Plack::Request(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation Plack::Request(3pm)
NAME
Plack::Request - Portable HTTP request object from PSGI env hash
SYNOPSIS
use Plack::Request;
my $app_or_middleware = sub {
my $env = shift; # PSGI env
my $req = Plack::Request->new($env);
my $path_info = $req->path_info;
my $query = $req->param('query');
my $res = $req->new_response(200); # new Plack::Response
$res->finalize;
};
DESCRIPTION
Plack::Request provides a consistent API for request objects across web server environments.
CAVEAT
Note that this module is intended to be used by Plack middleware developers and web application framework developers rather than
application developers (end users).
Writing your web application directly using Plack::Request is certainly possible but not recommended: it's like doing so with mod_perl's
Apache::Request: yet too low level.
If you're writing a web application, not a framework, then you're encouraged to use one of the web application frameworks that support PSGI
(<http://plackperl.org/#frameworks>), or see modules like HTTP::Engine to provide higher level Request and Response API on top of PSGI.
METHODS
Some of the methods defined in the earlier versions are deprecated in version 0.99. Take a look at "INCOMPATIBILITIES".
Unless otherwise noted, all methods and attributes are read-only, and passing values to the method like an accessor doesn't work like you
expect it to.
new
Plack::Request->new( $env );
Creates a new request object.
ATTRIBUTES
env Returns the shared PSGI environment hash reference. This is a reference, so writing to this environment passes through during the whole
PSGI request/response cycle.
address
Returns the IP address of the client ("REMOTE_ADDR").
remote_host
Returns the remote host ("REMOTE_HOST") of the client. It may be empty, in which case you have to get the IP address using "address"
method and resolve on your own.
method
Contains the request method ("GET", "POST", "HEAD", etc).
protocol
Returns the protocol (HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1) used for the current request.
request_uri
Returns the raw, undecoded request URI path. You probably do NOT want to use this to dispatch requests.
path_info
Returns PATH_INFO in the environment. Use this to get the local path for the requests.
path
Similar to "path_info" but returns "/" in case it is empty. In other words, it returns the virtual path of the request URI after
"$req->base". See "DISPATCHING" for details.
script_name
Returns SCRIPT_NAME in the environment. This is the absolute path where your application is hosted.
scheme
Returns the scheme ("http" or "https") of the request.
secure
Returns true or false, indicating whether the connection is secure (https).
body, input
Returns "psgi.input" handle.
session
Returns (optional) "psgix.session" hash. When it exists, you can retrieve and store per-session data from and to this hash.
session_options
Returns (optional) "psgix.session.options" hash.
logger
Returns (optional) "psgix.logger" code reference. When it exists, your application is supposed to send the log message to this logger,
using:
$req->logger->({ level => 'debug', message => "This is a debug message" });
cookies
Returns a reference to a hash containing the cookies. Values are strings that are sent by clients and are URI decoded.
query_parameters
Returns a reference to a hash containing query string (GET) parameters. This hash reference is Hash::MultiValue object.
body_parameters
Returns a reference to a hash containing posted parameters in the request body (POST). As with "query_parameters", the hash reference
is a Hash::MultiValue object.
parameters
Returns a Hash::MultiValue hash reference containing (merged) GET and POST parameters.
content, raw_body
Returns the request content in an undecoded byte string for POST requests.
uri Returns an URI object for the current request. The URI is constructed using various environment values such as "SCRIPT_NAME",
"PATH_INFO", "QUERY_STRING", "HTTP_HOST", "SERVER_NAME" and "SERVER_PORT".
Every time this method is called it returns a new, cloned URI object.
base
Returns an URI object for the base path of current request. This is like "uri" but only contains up to "SCRIPT_NAME" where your
application is hosted at.
Every time this method is called it returns a new, cloned URI object.
user
Returns "REMOTE_USER" if it's set.
headers
Returns an HTTP::Headers object containing the headers for the current request.
uploads
Returns a reference to a hash containing uploads. The hash reference is a Hash::MultiValue object and values are Plack::Request::Upload
objects.
content_encoding
Shortcut to $req->headers->content_encoding.
content_length
Shortcut to $req->headers->content_length.
content_type
Shortcut to $req->headers->content_type.
header
Shortcut to $req->headers->header.
referer
Shortcut to $req->headers->referer.
user_agent
Shortcut to $req->headers->user_agent.
param
Returns GET and POST parameters with a CGI.pm-compatible param method. This is an alternative method for accessing parameters in
$req->parameters. Unlike CGI.pm, it does not allow setting or modifying query parameters.
$value = $req->param( 'foo' );
@values = $req->param( 'foo' );
@params = $req->param;
upload
A convenient method to access $req->uploads.
$upload = $req->upload('field');
@uploads = $req->upload('field');
@fields = $req->upload;
for my $upload ( $req->upload('field') ) {
print $upload->filename;
}
new_response
my $res = $req->new_response;
Creates a new Plack::Response object. Handy to remove dependency on Plack::Response in your code for easy subclassing and duck typing
in web application frameworks, as well as overriding Response generation in middlewares.
Hash::MultiValue parameters
Parameters that can take one or multiple values (i.e. "parameters", "query_parameters", "body_parameters" and "uploads") store the hash
reference as a Hash::MultiValue object. This means you can use the hash reference as a plain hash where values are always scalars (NOT
array references), so you don't need to code ugly and unsafe "ref ... eq 'ARRAY'" anymore.
And if you explicitly want to get multiple values of the same key, you can call the "get_all" method on it, such as:
my @foo = $req->query_parameters->get_all('foo');
You can also call "get_one" to always get one parameter independent of the context (unlike "param"), and even call "mixed" (with
Hash::MultiValue 0.05 or later) to get the traditional hash reference,
my $params = $req->parameters->mixed;
where values are either a scalar or an array reference depending on input, so it might be useful if you already have the code to deal with
that ugliness.
PARSING POST BODY and MULTIPLE OBJECTS
The methods to parse request body ("content", "body_parameters" and "uploads") are carefully coded to save the parsed body in the
environment hash as well as in the temporary buffer, so you can call them multiple times and create Plack::Request objects multiple times
in a request and they should work safely, and won't parse request body more than twice for the efficiency.
DISPATCHING
If your application or framework wants to dispatch (or route) actions based on request paths, be sure to use "$req->path_info" not
"$req->uri->path".
This is because "path_info" gives you the virtual path of the request, regardless of how your application is mounted. If your application
is hosted with mod_perl or CGI scripts, or even multiplexed with tools like Plack::App::URLMap, request's "path_info" always gives you the
action path.
Note that "path_info" might give you an empty string, in which case you should assume that the path is "/".
You will also want to use "$req->base" as a base prefix when building URLs in your templates or in redirections. It's a good idea for you
to subclass Plack::Request and define methods such as:
sub uri_for {
my($self, $path, $args) = @_;
my $uri = $self->base;
$uri->path($uri->path . $path);
$uri->query_form(@$args) if $args;
$uri;
}
So you can say:
my $link = $req->uri_for('/logout', [ signoff => 1 ]);
and if "$req->base" is "/app" you'll get the full URI for "/app/logout?signoff=1".
INCOMPATIBILITIES
In version 0.99, many utility methods are removed or deprecated, and most methods are made read-only.
The following methods are deprecated: "hostname", "url_scheme", "params", "query_params", "body_params", "cookie" and "raw_uri". They will
be removed in the next major release.
All parameter-related methods such as "parameters", "body_parameters", "query_parameters" and "uploads" now contains Hash::MultiValue
objects, rather than scalar or an array reference depending on the user input which is insecure. See Hash::MultiValue for more about this
change.
"$req->path" method had a bug, where the code and the document was mismatching. The document was suggesting it returns the sub request path
after "$req->base" but the code was always returning the absolute URI path. The code is now updated to be an alias of "$req->path_info" but
returns "/" in case it's empty. If you need the older behavior, just call "$req->uri->path" instead.
Cookie handling is simplified, and doesn't use CGI::Simple::Cookie anymore, which means you CAN NOT set array reference or hash reference
as a cookie value and expect it be serialized. You're always required to set string value, and encoding or decoding them is totally up to
your application or framework. Also, "cookies" hash reference now returns strings for the cookies rather than CGI::Simple::Cookie objects,
which means you no longer have to write a wacky code such as:
$v = $req->cookie->{foo} ? $req->cookie->{foo}->value : undef;
and instead, simply do:
$v = $req->cookie->{foo};
AUTHORS
Tatsuhiko Miyagawa
Kazuhiro Osawa
Tokuhiro Matsuno
SEE ALSO
Plack::Response HTTP::Request, Catalyst::Request
LICENSE
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
perl v5.14.2 2012-06-21 Plack::Request(3pm)