $bodyParser($request);

    // Provide a new request instance to the delegate:
    return $delegate->process(
        $request->withBodyParams($bodyParams)
    );
}

Returning a response to complete the request

If your middleware does not need to delegate to another layer, it's time to return a response.

While we pass a response when using Next as a functor, we recommend creating a new response, or providing your middleware with a response prototype; this will ensure that the response is specific for your context.

$prototype = new Response();

// Standard invokable signature:
function ($request, $response, $next) use ($prototype)
{
    $response = $prototype->withAddedHeader('Cache-Control', [
        'public',
        'max-age=18600',
        's-maxage=18600',
    ]);

    return $response;
}

// http-interop invokable signature:
function ($request, DelegateInterface $delegate) use ($prototype)
{
    $response = $prototype->withAddedHeader('Cache-Control', [
        'public',
        'max-age=18600',
        's-maxage=18600',
    ]);
}

Delegation

If your middleware is not capable of returning a response, or a particular path in the middleware cannot return a response, return the result of executing the delegate.

If using the legacy middleware signature, invoke the $next argument:

return $next($request, $response);

If using a DelegateInterface, invoke its process() method:

return $delegate->process($request);

Middleware should always return a response, and, if it cannot, return the result of delegation.

Raising an error condition

If your middleware cannot complete — perhaps a database error occurred, a service was unreachable, etc. — how can you report the error?

Raise an exception!

function ($request, $response, $next) use ($service)
{
    $result = $service->fetchSomething();
    if (! $result->isSuccess()) {
        throw new RuntimeException('Error fetching something');
    }

    /* ... otherwise, complete the request ... */
}

Use the ErrorHandler middleware to handle exceptions thrown by your middleware and report the error condition to your users.

Middleware

Stratigility provides several concrete middleware implementations.

ErrorHandler and NotFoundHandler

These two middleware allow you to provide handle PHP errors and exceptions, and 404 conditions, respectively. You may read more about them in the error handling chapter.

OriginalMessages

This callable middleware can be used as the outermost layer of middleware in order to set the original request, URI, and response instances as request attributes for inner layers. See the migration chapter for more details.

Middleware Decorators

Within MiddlewarePipe, if a response prototype is composed, callable middleware piped to the instance will be wrapped in a decorator.

Two versions exist:

  • Laminas\Stratigility\Middleware\CallableMiddlewareWrapper will wrap a callable using the legacy interface; as such, it also requires a response instance:
$middleware = new CallableMiddlewareWrapper($middleware, $response);
  • Laminas\Stratigility\Middleware\CallableMiddlewareWrapper will wrap a callable that defines exactly two arguments, with the second type-hinting on the http-interop/http-middleware DelegateInterface:
$middleware = new CallableMiddlewareWrapper(
  function ($request, DelegateInterface $delegate) {
      // ...
  }
);

You can manually decorate callable middleware using these decorators, or simply let MiddlewarePipe do the work for you. To let MiddlewarePipe handle this, however, you must compose a response prototype prior to piping middleware using the legacy middleware signature.

Delegates

In addition to Laminas\Stratigility\Next, Stratigility provides another http-interop/http-middleware DelegateInterface implementation, Laminas\Stratigility\Delegate\CallableDelegateDecorator.

This class can be used to wrap a callable $next instance for use in passing to an http-interop/http-middleware middleware interface process() method as a delegate; the primary use case is adapting functor middleware to work as http-interop middleware.

As an example:

// http-interop/http-middleware 0.2:
use Interop\Http\Middleware\DelegateInterface;
use Interop\Http\Middleware\ServerMiddlewareInterface;

// http-interop/http-middleware 0.4.1:
use Interop\Http\ServerMiddleware\DelegateInterface;
use Interop\Http\ServerMiddleware\MiddlewareInterface as ServerMiddlewareInterface;

use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Laminas\Stratigility\Delegate\CallableDelegateDecorator;

class TimestampMiddleware implements ServerMiddlewareInterface
{
    public function __invoke(
        ServerRequestInterface $request,
        ResponseInterface $response,
        callable $next
    ) {
        return $this->process($request, new CallableDelegateDecorator($next, $response));
    }

    public function process(
        ServerRequestInterface $request,
        DelegateInterface $delegate
    ) {
        $response = $delegate->process($request);
        return $response->withHeader('X-Processed-Timestamp', time());
    }
}