Version 4.4.0

Release Date: August 25, 2023

4.4.0 release of CodeIgniter4

Highlights 

The Debug Toolbar now has a new “Hot Reload” feature (contributed by lonnieezell). See Testing.

BREAKING 

Behavior Changes 

URI::setSegment() and Non-Existent Segment 

An exception is now thrown when you set the last +2 segment. In previous versions, an exception was thrown only if the last segment +3 or more was specified. See URI::setSegment() Change.

The next segment (+1) of the current last segment can be set as before.

Factories 

Passing Classname with Namespace

Now preferApp works only when you request a classname without a namespace.

For example, when you call model(\Myth\Auth\Models\UserModel::class) or model('Myth\Auth\Models\UserModel'):

before:

returns App\Models\UserModel if exists and preferApp is true (default)

returns Myth\Auth\Models\UserModel if exists and preferApp is false

after:

returns Myth\Auth\Models\UserModel even if preferApp is true (default)

returns App\Models\UserModel if you define Factories::define('models', 'Myth\Auth\Models\UserModel', 'App\Models\UserModel') before calling the model()

If you had passed a non-existent classname by mistake, the previous version would have returned a class instance in the App or Config namespace because of the preferApp feature.

For example, in a controller (namespace App\Controllers), if you called config(Config\App::class) by mistake (note the class is missing the leading \), meaning you actually passed App\Controllers\Config\App. But that class does not exist, so now Factories will return null.

Property Name

The property Factories::$basenames has been renamed to $aliases.

Autoloader 

Previously, CodeIgniter’s autoloader allowed loading class names ending with the .php extension. This means instantiating objects like new Foo.php() was possible and would instantiate as new Foo(). Since Foo.php is an invalid class name, this behavior of the autoloader is changed. Now, instantiating such classes would fail.

CodeIgniter and exit()

The CodeIgniter::run() method no longer calls exit(EXIT_SUCCESS). The exit call is moved to public/index.php.

Site URI Changes 

A new SiteURI class that extends the URI class and represents the site URI has been added, and now it is used in many places that need the current URI.

$this->request->getUri() in controllers returns the SiteURI instance. Also, site_url(), base_url(), and current_url() use the SiteURI internally.

getPath()

The getPath() method now always returns the full URI path with leading /. Therefore, when your baseURL has sub-directories and you want to get the relative path to baseURL, you must use the new getRoutePath() method instead.

For example:

        baseURL: http://localhost:8888/CodeIgniter4/
The current URI: http://localhost:8888/CodeIgniter4/foo/bar
      getPath(): /CodeIgniter4/foo/bar
 getRoutePath(): foo/bar

Site URI Values

The SiteURI class normalizes site URIs more strictly than before, and some bugs have been fixed.

As a result, the framework may return site URIs or the URI paths slightly differently than in previous versions. For example, / will be added after index.php:

http://example.com/test/index.php?page=1
↓
http://example.com/test/index.php/?page=1

Interface Changes 

Note

As long as you have not extended the relevant CodeIgniter core classes or implemented these interfaces, all these changes are backward compatible and require no intervention.

Validation: Added the getValidated() method in ValidationInterface.

Method Signature Changes 

Parameter Type Changes 

Services:
- The first parameter of Services::security() has been changed from Config\App to Config\Security.
- The first parameter of Services::session() has been changed from Config\App to Config\Session.
Session:
- The second parameter of Session::__construct() has been changed from Config\App to Config\Session.
- The first parameter of __construct() in the database’s BaseHandler, DatabaseHandler, FileHandler, MemcachedHandler, and RedisHandler has been changed from Config\App to Config\Session.
Security: The first parameter of Security::__construct() has been changed from Config\App to Config\Security.
Validation: The method signature of Validation::check() has been changed. The string typehint on the $rule parameter was removed.
CodeIgniter: The method signature of CodeIgniter::setRequest() has been changed. The Request typehint on the $request parameter was removed.
FeatureTestCase:
- The method signature of FeatureTestCase::populateGlobals() has been changed. The Request typehint on the $request parameter was removed.
- The method signature of FeatureTestCase::setRequestBody() has been changed. The Request typehint on the $request parameter and the return type Request were removed.

Added Parameters 

Routing: The third parameter Routing $routing has been added to RouteCollection::__construct().

Removed Parameters 

Services: The second parameter $request and the third parameter $response in Services::exceptions() have been removed.
Error Handling: The second parameter $request and the third parameter $response in CodeIgniter\Debug\Exceptions::__construct() have been removed.

Return Type Changes 

Autoloader: The return signatures of the loadClass and loadClassmap methods are made void to be compatible as callbacks in spl_autoload_register and spl_autoload_unregister functions.

Enhancements 

Commands 

spark routes:
- Now you can specify the host in the request URL. See Specify Host.
- It shows view files of View Routes in Handler like the following:
  
  Method
  
  Route
  
  Name
  
  Handler
  
  Before Filters
  
  After Filters
  
  GET
  
  about
  
  »
  
  (View) pages/about
  
  toolbar

Testing 

DebugBar:
- The Debug Toolbar now has a new “Hot Reload” feature that can be used to automatically reload the page when a file is changed. See Hot Reloading.
- Now View Routes are displayed in DEFINED ROUTES on the Routes tab.

Database 

MySQLi: Added the numberNative attribute to the Database Config to keep the variable type obtained after SQL Query consistent with the type set in the database. See Database Configuration.
SQLSRV: Field Metadata now includes nullable. See $db->getFieldData().

Model 

Added special getter/setter to Entity to avoid method name conflicts. See Special Getter/Setter.

Libraries 

Validation: Added Validation::getValidated() method that gets the actual validated data. See Getting Validated Data for details.
Images: The option $quality can now be used to compress WebP images.
Uploaded Files: Added UploadedFiles::getClientPath() method that returns the value of the full_path index of the file if it was uploaded via directory upload.
CURLRequest: Added a request option proxy. See CURLRequest Class.
URI: A new SiteURI class that extends URI and represents the site URI has been added.

Helpers and Functions 

Array: Added array_group_by() helper function to group data values together. Supports dot-notation syntax.
Common: force_https() no longer terminates the application, but throws a RedirectException.

Others 

DownloadResponse: Added DownloadResponse::inline() method that sets the Content-Disposition: inline header to display the file in the browser. See Open File in Browser for details.
View: Added optional 2nd parameter $saveData on renderSection() to prevent from auto cleans the data after displaying. See View Layouts for details.
Auto Routing (Improved):
- Now you can route to Modules. See Module Routing for details.
- If a controller is found that corresponds to a URI segment and that controller does not have a method defined for the URI segment, the default method will now be executed. This addition allows for more flexible handling of URIs in auto routing. See Default Method Fallback for details.
Filters: Now you can use Filter Arguments with $filters property.
Request: Added IncomingRequest::setValidLocales() method to set valid locales.
Table: Added Table::setSyncRowsWithHeading() method to synchronize row columns with headings. See Synchronizing Rows with Headings for details.
Error Handling: Now you can use Custom Exception Handlers.
RedirectException:
- It can also take an object that implements ResponseInterface as its first argument.
- It implements ResponsableInterface.
Factories:
- You can now define the classname that will actually be loaded. See Defining Classname to be Loaded.
- Config Caching implemented. See Config Caching for details.

Message Changes 

Added Core.invalidDirectory error message.
Improved HTTP.invalidHTTPProtocol error message.

Changes 

Images: The default quality for WebP in GDHandler has been changed from 80 to 90.
Config:
- The deprecated Cookie items in app/Config/App.php has been removed.
- The deprecated Session items in app/Config/App.php has been removed.
- The deprecated CSRF items in app/Config/App.php has been removed.
- Routing settings have been moved to app/Config/Routing.php config file. See Upgrading Guide.
DownloadResponse: When generating response headers, does not replace the Content-Disposition header if it was previously specified.
Autoloader:
- Before v4.4.0, CodeIgniter autoloader did not allow special characters that are illegal in filenames on certain operating systems. The symbols that can be used are /, _, ., :, \ and space. So if you installed CodeIgniter under the folder that contains the special characters like (, ), etc., CodeIgniter didn’t work. Since v4.4.0, this restriction has been removed.
- The methods Autoloader::loadClass() and Autoloader::loadClassmap() are now both marked @internal.
RouteCollection: The array structure of the protected property $routes has been modified for performance.
HSTS: Now force_https() or Config\App::$forceGlobalSecureRequests = true sets the HTTP status code 307, which allows the HTTP request method to be preserved after the redirect. In previous versions, it was 302.

Deprecations 

Entity: Entity::setAttributes() is deprecated. Use Entity::injectRawData() instead.
Error Handling: Many methods and properties in CodeIgniter\Debug\Exceptions are deprecated. Because these methods have been moved to BaseExceptionHandler or ExceptionHandler.
Autoloader: Autoloader::sanitizeFilename() is deprecated.
CodeIgniter:
- CodeIgniter::$returnResponse property is deprecated. No longer used.
- CodeIgniter::$cacheTTL property is deprecated. No longer used. Use ResponseCache instead.
- CodeIgniter::cache() method is deprecated. No longer used. Use ResponseCache instead.
- CodeIgniter::cachePage() method is deprecated. No longer used. Use ResponseCache instead.
- CodeIgniter::generateCacheName() method is deprecated. No longer used. Use ResponseCache instead.
- CodeIgniter::callExit() method is deprecated. No longer used.
RedirectException: \CodeIgniter\Router\Exceptions\RedirectException is deprecated. Use \CodeIgniter\HTTP\Exceptions\RedirectException instead.
Session: The property $sessionDriverName, $sessionCookieName, $sessionExpiration, $sessionSavePath, $sessionMatchIP, $sessionTimeToUpdate, and $sessionRegenerateDestroy in Session are deprecated, and no longer used. Use $config instead.
Security: The property $csrfProtection, $tokenRandomize, $tokenName, $headerName, $expires, $regenerate, and $redirect in Security are deprecated, and no longer used. Use $config instead.
URI:
- URI::$uriString is deprecated.
- URI::$baseURL is deprecated. Use SiteURI instead.
- URI::setSilent() is deprecated.
- URI::setScheme() is deprecated. Use withScheme() instead.
- URI::setURI() is deprecated.
IncomingRequest:
- IncomingRequest::detectURI() is deprecated and no longer used.
- IncomingRequest::detectPath() is deprecated, and no longer used. It moved to SiteURIFactory.
- IncomingRequest::parseRequestURI() is deprecated, and no longer used. It moved to SiteURIFactory.
- IncomingRequest::parseQueryString() is deprecated, and no longer used. It moved to SiteURIFactory.
- IncomingRequest::setPath() is deprecated.

Bugs Fixed 

Auto Routing (Improved): In previous versions, when $translateURIDashes is true, two URIs correspond to a single controller method, one URI for dashes (e.g., foo-bar) and one URI for underscores (e.g., foo_bar). This bug has been fixed. Now the URI for underscores (foo_bar) is not accessible.
Output Buffering: Bug fix with output buffering.
ControllerTestTrait: ControllerTestTrait::withUri() creates a new Request instance with the URI. Because the Request instance should have the URI instance. Also if the hostname in the URI string is invalid with Config\App, the valid hostname will be set.

See the repo’s CHANGELOG.md for a complete list of bugs fixed.

Method	Route	Name	Handler	Before Filters	After Filters
GET	about	»	(View) pages/about		toolbar