[Proposal] Route::fallback();

[Evertt]

Basically it would be nice to be able to define a fallback-route like so:

Route::fallback('PageController@someMethod');
// or
Route::fallback(function() {
    // code here...
});

Which would match any GET route that doesn't match any of the other routes. There can only be one fallback route and if more are defined then the last one always overwrites the previous one. Maybe, because of that, it would also be nice to be able to check whether one was already defined:

if (!Route::hasFallback()) {
    Route::fallback(...);
}

If more people like this then I'm willing to write a PR.

edit

Maybe it would actually be nice to have fallbacks for every http method. In that case in might be nice to be able to write this:

Route::fallbackResource('PageController');
// or maybe instead like this?
Route::fallbackController('SomeController'); // in which the method names should match the http verbs?

Or not?

[joshmanders]

Isn't that basically the same as Route::get('*', 'PagesController@someMethod'); at bottom of routes/web.php?

[Evertt]

Almost yes. The problem with that is that routes and route files aren't always so straight-forward.

For example I'm working on a multi-tenant application where there are common routes and there are tenant-specific routes. And then I also have vendor packages which register routes. Because of that structure it's risky to put Route::get('*', ...); anywhere, because that means that any route which is defined after that one will not work anymore.

So when I write Route::fallback() I really mean to say "Only try this after all else failed."

[joshmanders]

Ah, I see now. Cool.

[garygreen]

This is a nice idea - though I don't think it's needed for every resource. This could solve #413
Instead of throwing 404 not founds just have the router match the route as a fallback sending a 404 response. Maybe have a built in one for Laravel PageController which sends a 404 response with ability to override the fallback with your own?

[themsaid]

Check laravel/framework#21234

[carestad]

Would it be possible to have a Route::fallbackView() as well, similar to Route::view()? See #1961 regarding why.