diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'guide/req_body.md')
-rw-r--r-- | guide/req_body.md | 169 |
1 files changed, 169 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/guide/req_body.md b/guide/req_body.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d573505 --- /dev/null +++ b/guide/req_body.md @@ -0,0 +1,169 @@ +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. + +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 +---------------- + +If a content-length header was sent with the request, +you can read the whole body directly. + +``` erlang +{ok, Body, Req2} = cowboy_req:body(Req). +``` + +If no content-length header is available, Cowboy will +return the `{error, chunked}` tuple. You will need to +stream the request body instead. + +By default, Cowboy will reject all body sizes above 8MB, +to prevent an attacker from needlessly filling up memory. +You can override this limit however. + +``` erlang +{ok, Body, Req2} = cowboy_req:body(100000000, Req). +``` + +You can also disable it. + +``` erlang +{ok, Body, Req2} = cowboy_req:body(infinity, Req). +``` + +It is recommended that you do not disable it for public +facing websites. + +Reading a body sent from an HTML form +------------------------------------- + +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 +16KB when using this function. You can override this limit. + +``` erlang +{ok, KeyValues, Req2} = cowboy_req:body_qs(500000, Req). +``` + +You can also disable it by passing the atom `infinity`, +although it is not recommended. + +Streaming the body +------------------ + +You can stream the request body by chunks. + +``` erlang +{ok, Chunk, Req2} = cowboy_req:stream_body(Req). +``` + +By default, Cowboy will attempt to read chunks of up to +1MB in size. The chunks returned by this function will +often be smaller, however. You can also change this limit. + +``` erlang +{ok, Chunk, Req2} = cowboy_req:stream_body(500000, Req). +``` + +When Cowboy finishes reading the body, any subsequent call +will return `{done, Req2}`. You can thus write a recursive +function to read the whole body and perform an action on +all chunks, for example printing them to the console. + +``` erlang +body_to_console(Req) -> + case cowboy_req:stream_body(Req) of + {ok, Chunk, Req2} -> + io:format("~s", [Chunk]), + body_to_console(Req2); + {done, Req2} -> + Req2 + end. +``` + +Advanced streaming +------------------ + +Cowboy will by default decode the chunked transfer-encoding +if any. It will not decode any content-encoding by default. + +Before starting to stream, you can configure the functions +that will be used for decoding both transfer-encoding and +content-encoding. + +``` erlang +{ok, Req2} = cowboy_req:init_stream(fun transfer_decode/2, + TransferStartState, fun content_decode/1, Req). +``` + +Note that you do not need to call this function generally, +as Cowboy will happily initialize the stream on its own. + +Skipping the body +----------------- + +If you do not need the body, or if you started streaming +the body but do not need the rest of it, you can skip it. + +``` erlang +{ok, Req2} = cowboy_req:skip_body(Req). +``` + +You do not have to call this function though, as Cowboy will +do it automatically when handler execution ends. |