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queryString and effectfulUrl
author Adam Chlipala <adam@chlipala.net>
date Sun, 26 Dec 2010 17:29:03 -0500
parents b2bc8bcd546f
children 461250eb24a2
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1369:1a78ca089bd0 1370:44a12a321150
2082 2082
2083 A web application is built from a series of modules, with one module, the last one appearing in the \texttt{.urp} file, designated as the main module. The signature of the main module determines the URL entry points to the application. Such an entry point should have type $\mt{t1} \to \ldots \to \mt{tn} \to \mt{transaction} \; \mt{page}$, for any integer $n \geq 0$, where $\mt{page}$ is a type synonym for top-level HTML pages, defined in $\mt{Basis}$. If such a function is at the top level of main module $M$, with $n = 0$, it will be accessible at URI \texttt{/M/f}, and so on for more deeply-nested functions, as described in Section \ref{tag} below. Arguments to an entry-point function are deserialized from the part of the URI following \texttt{f}. 2083 A web application is built from a series of modules, with one module, the last one appearing in the \texttt{.urp} file, designated as the main module. The signature of the main module determines the URL entry points to the application. Such an entry point should have type $\mt{t1} \to \ldots \to \mt{tn} \to \mt{transaction} \; \mt{page}$, for any integer $n \geq 0$, where $\mt{page}$ is a type synonym for top-level HTML pages, defined in $\mt{Basis}$. If such a function is at the top level of main module $M$, with $n = 0$, it will be accessible at URI \texttt{/M/f}, and so on for more deeply-nested functions, as described in Section \ref{tag} below. Arguments to an entry-point function are deserialized from the part of the URI following \texttt{f}.
2084 2084
2085 Normal links are accessible via HTTP \texttt{GET}, which the relevant standard says should never cause side effects. To export a page which may cause side effects, accessible only via HTTP \texttt{POST}, include one argument of the page handler of type $\mt{Basis.postBody}$. When the handler is called, this argument will receive a value that can be deconstructed into a MIME type (with $\mt{Basis.postType}$) and payload (with $\mt{Basis.postData}$). This kind of handler will only work with \texttt{POST} payloads of MIME types besides those associated with HTML forms; for these, use Ur/Web's built-in support, as described below. 2085 Normal links are accessible via HTTP \texttt{GET}, which the relevant standard says should never cause side effects. To export a page which may cause side effects, accessible only via HTTP \texttt{POST}, include one argument of the page handler of type $\mt{Basis.postBody}$. When the handler is called, this argument will receive a value that can be deconstructed into a MIME type (with $\mt{Basis.postType}$) and payload (with $\mt{Basis.postData}$). This kind of handler will only work with \texttt{POST} payloads of MIME types besides those associated with HTML forms; for these, use Ur/Web's built-in support, as described below.
2086 2086
2087 Any normal page handler may also include arguments of type $\mt{option \; Basis.queryString}$, which will be handled specially. Rather than being deserialized from the current URI, such an argument is passed the whole query string that the handler received. The string may be analyzed by calling $\mt{Basis.show}$ on it. A handler of this kind may be passed as an argument to $\mt{Basis.effectfulUrl}$ to generate a URL to a page that may be used as a ``callback'' by an external service, such that the handler is allowed to cause side effects.
2088
2087 When the standalone web server receives a request for a known page, it calls the function for that page, ``running'' the resulting transaction to produce the page to return to the client. Pages link to other pages with the \texttt{link} attribute of the \texttt{a} HTML tag. A link has type $\mt{transaction} \; \mt{page}$, and the semantics of a link are that this transaction should be run to compute the result page, when the link is followed. Link targets are assigned URL names in the same way as top-level entry points. 2089 When the standalone web server receives a request for a known page, it calls the function for that page, ``running'' the resulting transaction to produce the page to return to the client. Pages link to other pages with the \texttt{link} attribute of the \texttt{a} HTML tag. A link has type $\mt{transaction} \; \mt{page}$, and the semantics of a link are that this transaction should be run to compute the result page, when the link is followed. Link targets are assigned URL names in the same way as top-level entry points.
2088 2090
2089 HTML forms are handled in a similar way. The $\mt{action}$ attribute of a $\mt{submit}$ form tag takes a value of type $\$\mt{use} \to \mt{transaction} \; \mt{page}$, where $\mt{use}$ is a kind-$\{\mt{Type}\}$ record of the form fields used by this action handler. Action handlers are assigned URL patterns in the same way as above. 2091 HTML forms are handled in a similar way. The $\mt{action}$ attribute of a $\mt{submit}$ form tag takes a value of type $\$\mt{use} \to \mt{transaction} \; \mt{page}$, where $\mt{use}$ is a kind-$\{\mt{Type}\}$ record of the form fields used by this action handler. Action handlers are assigned URL patterns in the same way as above.
2090 2092
2091 For both links and actions, direct arguments and local variables mentioned implicitly via closures are automatically included in serialized form in URLs, in the order in which they appear in the source code. 2093 For both links and actions, direct arguments and local variables mentioned implicitly via closures are automatically included in serialized form in URLs, in the order in which they appear in the source code.