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author | Loïc Hoguin <[email protected]> | 2016-01-14 13:35:25 +0100 |
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committer | Loïc Hoguin <[email protected]> | 2016-01-14 13:37:20 +0100 |
commit | 4023e7f4e429179fd9c2cce4487c33646c6bd327 (patch) | |
tree | 3c4e26d1b5592958e35297c82ad3069bdb642594 /doc/src/guide/static_files.asciidoc | |
parent | b7d666cfc746f55b0a72ef8d37f703885099daf7 (diff) | |
download | cowboy-4023e7f4e429179fd9c2cce4487c33646c6bd327.tar.gz cowboy-4023e7f4e429179fd9c2cce4487c33646c6bd327.tar.bz2 cowboy-4023e7f4e429179fd9c2cce4487c33646c6bd327.zip |
Convert the documentation to Asciidoc
A few small revisions were made, and Erlang.mk has been updated.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/src/guide/static_files.asciidoc')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/src/guide/static_files.asciidoc | 171 |
1 files changed, 171 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/src/guide/static_files.asciidoc b/doc/src/guide/static_files.asciidoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39197a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/src/guide/static_files.asciidoc @@ -0,0 +1,171 @@ +[[static_files]] +== Static files + +Cowboy comes with a special handler built as a REST handler +and designed specifically for serving static files. It is +provided as a convenience and provides a quick solution for +serving files during development. + +For systems in production, consider using one of the many +Content Distribution Network (CDN) available on the market, +as they are the best solution for serving files. They are +covered in the next chapter. If you decide against using a +CDN solution, then please look at the chapter after that, +as it explains how to efficiently serve static files on +your own. + +The static handler can serve either one file or all files +from a given directory. It can also send etag headers for +client-side caching. + +To use the static file handler, simply add routes for it +with the appropriate options. + +=== Serve one file + +You can use the static handler to serve one specific file +from an application's private directory. This is particularly +useful to serve an 'index.html' file when the client requests +the `/` path, for example. The path configured is relative +to the given application's private directory. + +The following rule will serve the file 'static/index.html' +from the application `my_app`'s priv directory whenever the +path `/` is accessed. + +[source,erlang] +{"/", cowboy_static, {priv_file, my_app, "static/index.html"}} + +You can also specify the absolute path to a file, or the +path to the file relative to the current directory. + +[source,erlang] +{"/", cowboy_static, {file, "/var/www/index.html"}} + +=== Serve all files from a directory + +You can also use the static handler to serve all files that +can be found in the configured directory. The handler will +use the `path_info` information to resolve the file location, +which means that your route must end with a `[...]` pattern +for it to work. All files are served, including the ones that +may be found in subfolders. + +You can specify the directory relative to an application's +private directory. + +The following rule will serve any file found in the application +`my_app`'s priv directory inside the `static/assets` folder +whenever the requested path begins with `/assets/`. + +[source,erlang] +{"/assets/[...]", cowboy_static, {priv_dir, my_app, "static/assets"}} + +You can also specify the absolute path to the directory or +set it relative to the current directory. + +[source,erlang] +{"/assets/[...]", cowboy_static, {dir, "/var/www/assets"}} + +=== Customize the mimetype detection + +By default, Cowboy will attempt to recognize the mimetype +of your static files by looking at the extension. + +You can override the function that figures out the mimetype +of the static files. It can be useful when Cowboy is missing +a mimetype you need to handle, or when you want to reduce +the list to make lookups faster. You can also give a +hard-coded mimetype that will be used unconditionally. + +Cowboy comes with two functions built-in. The default +function only handles common file types used when building +Web applications. The other function is an extensive list +of hundreds of mimetypes that should cover almost any need +you may have. You can of course create your own function. + +To use the default function, you should not have to configure +anything, as it is the default. If you insist, though, the +following will do the job. + +[source,erlang] +---- +{"/assets/[...]", cowboy_static, {priv_dir, my_app, "static/assets", + [{mimetypes, cow_mimetypes, web}]}} +---- + +As you can see, there is an optional field that may contain +a list of less used options, like mimetypes or etag. All option +types have this optional field. + +To use the function that will detect almost any mimetype, +the following configuration will do. + +[source,erlang] +---- +{"/assets/[...]", cowboy_static, {priv_dir, my_app, "static/assets", + [{mimetypes, cow_mimetypes, all}]}} +---- + +You probably noticed the pattern by now. The configuration +expects a module and a function name, so you can use any +of your own functions instead. + +[source,erlang] +---- +{"/assets/[...]", cowboy_static, {priv_dir, my_app, "static/assets", + [{mimetypes, Module, Function}]}} +---- + +The function that performs the mimetype detection receives +a single argument that is the path to the file on disk. It +is recommended to return the mimetype in tuple form, although +a binary string is also allowed (but will require extra +processing). If the function can't figure out the mimetype, +then it should return `{<<"application">>, <<"octet-stream">>, []}`. + +When the static handler fails to find the extension in the +list, it will send the file as `application/octet-stream`. +A browser receiving such file will attempt to download it +directly to disk. + +Finally, the mimetype can be hard-coded for all files. +This is especially useful in combination with the `file` +and `priv_file` options as it avoids needless computation. + +[source,erlang] +---- +{"/", cowboy_static, {priv_file, my_app, "static/index.html", + [{mimetypes, {<<"text">>, <<"html">>, []}}]}} +---- + +=== Generate an etag + +By default, the static handler will generate an etag header +value based on the size and modified time. This solution +can not be applied to all systems though. It would perform +rather poorly over a cluster of nodes, for example, as the +file metadata will vary from server to server, giving a +different etag on each server. + +You can however change the way the etag is calculated. + +[source,erlang] +---- +{"/assets/[...]", cowboy_static, {priv_dir, my_app, "static/assets", + [{etag, Module, Function}]}} +---- + +This function will receive three arguments: the path to the +file on disk, the size of the file and the last modification +time. In a distributed setup, you would typically use the +file path to retrieve an etag value that is identical across +all your servers. + +You can also completely disable etag handling. + +[source,erlang] +---- +{"/assets/[...]", cowboy_static, {priv_dir, my_app, "static/assets", + [{etag, false}]}} +---- |