Every variable in the route can have a default and this is what the second parameter of the Zend_Controller_Router_Route constructor is used for. This parameter is an array with keys representing variable names and with values as desired defaults:

$route = new Zend_Controller_Router_Route(
    'archive/:year',
    array('year' => 2006)
);
$router->addRoute('archive', $route);

The above route will match URLs like http://domain.com/archive/2005 and http://example.com/archive. In the latter case the variable year will have an initial default value of 2006.

This example will result in injecting a year variable to the request object. Since no routing information is present (no controller and action parameters are defined), the application will be dispatched to the default controller and action method (which are both defined in Zend_Controller_Dispatcher_Abstract). To make it more usable, you have to provide a valid controller and a valid action as the route's defaults:

$route = new Zend_Controller_Router_Route(
    'archive/:year',
    array(
        'year'       => 2006,
        'controller' => 'archive',
        'action'     => 'show'
    )
);
$router->addRoute('archive', $route);

This route will then result in dispatching to the method showAction() of the class ArchiveController.

One can add a third parameter to the Zend_Controller_Router_Route constructor where variable requirements may be set. These are defined as parts of a regular expression:

$route = new Zend_Controller_Router_Route(
    'archive/:year',
    array(
        'year'       => 2006,
        'controller' => 'archive',
        'action'     => 'show'
    ),
    array('year' => '\d+')
);
$router->addRoute('archive', $route);

With a route defined like above, the router will match it only when the year variable will contain numeric data, eg. http://domain.com/archive/2345. A URL like http://example.com/archive/test will not be matched and control will be passed to the next route in the chain instead.

The standard route supports translated segments. To use this feature, you have to define at least a translator (an instance of Zend_Translate) via one of the following ways:

By default, the locale specified in the Zend_Translate instance will be used. To override it, you set it (an instance of Zend_Locale or a locale string) in one of the following ways:

Translated segments are separated into two parts. Fixed segments are prefixed by a single @-sign, and will be translated to the current locale when assembling and reverted to the message ID when matching again. Dynamic segments are prefixed by :@. When assembling, the given parameter will be translated and inserted into the parameter position. When matching, the translated parameter from the URL will be reverted to the message ID again.

The following is the simplest way to prepare the standard route for translated segment usage:

// Prepare the translator
$translator = new Zend_Translate(
    array(
        'adapter' => 'array',
        'content' => array(),
        'locale'  => 'en'
    )
);
$translator->addTranslation(
    array(
        'content' =>
            array(
                'archive' => 'archiv',
                'year'    => 'jahr',
                'month'   => 'monat',
                'index'   => 'uebersicht'
            ),
        'locale'  => 'de'
    )
);

// Set the current locale for the translator
$translator->setLocale('en');

// Set it as default translator for routes
Zend_Controller_Router_Route::setDefaultTranslator($translator);

This example demonstrates the usage of static segments:

// Create the route
$route = new Zend_Controller_Router_Route(
    '@archive',
    array(
        'controller' => 'archive',
        'action'     => 'index'
    )
);
$router->addRoute('archive', $route);

// Assemble the URL in default locale: archive
$route->assemble(array());

// Assemble the URL in german: archiv
$route->assemble(array());

You can use the dynamic segments to create a module-route like translated version:

// Create the route
$route = new Zend_Controller_Router_Route(
    ':@controller/:@action/*',
    array(
        'controller' => 'index',
        'action'     => 'index'
    )
);
$router->addRoute('archive', $route);

// Assemble the URL in default locale: archive/index/foo/bar
$route->assemble(array('controller' => 'archive', 'foo' => 'bar'));

// Assemble the URL in german: archiv/uebersicht/foo/bar
$route->assemble(array('controller' => 'archive', 'foo' => 'bar'));

You can also mix static and dynamic segments:

// Create the route
$route = new Zend_Controller_Router_Route(
    '@archive/:@mode/:value',
    array(
        'mode'       => 'year'
        'value'      => 2005,
        'controller' => 'archive',
        'action'     => 'show'
    ),
    array('mode'  => '(month|year)'
          'value' => '\d+')
);
$router->addRoute('archive', $route);

// Assemble the URL in default locale: archive/month/5
$route->assemble(array('mode' => 'month', 'value' => '5'));

// Assemble the URL in german: archiv/monat/5
$route->assemble(array('mode' => 'month', 'value' => '5', '@locale' => 'de'));

To chain routes together in a config file, there are additional parameters for the configuration of those. The simpler approach is to use the chains parameters. This one is simply a list of routes, which will be chained with the parent route. Neither the parent- nor the child-route will be added directly to the router but only the resulting chained route. The name of the chained route in the router will be the parent route name and the child route name concatenated with a dash (-) by default. A simple config in XML would look like this:

<routes>
    <www type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Hostname">
        <route>www.example.com</route>
        <chains>
            <language type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route">
                <route>:language</route>
                <reqs language="[a-z]{2}">
                <chains>
                    <index type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Static">
                        <route></route>
                        <defaults module="default" controller="index"
                                  action="index" />
                    </index>
                    <imprint type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Static">
                        <route>imprint</route>
                        <defaults module="default" controller="index"
                                  action="index" />
                    </imprint>
                </chains>
            </language>
        </chains>
    </www>
    <users type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Hostname">
        <route>users.example.com</route>
        <chains>
            <profile type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route">
                <route>:username</route>
                <defaults module="users" controller="profile" action="index" />
            </profile>
        </chains>
    </users>
    <misc type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Static">
        <route>misc</route>
    </misc>
</routes>

This will result in the three routes www-language-index, www-language-imprint and users-language-profile which will only match based on the hostname and the route misc, which will match with any hostname.

The alternative way of creating a chained route is via the chain parameter, which can only be used with the chain-route type directly, and also just works in the root level:

<routes>
    <www type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Chain">
        <route>www.example.com</route>
    </www>
    <language type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route">
        <route>:language</route>
        <reqs language="[a-z]{2}">
    </language>
    <index type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Static">
        <route></route>
        <defaults module="default" controller="index" action="index" />
    </index>
    <imprint type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Static">
        <route>imprint</route>
        <defaults module="default" controller="index" action="index" />
    </imprint>

    <www-index type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Chain">
        <chain>www, language, index</chain>
    </www-index>
    <www-imprint type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Chain">
        <chain>www, language, imprint</chain>
    </www-imprint>
</routes>

You can also give the chain parameter as array instead of separating the routes with a comma:

<routes>
    <www-index type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Chain">
        <chain>www</chain>
        <chain>language</chain>
        <chain>index</chain>
    </www-index>
    <www-imprint type="Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Chain">
        <chain>www</chain>
        <chain>language</chain>
        <chain>imprint</chain>
    </www-imprint>
</routes>

When you configure chain routes with Zend_Config and want the chain name separator to be different from a dash, you need to specify this separator separately:

$config = new Zend_Config(array(
    'chainName' => array(
        'type'   => 'Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Static',
        'route'  => 'foo',
        'chains' => array(
            'subRouteName' => array(
                'type'     => 'Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Static',
                'route'    => 'bar',
                'defaults' => array(
                    'module'      => 'module',
                     'controller' => 'controller',
                     'action'     => 'action'
                )
            )
        )
    )
));

// Set separator before adding config
$router->setChainNameSeparator('_separator_')

// Add config
$router->addConfig($config);

// The name of our route now is: chainName_separator_subRouteName
echo $this->_router->assemble(array(), 'chainName_separator_subRouteName');

// The proof: it echoes /foo/bar

To enable Zend_Rest_Route for an entire application, construct it with no config params and add it as the default route on the front controller:

$front     = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
$restRoute = new Zend_Rest_Route($front);
$front->getRouter()->addRoute('default', $restRoute);

To enable Zend_Rest_Route for specific modules, construct it with an array of module names as the 3rd constructor argument:

$front     = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
$restRoute = new Zend_Rest_Route($front, array(), array('product'));
$front->getRouter()->addRoute('rest', $restRoute);

To enable Zend_Rest_Route for specific controllers, add an array of controller names as the value of each module array element.

$front     = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
$restRoute = new Zend_Rest_Route($front, array(), array(
    'product' => array('ratings')
));
$front->getRouter()->addRoute('rest', $restRoute);

To use Zend_Rest_Route from an INI config file, use a route type parameter and set the config options:

routes.rest.type = Zend_Rest_Route
routes.rest.defaults.controller = object
routes.rest.mod = project,user

The 'type' option designates the RESTful routing config type. The 'defaults' option is used to specify custom default module, controller, and/or actions for the route. All other options in the config group are treated as RESTful module names, and their values are RESTful controller names. The example config defines Mod_ProjectController and Mod_UserController as RESTful controllers.

Then use the addConfig() method of the Rewrite router object:

$config = new Zend_Config_Ini('path/to/routes.ini');
$router = new Zend_Controller_Router_Rewrite();
$router->addConfig($config, 'routes');

To help or guide development of Controllers for use with Zend_Rest_Route, extend your Controllers from Zend_Rest_Controller. Zend_Rest_Controller defines the 5 most-commonly needed operations for RESTful resources in the form of abstract action methods.