URL segment - User Profiles - Codeigniter

I'm trying to create user profiles for my site where the URL is something like

mysite.com/user/ChrisSalij

Currently my controller looks like so:

<?php   
class User extends Controller {
   function user(){
      parent::Controller();
   }
   
   function index(){
      $data['username'] =  $this->uri->segment(2);

      if($data['username'] == FALSE) {
         /*load default profile page*/
      } else {
         /*access the database and get info for $data['username']*/
         /*Load profile page with said info*/
      }//End of Else
   }//End of function
}//End of Class
?>

At the moment I'm getting a 404 error whenever i go to;

mysite.com/user/ChrisSalij

I think this is because it is expecting there to be a method called ChrisSalij. Though I'm sure I'm misusing the $this->uri->segment(); command too

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

It's because the controller is looking for a function called ChrisSalij.

A few ways to solve this:

1. change

   function index(){ $data['username'] = $this->uri->segment(2);

to be

function index($username){ 
$data['username'] =  $username; 

and use the URL of mysite.com/user/index/ChrisSalij

2. if you don't like the idea of the index being in the URL you could change the function to be called a profile or the like, or look into using routing

and use something along the lines of

$route['user/(:any)'] = "user/index/$1";

to correctly map the URL of mysite.com/user/ChrisSalij