Using mod_rewrite with ErrorDocument

Question

I am using mod_rewrite in my PHP framework to redirect user-friendly links to one main entry point of the application. The .htaccess file I am using looks like that:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    Options FollowSymLinks

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?url=$1 [PT,L]
 </IfModule>

Now, I would like to use that rule with the ErrorDocument directive. How should I do this? My framework sets the response code to 404 when there's a controller missing:

    /**
     * Sets the HTTP response code.
     *
     * @param int $errorCode The response code to return. <b>Supported codes: </b>301, 307, 400, 401, 403, 404, 500,
     * 501, 502, 503
    */
    function setHTTPStatus($errorCode) {
        $httpStatusCodes = array(301 => 'Moved Permanently', 307 => 'Temporary Redirect', 400 => 'Bad Request',
            401 => 'Unauthorized', 403 => 'Forbidden', 404 => 'Not Found', 500 => 'Internal Server Error',
            501 => 'Not Implemented', 502 => 'Bad Gateway', 503 => 'Service Unavailable');

        if (array_key_exists($errorCode, $httpStatusCodes)) {
            header("HTTP/1.0 $errorCode $httpStatusCodes[$errorCode]", true, $errorCode);
            exit;
        }
    }

I tried adding the line ErrorDocument 404 /index.php?url=404 and ErrorDocument 404 /error but none seem to have worked and I get the default browser's error page.

What is wrong?

Thank you.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 20 '12 at 20:15

There is no easy way to do this via the .htaccess file. Once you're in php code land, apache has processed through the .htaccess file and httpd.conf files and made a handoff to the frameworks front controller--in this case the index.php file for the framework.

What framework are you using?

The best way to handle this is to use the frameworks error handling, not the baked-in apache handling. The apache 404 is fine for any non-framework served pages like an image, css, js, etc... Your framework should have a configuration file somewhere to set the default error view.

Using mod_rewrite with ErrorDocument

1 Answers1