# Requests If all we could do was match against static paths like `"/world"`, Rocket wouldn't be much fun. Of course, Rocket allows you to match against just about any information in an incoming request. This section describes the available options and their effect on the application. ## Methods A Rocket route attribute can be any one of `get`, `put`, `post`, `delete`, `head`, `patch`, or `options`, each corresponding to the HTTP method to match against. For example, the following attribute will match against `POST` requests to the root path: ```rust #[post("/")] ``` The grammar for these routes is defined formally in the [rocket_codegen](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket_codegen/) API docs. Rocket handles `HEAD` requests automatically when there exists a `GET` route that would otherwise match. It does this by stripping the body from the response, if there is one. You can also specialize the handling of a `HEAD` request by declaring a route for it; Rocket won't interfere with `HEAD` requests your application handles. Because browsers only send `GET` and `POST` requests, Rocket _reinterprets_ requests under certain conditions. If a `POST` request contains a body of `Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded`, and the form's **first** field has the name `_method` and a valid HTTP method as its value, that field's value is used as the method for the incoming request. This allows Rocket applications to submit non-`POST` forms. The [todo example](https://github.com/SergioBenitez/Rocket/tree/v0.2.6/examples/todo/static/index.html.tera#L47) makes use of this feature to submit `PUT` and `DELETE` requests from a web form. ## Format When receiving data, you can specify the Content-Type the route matches against via the `format` route parameter. The parameter is a string of the Content-Type expected. For example, to match `application/json` data, a route can be declared as: ```rust #[post("/user", format = "application/json", data = "")] fn new_user(user: JSON) -> T { ... } ``` Note the `format` parameter in the `post` attribute. The `data` parameter is described later in the [data](#data) section. ## Dynamic Paths You can declare path segments as dynamic by using angle brackets around variable names in a route's path. For example, if we wanted to say _Hello!_ to anything, not just the world, we could declare a route and handler like so: ```rust #[get("/hello/")] fn hello(name: &str) -> String { format!("Hello, {}!", name) } ``` If we were to mount the path at the root (`.mount("/", routes![hello])`), then any request to a path with two non-empty segments, where the first segment is `hello`, will be dispatched to the `hello` route. For example, if we were to visit `/hello/John`, the application would respond with `Hello, John!`. You can have any number of dynamic path segments, and the type of the path segment can be any type that implements the [FromParam trait](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/request/trait.FromParam.html), including your own! Rocket implements `FromParam` for many of the standard library types, as well as a few special Rocket types. Here's a somewhat complicated route to illustrate varied usage: ```rust #[get("/hello///")] fn hello(name: &str, age: u8, cool: bool) -> String { if cool { format!("You're a cool {} year old, {}!", age, name) } else { format!("{}, we need to talk about your coolness.", name) } } ``` ## Forwarding In this example above, what if `cool` isn't a `bool`? Or, what if `age` isn't a `u8`? In this case, the request is _forwarded_ to the next matching route, if there is any. This continues until a route doesn't forward the request or there are no remaining routes to try. When there are no remaining matching routes, a customizable **404 error** is returned. Routes are tried in increasing _rank_ order. By default, routes with static paths have a rank of 0 and routes with dynamic paths have a rank of 1. A route's rank can be manually set with the `rank` route parameter. To illustrate, consider the following routes: ```rust #[get("/user/")] fn user(id: usize) -> T { ... } #[get("/user/", rank = 2)] fn user_int(id: isize) -> T { ... } #[get("/user/", rank = 3)] fn user_str(id: &str) -> T { ... } ``` Notice the `rank` parameters in `user_int` and `user_str`. If we run this application with the routes mounted at the root, requests to `/user/` will be routed as follows: 1. The `user` route matches first. If the string at the `` position is an unsigned integer, then the `user` handler is called. If it is not, then the request is forwarded to the next matching route: `user_int`. 2. The `user_int` route matches next. If `` is a signed integer, `user_int` is called. Otherwise, the request is forwarded. 3. The `user_str` route matches last. Since `` is a always string, the route always matches. The `user_str` handler is called. Forwards can be _caught_ by using a `Result` or `Option` type. For example, if the type of `id` in the `user` function was `Result`, then `user` would never forward. An `Ok` variant would indicate that `` was a valid `usize`, while an `Err` would indicate that `` was not a `usize`. The `Err`'s value would contain the string that failed to parse as a `usize`. By the way, if you were to omit the `rank` parameter in the `user_str` or `user_int` routes, Rocket would emit a warning indicating that the routes _collide_, or can match against similar incoming requests. The `rank` parameter resolves this collision. ## Dynamic Segments You can also match against multiple segments by using `` in the route path. The type of such parameters, known as _segments_ parameters, can be any that implements [FromSegments](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/request/trait.FromSegments.html). Segments parameters must be the final component of the path: any text after a segments parameter in a path will result in a compile-time error. As an example, the following route matches against all paths that begin with `/page/`: ```rust #[get("/page/")] fn get_page(path: PathBuf) -> T { ... } ``` The path after `/page/` will be available in the `path` parameter. The `FromSegments` implementation for `PathBuf` ensures that `path` cannot lead to [path traversal attacks](https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Path_Traversal). With this, a safe and secure static file server can be implemented in 4 lines: ```rust #[get("/")] fn files(file: PathBuf) -> Option { NamedFile::open(Path::new("static/").join(file)).ok() } ``` ## Request Guards Sometimes we need data associated with a request that isn't a direct input. Headers and cookies are a good example of this: they simply tag along for the ride. Rocket makes retrieving and validating such information easy: simply add any number of parameters to the request handler with types that implement the [FromRequest](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/request/trait.FromRequest.html) trait. If the data can be retrieved from the incoming request and validated, the handler is called. If it cannot, the handler isn't called, and the request is forwarded or terminated. In this way, these parameters act as _guards_: they protect the request handler from being called erroneously. For example, to retrieve cookies and the Content-Type header from a request, we can declare a route as follows: ```rust #[get("/")] fn index(cookies: &Cookies, content: ContentType) -> String { ... } ``` The [cookies example on GitHub](https://github.com/SergioBenitez/Rocket/tree/v0.2.6/examples/cookies) illustrates how to use the `Cookies` type to get and set cookies. You can implement `FromRequest` for your own types. For instance, to protect a `sensitive` route from running unless an `APIKey` is present in the request headers, you might create an `APIKey` type that implements `FromRequest` and use it as a request guard: ```rust #[get("/sensitive")] fn sensitive(key: APIKey) -> &'static str { ... } ``` You might also implement `FromRequest` for an `AdminUser` type that validates that the cookies in the incoming request authenticate an administrator. Then, any handler with an `AdminUser` or `APIKey` type in its argument list is assured to only be invoked if the appropriate conditions are met. Request guards centralize policies, resulting in a simpler, safer, and more secure applications. ## Data At some point, your web application will need to process body data, and Rocket makes it as simple as possible. Data processing, like much of Rocket, is type directed. To indicate that a handler expects data, annotate it with a `data = ""` parameter, where `param` is an argument in the handler. The argument's type must implement the [FromData](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/data/trait.FromData.html) trait. It looks like this, where `T: FromData`: ```rust #[post("/", data = "")] fn new(input: T) -> String { ... } ``` ### Forms Forms are the most common type of data handled in web applications, and Rocket makes handling them easy. Say your application is processing a form submission for a new todo `Task`. The form contains two fields: `complete`, a checkbox, and `description`, a text field. You can easily handle the form request in Rocket as follows: ```rust #[derive(FromForm)] struct Task { complete: bool, description: String, } #[post("/todo", data = "")] fn new(task: Form) -> String { ... } ``` The `Form` type implements the `FromData` trait as long as its generic parameter implements the [FromForm](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/request/trait.FromForm.html) trait. In the example, we've derived the `FromForm` trait automatically for the `Task` structure. `FromForm` can be derived for any structure whose fields implement [FromFormValue](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/request/trait.FromFormValue.html). If a `POST /todo` request arrives, the form data will automatically be parsed into the `Task` structure. If the data that arrives isn't of the correct Content-Type, the request is forwarded. If the data doesn't parse or is simply invalid, a customizable `400 Bad Request` error is returned. As before, a forward or failure can be caught by using the `Option` and `Result` types. Fields of forms can be easily validated via implementations of the `FromFormValue` trait. For example, if you'd like to verify that some user is over some age in a form, then you might define a new `AdultAge` type, use it as a field in a form structure, and implement `FromFormValue` so that it only validates integers over that age. If a form is submitted with a bad age, Rocket won't call a handler requiring a valid form for that structure. You can use `Option` or `Result` types for fields to catch parse failures. The [forms](https://github.com/SergioBenitez/Rocket/tree/v0.2.6/examples/forms) and [forms kitchen sink](https://github.com/SergioBenitez/Rocket/tree/v0.2.6/examples/form_kitchen_sink) examples on GitHub provide further illustrations. ### JSON Handling JSON data is no harder: simply use the [JSON](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket_contrib/struct.JSON.html) type: ```rust #[derive(Deserialize)] struct Task { description: String, complete: bool } #[post("/todo", data = "")] fn new(task: JSON) -> String { ... } ``` The only condition is that the generic type to `JSON` implements the `Deserialize` trait. See the [JSON example on GitHub](https://github.com/SergioBenitez/Rocket/tree/v0.2.6/examples/json) for a complete example. ### Streaming Sometimes you just want to handle the incoming data directly. For example, you might want to stream the incoming data out to a file. Rocket makes this as simple as possible via the [Data](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/data/struct.Data.html) type: ```rust #[post("/upload", format = "text/plain", data = "")] fn upload(data: Data) -> io::Result> { data.stream_to_file("/tmp/upload.txt").map(|n| Plain(n.to_string())) } ``` The route above accepts any `POST` request to the `/upload` path with `Content-Type` `text/plain` The incoming data is streamed out to `tmp/upload.txt` file, and the number of bytes written is returned as a plain text response if the upload succeeds. If the upload fails, an error response is returned. The handler above is complete. It really is that simple! See the [GitHub example code](https://github.com/SergioBenitez/Rocket/tree/v0.2.6/examples/raw_upload) for the full crate. ## Query Strings Query strings are handled similarly to `POST` forms. A query string can be parsed into any structure that implements the `FromForm` trait. They are matched against by appending a `?` followed by a dynamic parameter `` to the path. For instance, say you change your mind and decide to use query strings instead of `POST` forms for new todo tasks in the previous forms example, reproduced below: ```rust #[derive(FromForm)] struct Task { .. } #[post("/todo", data = "")] fn new(task: Form) -> String { ... } ``` Rocket makes the transition simple: simply declare `` as a query parameter as follows: ```rust #[get("/todo?")] fn new(task: Task) -> String { ... } ``` Rocket will parse the query string into the `Task` structure automatically by matching the structure field names to the query parameters. If the parse fails, the request is forwarded to the next matching route. To catch parse failures, you can use `Option` or `Result` as the type of the field to catch errors for. See [the GitHub example](https://github.com/SergioBenitez/Rocket/tree/v0.2.6/examples/query_params) for a complete illustration. ## Error Catchers When Rocket wants to return an error page to the client, Rocket invokes the _catcher_ for that error. A catcher is like a route, except it only handles errors. Catchers are declared via the `error` attribute, which takes a single integer corresponding to the HTTP status code to catch. For instance, to declare a catcher for **404** errors, you'd write: ```rust #[error(404)] fn not_found(req: &Request) -> String { } ``` As with routes, Rocket needs to know about a catcher before it is used to handle errors. The process is similar to mounting: call the `catch` method with a list of catchers via the `errors!` macro. The invocation to add the **404** catcher declared above looks like this: ```rust rocket::ignite().catch(errors![not_found]) ``` Unlike request handlers, error handlers can only take 0, 1, or 2 parameters of types [Request](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/struct.Request.html) and/or [Error](https://api.rocket.rs/rocket/enum.Error.html). At present, the `Error` type is not particularly useful, and so it is often omitted. The [error catcher example](https://github.com/SergioBenitez/Rocket/tree/v0.2.6/examples/errors) on GitHub illustrates their use in full. Rocket has a default catcher for all of the standard HTTP error codes including **404**, **500**, and more.