The Dispatcher
The Dispatcher handles URL redirections.
For instance, instead of using multiple files in the root folder like product.php, order.php or category.php, PrestaShop only uses one file: index.php.
Starting with PrestaShop 1.5, front-office URLs look like this:
/index.php?id_category=3&controller=category/index.php?id_product=7&controller=product/index.php?id_cms=4&controller=cms- etc.
Likewise, back office URLs look like this:
/admin-dev/index.php?controller=AdminDashboard/admin-dev/index.php?controller=AdminProducts/admin-dev/index.php?controller=AdminCmsContent- etc.
Additionally, the Dispatcher is built to support URL rewriting (or "Friendly URLs"). Therefore, PrestaShop URLs which look like this when URL-rewriting is off...
http://myprestashop.com/index.php?controller=category&id_category=3&id_lang=1 http://myprestashop.com/index.php?controller=product&id_product=1&id_lang=2
...will look like this when URL-rewriting is on:
http://myprestashop.com/en/3-music-ipods http://myprestashop.com/fr/1-ipod-nano.html
There are several advantages to this system:
- It is easier to add a controller.
- You can use custom routes to change your friendly URLs (which is really better for SEO!)
- There is only one single entry point into the software, which improves PrestaShop's reliability, and facilitates future developments.
The Dispatcher makes use of three abstract classes: Controller, FrontController and AdminController (the last two inheriting from the first one).
New routes can be created by overriding the loadRoutes() method.
The store's administrator can change a controller's URL using the "SEO & URLs" page in the back office's "Preferences" menu.