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diff --git a/doc/src/guide/req_body.ezdoc b/doc/src/guide/req_body.ezdoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000..44f32f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/src/guide/req_body.ezdoc @@ -0,0 +1,158 @@ +::: Reading the request body + +The Req object also allows you to read the request body. + +Because the request body can be of any size, all body +reading operations will only work once, as Cowboy will +not cache the result of these operations. + +Cowboy will not attempt to read the body until you do. +If handler execution ends without reading it, Cowboy +will simply skip it. + +Cowboy provides different ways to read the request body. +You can read it directly, stream it, but also read and +parse in a single call for form urlencoded formats or +multipart. All of these except multipart are covered in +this chapter. Multipart is covered later on in the guide. + +:: Check for request body + +You can check whether a body was sent with the request. + +``` erlang +cowboy_req:has_body(Req). +``` + +It will return `true` if there is a request body, and +`false` otherwise. + +Note that it is generally safe to assume that a body is +sent for `POST`, `PUT` and `PATCH` requests, without +having to explicitly check for it. + +:: Request body length + +You can obtain the body length if it was sent with the +request. + +``` erlang +{Length, Req2} = cowboy_req:body_length(Req). +``` + +The value returned will be `undefined` if the length +couldn't be figured out from the request headers. If +there's a body but no length is given, this means that +the chunked transfer-encoding was used. You can read +chunked bodies by using the stream functions. + +:: Reading the body + +You can read the whole body directly in one call. + +``` erlang +{ok, Body, Req2} = cowboy_req:body(Req). +``` + +By default, Cowboy will attempt to read up to a +size of 8MB. You can override this limit as needed. + +``` erlang +{ok, Body, Req2} = cowboy_req:body(Req, [{length, 100000000}]). +``` + +You can also disable it. + +``` erlang +{ok, Body, Req2} = cowboy_req:body(Req, [{length, infinity}]). +``` + +It is recommended that you do not disable it for public +facing websites. + +If the body is larger than the limit, then Cowboy will return +a `more` tuple instead, allowing you to stream it if you +would like to. + +:: Streaming the body + +You can stream the request body by chunks. + +Cowboy returns a `more` tuple when there is more body to +be read, and an `ok` tuple for the last chunk. This allows +you to loop over all chunks. + +``` erlang +body_to_console(Req) -> + case cowboy_req:body(Req) of + {ok, Data, Req2} -> + io:format("~s", [Data]), + Req2; + {more, Data, Req2} -> + io:format("~s", [Data]), + body_to_console(Req2) + end. +``` + +You can of course set the `length` option to configure the +size of chunks. + +:: Rate of data transmission + +You can control the rate of data transmission by setting +options when calling body functions. This applies not only +to the functions described in this chapter, but also to +the multipart functions. + +The `read_length` option defines the maximum amount of data +to be received from the socket at once, in bytes. + +The `read_timeout` option defines the time Cowboy waits +before that amount is received, in milliseconds. + +:: Transfer and content decoding + +Cowboy will by default decode the chunked transfer-encoding +if any. It will not decode any content-encoding by default. + +The first time you call a body function you can set the +`transfer_decode` and `content_decode` options. If the body +was already started being read these options are simply +ignored. + +The following example shows how to set both options. + +``` erlang +{ok, Req2} = cowboy_req:body(Req, [ + {transfer_decode, fun transfer_decode/2, TransferState}, + {content_decode, fun content_decode/1} +]). +``` + +:: Reading a form urlencoded body + +You can directly obtain a list of key/value pairs if the +body was sent using the application/x-www-form-urlencoded +content-type. + +``` erlang +{ok, KeyValues, Req2} = cowboy_req:body_qs(Req). +``` + +You can then retrieve an individual value from that list. + +``` erlang +{_, Lang} = lists:keyfind(lang, 1, KeyValues). +``` + +You should not attempt to match on the list as the order +of the values is undefined. + +By default Cowboy will reject bodies with a size above +64KB when using this function. You can override this limit +by setting the `length` option. + +``` erlang +{ok, KeyValues, Req2} = cowboy_req:body_qs(Req, + [{length, 2000000}]). +``` |