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SiteAccess

Introduction

eZ Platform enables you to maintain multiple sites in one installation using a feature called SiteAccesses.

In short, a SiteAccess is a set of configuration settings that is used when you reach the site through a specific address. When the user visits the site, the system analyzes the URI and compares it to rules specified in the configuration. If it finds a set of fitting rules, this SiteAccess is used.

Settings defined per SiteAccess may include, among others, database, language or var directory. When that SiteAccess is used, they override the default configuration.

Selecting SiteAccesses

A SiteAccess is selected using one or more matchers – rules based on the uri or its parts. Example matching criteria are elements of the uri, host name (or its parts), port number, etc.

For detailed information on how SiteAccess matchers work, see SiteAccess Matching.

SiteAccesses use cases

Typical uses of a SiteAccess are:

• different language versions of the same site identified by a uri part; one SiteAccess for one language
• two different versions of a website: one SiteAccess with a public interface for visitors and one with a restricted interface for administrators

Enterprise

If you need to change between SiteAccesses in Page mode, do not use any functions in the page itself (for example, a language switcher). This may cause unexpected errors. Instead, switch between SiteAccesses using the SiteAccess bar above the page.

Configuring SiteAccesses

You configure SiteAccess in your config files (e.g. ezplatform.yml) under the ezpublish.siteacess keys.

Tip

If you encounter issues when configuring SiteAccess or want to check that system uses the correct value, use the following command:

bin/console [—-siteaccess=<SA>] ezplatform:debug:config-resolver <param.name>

For advanced users, the command can be used to test how different parameters work when configuring scopes.

The required elements of the configuration are:

list

Lists all SiteAccesses in the installation.

default_siteaccess

Identifies which SiteAccess will be used by default when no other is specified.

groups (optional)

Collects SiteAccesses into groups that can be used later for configuration.

match

The rule or set of rules by which SiteAccesses are matched. See SiteAccess matching for more information.

Settings per SiteAccess

Various system settings can be set per SiteAccess or SiteAccess group under the ezpublish.system key. These settings include languages or the var directory.

Example: multilanguage sites

A site has content in two languages: English and Norwegian. It has one URI per language: http://example.com/eng and http://example.com/nor. Uri parts of each language (eng, nor) are mapped to a SiteAccess, commonly named like the URI part: eng, nor. Using semantic configuration, each of these SiteAccesses can be assigned a prioritized list of languages it should display:

• The English site would display content in English and ignore Norwegian content;
• The Norwegian site would display content in Norwegian but also in English if it does not exist in Norwegian.

Such configuration would look like this:

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        # There are two SiteAccesses
        list: [eng, nor]
 
        # eng is the default one if no prefix is specified
        default_siteaccess: eng

        # the first URI of the element is used to find a SiteAccess with a similar name
        match:
            URIElement: 1


ezpublish:
    # root node for configuration per SiteAccess
    system:
        # Configuration for the 'eng' SiteAccess
        eng:
            languages: [eng-GB]
        nor:
            languages: [nor-NO, eng-GB]

Note

A new SiteAccess is recognized by the system, but an Anonymous User will not have read access to it until it is explicitly given via the Admin > Roles panel. Without read access the Anonymous User will simply be directed to the default login page.

Scope

Configuration is resolved depending on scope. It gives the opportunity to define settings for a given SiteAccess, for instance like in the legacy INI override system.

The available scopes are:

1. global
2. SiteAccess
3. SiteAccess group
4. default

The scopes are applied in the order presented. This means that global overrides all other scopes. If global is not defined, the configuration will then try to match a SiteAccess, and then a SiteAccess group. Finally, if no other scope is matched, default will be applied.

In short: if you want a match that will always apply, regardless of SiteAccesses use global. To define a fallback, use default.

ezpublish:
    system:
        global:
            # If set, this value will be used regardless of any other var_dir configuration
            #var_dir: var/global
        site:
            # This var_dir will be used for the 'site' SiteAccess
            var_dir: var/site
        site_group:
            # This will be overwritten by the SiteAccess above, since the SiteAccess has precedence
            var_dir: var/group   
        default:
            # This value will only be used if there is no global, SiteAccess or SiteAccess group defined
            var_dir: var/site

Note that you should avoid defining a setting twice within the same scope, as this will cause a silent failure.

This mechanism is not limited to eZ Platform internal settings (the ezsettings namespace) and is applicable for specific needs (bundle-related, project-related, etc.).

Always prefer semantic configuration especially for internal eZ settings. Manually editing internal eZ settings is possible, but at your own risk, as unexpected behavior can occur.

SiteAccess Matching

SiteAccess matching is done through eZ\Publish\MVC\SiteAccess\Matcher objects. You can configure this matching and even develop custom matchers.

To be usable, every SiteAccess must be provided a matcher.

You can configure SiteAccess matching in your main app/config/ezplatform.yml:

# ezplatform.yml
ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        default_siteaccess: ezdemo_site
        list:
            - ezdemo_site
            - eng
            - fre
            - fr_eng
            - ezdemo_site_admin
        groups:
            ezdemo_site_group:
                - ezdemo_site
                - eng
                - fre
                - fr_eng
                - ezdemo_site_admin
        match:
            Map\URI:
                ezdemo_site: ezdemo_site
                eng: eng
                fre: fre
                fr_eng: fr_eng
                ezdemo_site_admin: ezdemo_site_admin

You need to set several parameters:

• ezpublish.siteaccess.default_siteaccess is the default SiteAccess that will be used if matching was not successful. This ensures that a SiteAccess is always defined.
• ezpublish.siteaccess.list is the list of all available SiteAccesses in your website.
• ezpublish.siteaccess.groups (optional) defines which groups SiteAccesses belong to. This is useful when you want to mutualize settings between several SiteAccesses and avoid config duplication. Siteaccess groups are treated the same as regular SiteAccesses as far as configuration is concerned. A SiteAccess can be part of several groups. A SiteAccess configuration has always precedence on the group configuration.
• ezpublish.siteaccess.match holds the matching configuration. It consists in a hash where the key is the name of the matcher class. If the matcher class doesn't start with a \ , it will be considered relative to eZ\Publish\MVC\SiteAccess\Matcher (e.g. Map\Host will refer to  eZ\Publish\MVC\SiteAccess\Matcher\Map\Host)

Every custom matcher can be specified with a fully qualified class name (e.g. \My\SiteAccess\Matcher) or by a service identifier prefixed by @ (e.g. @my_matcher_service).

• In the case of a fully qualified class name, the matching configuration will be passed in the constructor.
• In the case of a service, it must implement eZ\Bundle\EzPublishCoreBundle\SiteAccess\Matcher. The matching configuration will be passed to setMatchingConfiguration().

Note

Make sure to type the matcher in correct case. If it is in wrong case like "Uri" instead of "URI," it will work well on systems like macOS X because of their case-insensitive file system, but will fail when you deploy it to a Linux server. This is a known artifact of PSR-0 autoloading of PHP classes.

Available matchers

• URIElement
• URIText
• HostElement
• HostText
• Map\Host
• Map\URI
• Map\Port
• Regex\Host (deprecated)
• Regex\URI (deprecated)

URIElement

Maps a URI element to a SiteAccess. This is the default matcher used when choosing URI matching in setup wizard.

Configuration. The element number you want to match (starting from 1)

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            URIElement: 1

Important: When using a value > 1, the matcher will concatenate the elements with _.

Example. URI: /ezdemo_site/foo/bar

Element number: 1; Matched SiteAccess: ezdemo_site

Element number: 2; Matched SiteAccess: ezdemo_site_foo

URIText

Matches URI using pre and/or post sub-strings in the first URI segment.

Configuration. The prefix and/or suffix (none are required)

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            URIText:
                prefix: foo
                suffix: bar

Example. URI: /footestbar/my/content

Prefix: foo; Suffix: bar; Matched SiteAccess: test

HostElement

Maps an element in the host name to a SiteAccess.

Configuration. The element number you want to match (starting from 1)

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            HostElement: 2

Example. Host name: www.example.com

Element number: 2; Matched SiteAccess: example

HostText

Matches a SiteAccess in the host name, using pre and/or post sub-strings.

Configuration. The prefix and/or suffix (none are required)

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            HostText:
                prefix: www.
                suffix: .com

Example. Host name: www.foo.com

Prefix: www.; Suffix: .com; Matched SiteAccess: foo

Map\Host

Maps a host name to a SiteAccess.

Configuration. A hash map of host/siteaccess

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            Map\Host:
                www.foo.com: foo_front
                adm.foo.com: foo_admin
                www.bar-stuff.fr: bar_front
                adm.bar-stuff.fr: bar_admin

Enterprise

In eZ Enterprise, when using the Map\Host matcher, you need to provide the following line in your Twig template (e.g. in the head of the main template file):

{{ multidomain_access() }}

Example. Map:

• www.foo.com => foo_front
• admin.foo.com => foo_admin

Host name: www.example.com

Matched SiteAccess: foo_front

Map\URI

Maps a URI to a SiteAccess.

Configuration. A hash map of URI/siteaccess

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            Map\URI:
                ezdemo: ezdemo_site
                ezadmin: ezdemo_site_admin

Example. URI: /ezdemo/my/content

Map:

• ezdemo => ezdemo_site
• ezadmin => ezdemo_site_admin

Matched SiteAccess: ezdemo_site

Map\Port

Maps a port to a SiteAccess.

Configuration. A hash map of Port/siteaccess

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            Match\Port:
                80: foo
                8080: bar

Example. URL: http://ezpublish.dev:8080/my/content

Map:

• 80: foo
• 8080: bar

Matched SiteAccess: bar

Regex\Host

Caution

This matcher is deprecated.

Matches against a regexp and extracts a portion of it.

Configuration. The regexp to match against and the captured element to use

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            Regex\Host:
                regex: '^(\\w+_sa)$'
                # Default is 1
                itemNumber: 1

Example. Host name: example_sa

regex: ^(\\w+)_sa$

itemNumber: 1

Matched SiteAccess: example

Regex\URI

Caution

This matcher is deprecated.

Matches against a regexp and extracts a portion of it.

Configuration. The regexp to match against and the captured element to use

ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            Regex\URI:
                regex: '^/foo(\\w+)bar'
                # Default is 1
                itemNumber: 1

Example. URI: /footestbar/something

regex: ^/foo(\\w+)bar; itemNumber: 1

Matched SiteAccess: test

Compound SiteAccess matcher

The Compound SiteAccess matcher enables you to combine several matchers together, for example:

• http://example.com/en matches site_en (match on host=example.com and URIElement(1)=en)
• http://example.com/fr matches site_fr (match on host=example.com and URIElement(1)=fr)
• http://admin.example.com matches site_admin (match on host=admin.example.com)

Compound matchers correspond to the legacy host_uri matching feature.

They are based on logical combinations, or/and, using logical compound matchers:

• Compound\LogicalAnd
• Compound\LogicalOr

Each compound matcher will specify two or more sub-matchers. A rule will match if all the matchers combined with the logical matcher are positive. The example above would have used Map\Host and Map\Uri, combined with a LogicalAnd. When both the URI and host match, the SiteAccess configured with "match" is used.

# ezplatform.yml
ezpublish:
    siteaccess:
        match:
            Compound\LogicalAnd:
                # Nested matchers, with their configuration.
                # No need to specify their matching values (true is enough).
                site_en:
                    matchers:
                        Map\URI:
                            en: true
                        Map\Host:
                            example.com: true
                    match: site_en
                site_fr:
                    matchers:
                        Map\URI:
                            fr: true
                        Map\Host:
                            example.com: true
                    match: site_fr
            Map\Host:
                admin.example.com: site_admin

Matching by request header

It is possible to define which SiteAccess to use by setting an X-Siteaccess header in your request. This can be useful for REST requests.

In such a case, X-Siteaccess must be the SiteAccess name (e.g. ezdemo_site).

Matching by environment variable

It is also possible to define which SiteAccess to use directly via an EZPUBLISH_SITEACCESS environment variable.

This is recommended if you want to get performance gain since no matching logic is done in this case.

You can define this environment variable directly from your web server configuration:

<!--Apache VirtualHost example-->
# This configuration assumes that mod_env is activated
<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "/path/to/ezpublish5/web/folder"
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    SetEnv EZPUBLISH_SITEACCESS ezdemo_site
</VirtualHost>

Tip

You can also do it via PHP-FPM configuration file, if you use it. See  PHP-FPM documentation for more information.

Precedence

The precedence order for SiteAccess matching is the following (the first matched wins):

1. Request header
2. Environment variable
3. Configured matchers

URILexer and semanticPathinfo

In some cases, after matching a SiteAccess, it is necessary to modify the original request URI. This is for example needed with URI-based matchers since the SiteAccess is contained in the original URI and is not part of the route itself.

The problem is addressed by analyzing this URI and by modifying it when needed through the URILexer interface.

// URILexer interface

/**
 * Interface for SiteAccess matchers that need to alter the URI after matching.
 * This is useful when you have the SiteAccess in the URI like "/<siteaccessName>/my/awesome/uri"
 */
interface URILexer
{
    /**
     * Analyses $uri and removes the SiteAccess part, if needed.
     *
     * @param string $uri The original URI
     * @return string The modified URI
     */
    public function analyseURI( $uri );
    /**
     * Analyses $linkUri when generating a link to a route, in order to have the SiteAccess part back in the URI.
     *
     * @param string $linkUri
     * @return string The modified link URI
     */
    public function analyseLink( $linkUri );
}

Once modified, the URI is stored in the semanticPathinfo request attribute, and the original pathinfo is not modified.

Cross-SiteAccess links

When using the multisite feature, it is sometimes useful to be able to generate cross-links between different sites within one installation. This allows you to link different resources referenced in the same content repository, but configured independently with different tree roots.

<!--Twig example-->
{# Linking a location #}
<a href="{{ url( 'ez_urlalias', {'locationId': 42, 'siteaccess': 'some_siteaccess_name'} ) }}">{{ ez_content_name( content ) }}</a>

{# Linking a regular route #}
<a href="{{ url( "some_route_name", {"siteaccess": "some_siteaccess_name"} ) }}">Hello world!</a>

See ez_urlalias for more information about linking to a Location.

namespace Acme\TestBundle\Controller;

use eZ\Bundle\EzPublishCoreBundle\Controller as BaseController;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Generator\UrlGeneratorInterface;

class MyController extends BaseController
{
    public function fooAction()
    {
        // ...

        $location = $this->getRepository()->getLocationService()->loadLocation( 123 );
        $locationUrl = $this->generateUrl(
            $location,
            [ 'siteaccess' => 'some_siteaccess_name' ],
            UrlGeneratorInterface::ABSOLUTE_PATH
        );

        $regularRouteUrl = $this->generateUrl(
            'some_route_name',
            [ 'siteaccess' => 'some_siteaccess_name' ],
            UrlGeneratorInterface::ABSOLUTE_PATH
        );

        // ...
    }
}

Important

As SiteAccess matchers can involve hosts and ports, it is highly recommended to generate cross-SiteAccess links in an absolute form (e.g. using url() Twig helper).

Troubleshooting

• The first matcher succeeding always wins, so be careful when using catch-all matchers like URIElement.
• If the passed SiteAccess name is not valid, an InvalidArgumentException will be thrown.
• If the matcher used to match the provided SiteAccess doesn't implement VersatileMatcher, the link will be generated for the current SiteAccess.
• When using Compound\LogicalAnd, all inner matchers must match. If at least one matcher doesn't implement VersatileMatcher, it will fail.
• When using Compound\LogicalOr, the first inner matcher succeeding will win.

Under the hood

To implement this feature, a new VersatileMatcher was added to allow SiteAccess matchers to be able to reverse-match. All existing matchers implement this new interface, except the regexp-based matchers which have been deprecated.

The SiteAccess router has been added a matchByName() method to reflect this addition. Abstract URLGenerator and DefaultRouter have been updated as well.

Note

SiteAccess router public methods have also been extracted to a new interface, SiteAccessRouterInterface.

Navigating between SiteAccesses - limitations

There are two known limitations to moving between SiteAccesses in eZ Enterprise's Landing Pages:

1. On a Landing Page you can encounter a 404 error when clicking a relative link which points to a different SiteAccess (if the Content item being previewed does not exist in the previously used SiteAccess). This is because detecting SiteAccesses when navigating in preview is not functional yet. This is a known limitation that is awaiting resolution.

2. When navigating between SiteAccesses in the back office using the top bar, you are always redirected to the main page, not to the Content item you started from.

Injecting SiteAccess

SiteAccess is exposed in the Dependency Injection Container as the @ezpublish.siteaccess service, so it can be injected into any custom service.

The @ezpublish.siteaccess service, if needed, must be injected using setter injection. It comes from the fact that SiteAccess matching is done in a kernel.request event listener, so when injected into a constructor, it might not be initialized properly.

To ensure proper contract, the eZ\Publish\Core\MVC\Symfony\SiteAccess\SiteAccessAware interface can be implemented on a custom service.

Example

Let's define a simple service which depends on the Repository's ContentService and the current SiteAccess.

services:
    acme.test.my_service:
        class: Acme\AcmeTestBundle\MyService
        arguments: ['@ezpublish.api.service.content']
        calls:
            - [setSiteAccess, ['@ezpublish.siteaccess']]

<?php
namespace Acme\AcmeTestBundle;

use eZ\Publish\API\Repository\ContentService;
use eZ\Publish\Core\MVC\Symfony\SiteAccess;
use eZ\Publish\Core\MVC\Symfony\SiteAccess\SiteAccessAware;

class MyService implements SiteAccessAware
{
    /**
     * @var \eZ\Publish\API\Repository\ContentService
     */
    private $contentService;

    /**
     * @var \eZ\Publish\Core\MVC\Symfony\SiteAccess
     */
    private $siteAccess;

    public function __construct(ContentService $contentService )
    {
        $this->contentService = $contentService;
    }

    public function setSiteAccess(SiteAccess $siteAccess = null)
    {
        $this->siteAccess = $siteAccess;
    }
}