Multiple URL alias for a node in pathauto - drupal 7

   As we discussed in my previous post, clean URL is one of the option to improve SEO. We've module called pathauto to clean URLs in drupal 7. It can allow us to set alias for content types, files, users & taxonomies. But we can set only one URL alias for a content type in drupal 7. You can set URL alias for a content type at admin/config/search/path/patterns. It looks like below image:

   Suppose you need two path for a content. For instance, the URL alias for a article need to node title and also article/node-title. Is it possible to set multiple path alias for a content type in drupal 7? Yes it is possible in drupal 7. We can set multiple URL alias for a conten type programmatically using pathauto module in drupal 7. We need to insert our path alias into the "url_alias" table while inserting & updating a node and remove path alias When delete a node.

Add URL alias programmatically when insert and update a node using pathauto module in drupal 7:

    For instance, I've choosen article content type. We need to insert & update a URL alias into the "url_alias" table using hook_node_insert() & hook_node_update() in drupal 7.

/**
 * Implements hook_node_insert()
 */
function phponwebsites_node_insert($node) {
  if ($node->type == 'article') {
    //save node alias
    _phponwebsites_insert_update_alias($node);
  }
}

/**
 * Implements hook_node_update()
 */
function phponwebsites_node_update($node) {
  if ($node->type == 'article') {
    //update node alias
    _phponwebsites_insert_update_alias($node);
  }
}

/**
 * Insert and update alias for course
 */
function _phponwebsites_insert_update_alias($node) {
  module_load_include('inc', 'pathauto');
  $title = pathauto_cleanstring($node->title);

  $values['source'] = 'node/' . $node->nid . '/article';
  $values['alias'] = 'article/' . $title;

  $all_values = array($values);

  foreach ($all_values as $all) {
    $query = db_merge('url_alias')
      ->fields(array('source' => $all['source'], 'alias' => $all['alias'], 'language' => LANGUAGE_NONE))
      ->key(array('source' => $all['source']))
      ->execute();
  }
}

Where,
 pathauto_cleanstring is obey the pathatuo module's rules which is mentioned at admin/config/search/path/settings. To know more details of pathauto_cleanstring, please visit http://www.drupalcontrib.org/api/drupal/contributions!pathauto!pathauto.inc/function/pathauto_cleanstring/7

After added the above code into your custome module(clear cache), you will create a article. You just test your url at admin/config/search/path in the pathauto's list. It looks like below image:

Now you could access the article by both node-title as well as article/node-title.

Delete URL alias programmatically when delete a node using pathauto module in drupal 7:

     We've inserted 2 URL alias for a node. So we need to delete those from "url_alias" table when delete a node. We can trigger it using hook_node_delete() in drupal 7. Consider the below code:

/**
 * Implements hook_node_delete()
 */
function arep_node_delete($node) {
  if ($node->type == 'article') {
    //delete node alias for ceu and non-ceu course
    module_load_include('inc', 'pathauto');
    $source[0] = 'node/' . $node->nid . '/article';

    foreach ($source as $s) {
      $path = path_load(
        array('source' => $s)
      );
      path_delete($path['pid']);
    }

  }
}

Where,
  path_load returns the details of a URL alias like source, alias, path id  & language. To know more details of path_load(), please visit https://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/includes!path.inc/function/path_load/7.x.

After added the above code into your customer module(clear cache), you will delete a node and check your URL alias at admin/config/search/path. Now tt should not be displayed here.

Now I've hope you know how to set multiple URL alias for a content type.

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Pathauto added special characters in url alias - drupal 7

    To improve SEO, we need to clean our URLs. By default in drupal, we've an option called clean URLs at the configuration. In drupal 7, we can also manage the URLs. For instance, you have a content type called services. You wanted to each service page have url like services/page-name. To do that, we've a pathauto module in drupal 7. The pathauto module allow us to manage the URLs for every content types, files, taxonomy & users and also we can remove some unnecessary words from URL like an, the and so on.

   The pathauto module can remove some unnecessary words like a, an, the and so on & also remove special characters like !, @, $ and so on. Unfortunately, it doesn't included some other symbols like copyright(©), trademark(™), registered(®) and so on. But it provide a hook to add new symbols into the punctuation settings called hook_pathauto_punctuation_chars_alter. After created a content with some symbols which are represented above, your page URL looks like below image:

/**
 * Implements hook_pathauto_punctuation_chars_alter().
 */
function phponwebsites_pathauto_punctuation_chars_alter(array &$punctuation) {
  $punctuation['copyright']          = array('value' => '©', 'name' => t('Copyright'));
  $punctuation['registered']         = array('value' => '®', 'name' => t('Registered trademark'));
  $punctuation['trademark']          = array('value' => '™', 'name' => t('Trademark'));
}

   After implemented above code into your module, you cold see added symbols are listing on Pathauto module's settings page at /admin/config/search/path/settings. If You didn't get these symbols, clear cache & test it again. It looks like below image:

Now you can create a content with those symbols. The pathauto module didn't added those symbols into the URL.

Now I hope you know how to remove some special characters from URL alias using pathauto module in drupal 7.

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