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diff --git a/guide/routing.md b/guide/routing.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..936b37c --- /dev/null +++ b/guide/routing.md @@ -0,0 +1,154 @@ +Routing +======= + +@todo Note that this documentation is for the new routing interface +not available in master at this point. + +Purpose +------- + +Cowboy does nothing by default. + +To make Cowboy useful, you need to map URLs to Erlang modules that will +handle the requests. This is called routing. + +When Cowboy receives a request, it tries to match the requested host and +path to the resources given in the dispatch rules. If it matches, then +the associated Erlang code will be executed. + +Routing rules are given per host. Cowboy will first match on the host, +and then try to find a matching path. + +Routes need to be compiled before they can be used by Cowboy. + +Structure +--------- + +The general structure for the routes is defined as follow. + +``` erlang +Routes = [Host1, Host2, ... HostN]. +``` + +Each host contains matching rules for the host along with optional +constraints, and a list of routes for the path component. + +``` erlang +Host1 = {HostMatch, PathsList}. +Host2 = {HostMatch, Constraints, PathsList}. +``` + +The list of routes for the path component is defined similar to the +list of hosts. + +``` erlang +PathsList = [Path1, Path2, ... PathN]. +``` + +Finally, each path contains matching rules for the path along with +optional constraints, and gives us the handler module to be used +along with options that will be given to it on initialization. + +``` +Path1 = {PathMatch, Handler, Module}. +Path2 = {PathMatch, Constraints, Handler, Module}. +``` + +Continue reading to learn more about the match syntax and the optional +constraints. + +Match syntax +------------ + +The match syntax is used to associate host names and paths with their +respective handlers. + +The match syntax is the same for host and path with a few subtleties. +Indeed, the segments separator is different, and the host is matched +starting from the last segment going to the first. All examples will +feature both host and path match rules and explain the differences +when encountered. + +Excluding special values that we will explain at the end of this section, +the simplest match value is a host or a path. It can be given as either +a `string()` or a `binary()`. + +``` erlang +PathMatch1 = "/". +PathMatch2 = "/path/to/resource". + +HostMatch1 = "cowboy.example.org". +``` + +As you can see, all paths defined this way must start with a slash +character. Note that these two paths are identical as far as routing +is concerned. + +``` erlang +PathMatch2 = "/path/to/resource". +PathMatch3 = "/path/to/resource/". +``` + +Hosts with and without a trailing dot are equivalent for routing. + +``` erlang +HostMatch1 = "cowboy.example.org". +HostMatch2 = "cowboy.example.org.". +``` + +It is possible to extract segments of the host and path and to store +the values in the `Req` object for later use. We call these kind of +values bindings. + +The syntax for bindings is very simple. A segment that begins with +the `:` character means that what follows until the end of the segment +is the name of the binding in which the segment value will be stored. + +``` erlang +PathMatch = "/hats/:name/prices". +HostMatch = ":subdomain.example.org". +``` + +If these two end up matching when routing, you will end up with two +bindings defined, `subdomain` and `hat_name`, each containing the +segment value where they were defined. For example, the URL +`http://test.example.org/hats/wild_cowboy_legendary/prices` will +result in having the value `test` bound to the name `subdomain` +and the value `wild_cowboy_legendary` bound to the name `hat_name`. +They can later be retrieved using `cowboy_req:binding/{2,3}`. + +@todo special binding `'_'` +@todo optional path or segments +@todo same binding twice (+ optional + host/path) + +Constraints +----------- + +@todo Describe constraints. + +Compilation +----------- + +The structure defined in this chapter needs to be compiled before it is +passed to Cowboy. This allows Cowboy to efficiently lookup the correct +handler to run instead of having to parse the routes repeatedly. + +This can be done with a simple call to `cowboy_routing:compile/1`. + +@todo Note that the `routes` option will be specified slightly differently +when middleware support gets in. + +``` erlang +{ok, Routes} = cowboy_routing:compile([ + %% {URIHost, list({URIPath, Handler, Opts})} + {'_', [{'_', my_handler, []}]} +]), +%% Name, NbAcceptors, TransOpts, ProtoOpts +cowboy:start_http(my_http_listener, 100, + [{port, 8080}], + [{routes, Routes}] +). +``` + +Note that this function will return `{error, badarg}` if the structure +given is incorrect. |