Base Controller

WNCMS’s base controller is a thin foundation that centralizes view resolution. In most cases, you should not extend this class directly. Instead, extend one of its child controllers that encapsulate layer-specific behavior.

Which controller should I extend?

For Backend (Admin CRUD)

Extend: Wncms\Http\Controllers\Backend\BackendController

Use for: Admin CRUD pages, settings screens, listing and editing models in the backend.

Why: Provides model naming, cache tag helpers, and unified CRUD patterns for backend.

Namespace: App\Http\Controllers\Backend\... or package backend controllers.

Views: backend.{models}.* Blade views.

For Frontend (Public Theme Pages)

Extend: Wncms\Http\Controllers\Frontend\FrontendController

Use for: Public site pages rendered by the active theme (home, posts, pages, tags, etc.).

Why: Theme-aware rendering, website context, and frontend conventions.

Namespace: App\Http\Controllers\Frontend\... or package frontend controllers.

Views: frontend.* Blade views resolved via theme.

For API (JSON Endpoints)

Extend: Wncms\Http\Controllers\Api\ApiController

Use for: JSON APIs consumed by external apps (Vue, Next.js, mobile).

Why: API concerns such as auth, standardized responses/resources.

Namespace: App\Http\Controllers\Api\V1\... or package API controllers.

Response: JSON responses / API resources.

When to extend the base class directly

• Building a new controller layer (e.g., a specialized subsystem) that other controllers will extend.
• Creating a shared abstraction that adds cross-cutting helpers before layering (rare).

If you don’t fit one of these, use a child controller above.

Shared multisite helpers

The base Controller now provides reusable multisite helper methods so backend/frontend controllers can share the same website resolution and capability checks:

protected function supportsWncmsMultisite(string $modelClass): bool
protected function resolveModelWebsiteIds(string $modelClass, array|string|int|null $websiteIds = null): array
protected function syncModelWebsites($model, array $websiteIds): void

• supportsWncmsMultisite():
  • checks model support via getWebsiteMode() and bindWebsites()
  • treats single and multi as multisite-enabled modes
• resolveModelWebsiteIds():
  • accepts website IDs as array or comma-separated string
  • in single mode, the first parsed ID is used
  • in multi mode, all parsed IDs are used
  • when gss('multi_website') is disabled, falls back to current website id
  • normalizes IDs to existing website records
• syncModelWebsites():
  • syncs binding according to model website mode
  • single: bind first selected website
  • multi: clear existing bindings then bind selected websites

Next steps

• Backend: see Backend Controller
• Frontend: see Frontend Controller
• API: see API Controller
• Scaffolding: see Create a Controller