Response: HTTP Response handling

ResponseR Documentation

HTTP Response handling

Description

This class handles all functionality involved in crafting a http response. Much of the functionality is inspired by the Request class in Express.js, so the documentation for this will complement this document. As reqres is build on top of the Rook specifications the Response object can be converted to a compliant list object to be passed on to e.g. the httpuv handler.

Usage

## S3 method for class 'Response'
as.list(x, ...)

is.Response(x)

Arguments

x

A Response object

...

Ignored

Details

A Response object is always created as a response to a Request object and contains a reference to the originating Request object. A Response is always initialized with a 404 Not Found code, an empty string as body and the Content-Type header set to text/plain. As the Content-Type header is required for httpuv to function, it will be inferred if missing when converting to a list. If the body is a raw vector it will be set to application/octet-stream and otherwise it will be set to text/plain. It is always advised to consciously set the Content-Type header though. The only exception is when attaching a standard file where the type is inferred from the file extension automatically. Unless the body is a raw vector it will automatically be converted to a character vector and collapsed to a single string with "\n" separating the individual elements before the Response object is converted to a list (that is, the body can exist as any type of object up until the moment where the Response object is converted to a list). To facilitate communication between different middleware the Response object contains a data store where information can be stored during the lifetime of the response.

Value

A rook-compliant list-response (in case of as.list()) or a logical indicating whether the object is a Response (in case of is.Response())

Initialization

A new 'Response'-object is initialized using the new() method on the generator:

Usage

res <- Response$new(request)

But often it will be provided by the request using the respond() method, which will provide the response, creating one if it doesn't exist

Usage

res <- request$respond()

Arguments

request The Request object that the Response is responding to

Fields

The following fields are accessible in a Response object:

status

Gets or sets the status code of the response. Is initialised with 404L

body

Set or get he body of the response. If it is a character vector with a single element named 'file' it will be interpreted as the location of a file. It is better to use the file field for creating a response referencing a file as it will automatically set the correct headers.

file

Set or get the location of a file that should be used as the body of the response. If the body is not referencing a file (but contains something else) it will return NULL. The Content-Type header will automatically be inferred from the file extension, if known. If unknown it will defaults to application/octet-stream. If the file has no extension it will be text/plain. Existence of the file will be checked.

type

Get or sets the Content-Type header of the response based on a file extension or mime-type.

request

Get the original Request object that the object is responding to.

Methods

The following methods are available in a Response object:

set_header(name, value)

Sets the header given by name. value will be converted to character. A header will be added for each element in value. Use append_header() for setting headers without overwriting existing ones.

get_header(name)

Returns the header(s) given by name

remove_header(name)

Removes all headers given by name

has_header(name)

Test for the existence of any header given by name

append_header(name, value)

Adds an additional header given by name with the value given by value. If the header does not exist yet it will be created.

set_data(key, value)

Adds value to the internal data store and stores it with key

get_data(key)

Retrieves the data stored under key in the internal data store.

remove_data(key)

Removes the data stored under key in the internal data store.

has_data(key)

Queries whether the data store has an entry given by key

attach(file, filename=basename(file), type=NULL)

Sets the body to the file given by file and marks the response as a download by setting the Content-Disposition to attachment; filename=<filename>. Use the type argument to overwrite the automatic type inference from the file extension.

status_with_text(code)

Sets the status to code and sets the body to the associated status code description (e.g. Bad Gateway for 502L)

set_cookie(name, value, encode = TRUE, expires = NULL, http_only = NULL, max_age = NULL, path = NULL, secure = NULL, same_site = NULL)

Adds the cookie given by name to the given value, optionally url encoding it, along with any additional directives. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Set-Cookie for a description of the different directives. If the cookie already exists it will be overwritten. The validity of the directives will automatically be checked. expires expects a POSIXct object, http_only and secure expect a logical, max_age expects an integer, path a string, and same_site either "Lax" or "Strict"

remove_cookie(name)

Removes the cookie named name from the response.

has_cookie(name)

Queries whether the response contains a cookie named name

set_links(...)

Sets the Link header based on the named arguments passed to .... The names will be used for the rel directive.

format(..., autofail = TRUE, compress = TRUE)

Based on the formatters passed in through ... content negotiation is performed with request and the preferred formatter is chosen. The Content-Type header is set automatically. If compress = TRUE the compress() method will be called after formatting. If an error is encountered and autofail = TRUE the response will be set to 500. If a formatter is not found and autofail = TRUE the response will be set to 406. If formatting is successful it will return TRUE, if not it will return FALSE

compress(priority = c('gzip', 'deflate', 'br', 'identity'))

Based on the provided priority, an encoding is negotiated with the request and applied. The Content-Encoding header is set to the chosen compression algorithm.

content_length()

Calculates the length (in bytes) of the body. This is the number that goes into the Content-Length header. Note that the Content-Length header is set automatically by httpuv so this method should only be called if the response size is needed for other reasons.

as_list()

Converts the object to a list for further processing by a Rook compliant server such as httpuv. Will set Content-Type header if missing and convert a non-raw body to a single character string.

Methods

Public methods


Method new()

Usage
Response$new(request)

Method print()

Usage
Response$print(...)

Method set_header()

Usage
Response$set_header(name, value)

Method get_header()

Usage
Response$get_header(name)

Method remove_header()

Usage
Response$remove_header(name)

Method has_header()

Usage
Response$has_header(name)

Method append_header()

Usage
Response$append_header(name, value)

Method set_data()

Usage
Response$set_data(key, value)

Method get_data()

Usage
Response$get_data(key)

Method remove_data()

Usage
Response$remove_data(key)

Method has_data()

Usage
Response$has_data(key)

Method timestamp()

Usage
Response$timestamp()

Method attach()

Usage
Response$attach(file, filename = basename(file), type = NULL)

Method status_with_text()

Usage
Response$status_with_text(code)

Method set_cookie()

Usage
Response$set_cookie(
  name,
  value,
  encode = TRUE,
  expires = NULL,
  http_only = NULL,
  max_age = NULL,
  path = NULL,
  secure = NULL,
  same_site = NULL
)

Method remove_cookie()

Usage
Response$remove_cookie(name)

Method has_cookie()

Usage
Response$has_cookie(name)

Method set_links()

Usage
Response$set_links(...)

Method format()

Usage
Response$format(..., autofail = TRUE, compress = TRUE)

Method compress()

Usage
Response$compress(priority = c("gzip", "deflate", "br", "identity"))

Method content_length()

Usage
Response$content_length()

Method as_list()

Usage
Response$as_list()

Method as_message()

Usage
Response$as_message()

Method clone()

The objects of this class are cloneable with this method.

Usage
Response$clone(deep = FALSE)
Arguments
deep

Whether to make a deep clone.

See Also

Request for handling http requests

Examples

fake_rook <- fiery::fake_request(
  'http://example.com/test?id=34632&question=who+is+hadley',
  content = 'This is elaborate ruse',
  headers = list(
    Accept = 'application/json; text/*',
    Content_Type = 'text/plain'
  )
)

req <- Request$new(fake_rook)
res <- Response$new(req)
res

# Set the body to the associated status text
res$status_with_text(200L)
res$body

# Infer Content-Type from file extension
res$type <- 'json'
res$type

# Prepare a file for download
res$attach(system.file('DESCRIPTION', package = 'reqres'))
res$type
res$body
res$get_header('Content-Disposition')

# Cleaning up connections
rm(fake_rook, req, res)
gc()


thomasp85/reqres documentation built on Aug. 24, 2022, 8:12 a.m.