.htaccess URL Rewrite file extension and front controller using mod_rewrite - .htaccess

Question

I currently have a file that is removing .php from the URL to make it neat and much better for SEO.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^\.]+)$ $1.php [NC,L]
I have a page called Main.php and I display other pages using Main.php?Page=page1.php. I want to add a rule to my .htaccess file that will still allow my remove .php rule and make the Main.php?Page=page1.php display as
URL.com/page1
Is this possible? When I added the following line to my file my main page started loading in a loop, when I removed the line it worked fine.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ Main.php?Page=$1.php [QSA,L]
Have I written this line wrong and caused it to loop?

Answer 1

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ Main.php?Page=$1.php [QSA,L]
You need to make sure you are not already on Main.php before rewriting the URL. That's what is current resulting in the loop... Main.php?Page=Main.php.php&Page=Main.... etc.
Try something like:
# (1) If requesting a ".php" file (including "Main.php")
# or any known static resource then stop here...
RewriteRule \.(php|css|js|jpe?g|png|gif)$ - [L]
# (3) Otherwise, if the request doesn't map to an existing file then rewrite to Main.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule (.*) Main.php?Page=$1.php [QSA,L]
Remove the QSA flag if you are not passing query strings on the original request.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^\.]+)$ $1.php [NC,L]
Your earlier directives that append the .php extension should be checking that appending a .php will result in a valid request, otherwise this will append .php to all your non-php requests and never reach Main.php. Something like:
# (2) Append ".php" if there is no extension
# but only if appending ".php" would result in a valid request
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1.php -f
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.php [L]
No need to escape the dot in a character class. And the NC flag is not necessary here.
Summary: So, bringing this together we have:
# (1) If requesting a ".php" file (including "Main.php")
# or any known static resource then stop here...
RewriteRule \.(php|css|js|jpe?g|png|gif)$ - [L]
# (2) Append ".php" if there is no extension
# but only if appending ".php" would result in a valid request
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1.php -f
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.php [L]
# (3) Otherwise, if the request doesn't map to an existing file then rewrite to Main.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule (.*) Main.php?Page=$1.php [QSA,L]
UPDATE#2: Only append .php to Login, index and Signup, instead of any file that exists. Everything else (including non-existent files) get rewritten to Main.php.
# (2) Append ".php" to select requests
# but only if appending ".php" would result in a valid request
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1.php -f
RewriteRule ^(Login|index|Signup)$ $1.php [L]
# (3) Otherwise, rewrite everything else to Main.php
RewriteRule (.*) Main.php?Page=$1.php [QSA,L]