koa-lite/docs/api.md
TJ Holowaychuk d7403552b9 docs
2013-09-13 20:38:45 -07:00

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## Application
A Koa application is not a 1-to-1 representation of an HTTP server,
as one or more Koa applications may be mounted together to form larger
applications, with a single HTTP server.
The following is a useless Koa application bound to port `3000`:
```js
var koa = require('koa');
var app = koa();
app.listen(3000);
```
The `app.listen(...)` method is simply sugar for the following:
```js
var http = require('http');
var koa = require('koa');
var app = koa();
http.createServer(app.callback()).listen(3000);
```
This means you can spin up the same application as both HTTP and HTTPS,
or on multiple addresses:
```js
var http = require('http');
var koa = require('koa');
var app = koa();
http.createServer(app.callback()).listen(3000);
http.createServer(app.callback()).listen(3001);
```
### Settings
Application settings are properties on the `app` instance, currently
the following are supported:
- `app.name` optionally give your application a name
- `app.env` defaulting to the __NODE_ENV__ or "development"
- `app.proxy` when true proxy header fields will be trusted
- `app.subdomainOffset` offset of `.subdomains` to ignore [2]
- `app.jsonSpaces` default JSON response spaces [2]
- `app.outputErrors` output err.stack to stderr [false in "test" environment]
### app.listen(...)
Create and return an HTTP server, passing the given arguments to
`Server#listen()`. These arguments are documented on [nodejs.org](http://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_server_listen_port_hostname_backlog_callback).
### app.callback()
Return a callback function suitable for the `http.createServer()`
method to handle a request.
### app.use(function)
Add the given middleware function to this application. See [Middleware](#middleware) for
more information.
### app.context(obj)
Each `Application` has its own `Context` instance, meaning you may extend the prototype of one,
and the other will remain untouched with the default prototype. To extend an app's context you may
invoke `app.context()` any number of times with an object of extensions:
```js
app.context({
get something(){
return 'hi';
},
set something(val){
this._something = val;
},
render: function(){
this.body = '<html></html>';
}
});
```
## Context
A Koa Context encapsulates node's `request` and `response` objects
into a single object which provides many helpful methods for writing
web applications and APIs.
These operations are used so frequently in HTTP server development
that they are added at this level, instead of a higher level framework,
which would force middlware to re-implement this common functionality.
A `Context` is created _per_ request, and is referenced in middleware
as the receiver, or the `this` variable.
### ctx.req
Node's `request` object.
### ctx.res
Node's `response` object.
### ctx.app
Application instance reference.
### ctx.header
Request header object.
### ctx.responseHeader
Response header object.
### ctx.method
Request method.
### ctx.method=
Set request method, useful for implementing middleware
such as `methodOverride()`.
### ctx.status
Get response status.
### ctx.status=
Set response status via numeric code or case-insensitive string:
- 100 "continue"
- 101 "switching protocols"
- 102 "processing"
- 200 "ok"
- 201 "created"
- 202 "accepted"
- 203 "non-authoritative information"
- 204 "no content"
- 205 "reset content"
- 206 "partial content"
- 207 "multi-status"
- 300 "multiple choices"
- 301 "moved permanently"
- 302 "moved temporarily"
- 303 "see other"
- 304 "not modified"
- 305 "use proxy"
- 307 "temporary redirect"
- 400 "bad request"
- 401 "unauthorized"
- 402 "payment required"
- 403 "forbidden"
- 404 "not found"
- 405 "method not allowed"
- 406 "not acceptable"
- 407 "proxy authentication required"
- 408 "request time-out"
- 409 "conflict"
- 410 "gone"
- 411 "length required"
- 412 "precondition failed"
- 413 "request entity too large"
- 414 "request-uri too large"
- 415 "unsupported media type"
- 416 "requested range not satisfiable"
- 417 "expectation failed"
- 418 "i'm a teapot"
- 422 "unprocessable entity"
- 423 "locked"
- 424 "failed dependency"
- 425 "unordered collection"
- 426 "upgrade required"
- 428 "precondition required"
- 429 "too many requests"
- 431 "request header fields too large"
- 500 "internal server error"
- 501 "not implemented"
- 502 "bad gateway"
- 503 "service unavailable"
- 504 "gateway time-out"
- 505 "http version not supported"
- 506 "variant also negotiates"
- 507 "insufficient storage"
- 509 "bandwidth limit exceeded"
- 510 "not extended"
- 511 "network authentication required"
__NOTE__: don't worry too much about memorizing these strings,
if you have a typo an error will be thrown, displaying this list
so you can make a correction.
### ctx.hasContent
When the response status is __204__ or __304__ this returns __false__.
### ctx.length
Return request Content-Length as a number when present, or undefined.
### ctx.responseLength
Return response Content-Length as a number when present, or deduce
from `ctx.body` when possible, or undefined.
### ctx.body
Get response body. When `ctx.body` is `null` and `ctx.status` is still
200 it is considered a 404. This is to prevent the developer from manually
specifying `this.status = 200` on every response.
### ctx.body=
Set response body to one of the following:
- `string` written
- `Buffer` written
- `Stream` piped
- `Object` json-stringified
When a Koa application is created it injects
a middleware named `respond`, which handles
each of these `ctx.body` values. The `Content-Length`
header field is set when possible, and objects are
passed through `JSON.stringify()`.
To alter the JSON response formatting use the `app.jsonSpaces`
setting, for example to compress JSON responses set:
```js
app.jsonSpaces = 0;
```
### ctx.get(field)
Get a request header field value with case-insensitive `field`.
```js
var etag = this.get('If-None-Match');
```
### ctx.set(field, value)
Set response header `field` to `value`:
```js
this.set('Cache-Control', 'no-cache');
```
### ctx.set(fields)
Set several response header `fields` with an object:
```js
this.set({
'Etag': '1234',
'Last-Modified': date
});
```
### ctx.type
Get request `Content-Type` void of parameters such as "charset".
```js
var ct = this.type;
// => "image/png"
```
### ctx.type=
Set response `Content-Type` via mime string or file extension.
```js
this.type = 'image/png';
this.type = '.png';
this.type = 'png';
```
__NOTE__: when `ctx.body` is an object the content-type is set for you.
### ctx.url
Get request URL.
### ctx.url=
Set request URL, useful for url rewrites.
### ctx.path
Get request pathname.
### ctx.path=
Set request pathname and retain query-string when present.
### ctx.query
Get parsed query-string, for example "color=blue&size=small":
```js
{
color: 'blue',
size: 'small'
}
```
__NOTE__: this property returns `{}` when no query-string is present.
### ctx.query=
Set query-string to the given object.
```js
this.query = { next: '/login' };
```
### ctx.querystring
Get raw query string void of `?`.
### ctx.querystring=
Set raw query string.
### ctx.host
Get host void of port number when present. Supports `X-Forwarded-Host`
when `app.proxy` is __true__, otherwise `Host` is used.
### ctx.fresh
Check if a request cache is "fresh", aka the contents have not changed. This
method is for cache negotiation between `If-None-Match` / `ETag`, and `If-Modified-Since` and `Last-Modified`. It should be referenced after setting one or more of these response headers.
```js
this.set('ETag', '123');
// cache is ok
if (this.fresh) {
this.status = 304;
return;
}
// cache is stale
// fetch new data
this.body = yield db.find('something');
```
### ctx.stale
Inverse of `ctx.fresh`.
### ctx.protocol
Return request protocol, "https" or "http". Supports `X-Forwarded-Proto`
when `app.proxy` is __true__.
### ctx.secure
Shorthand for `this.protocol == "https"` to check if a requset was
issued via TLS.
### ctx.ip
Request remote address. Supports `X-Forwarded-For` when `app.proxy`
is __true__.
### ctx.ips
When `X-Forwarded-For` is present and `app.proxy` is enabled an array
of these ips is returned, ordered from upstream -> downstream. When disabled
an empty array is returned.
### ctx.subdomains
Return subdomains as an array.
Subdomains are the dot-separated parts of the host before the main domain of
the app. By default, the domain of the app is assumed to be the last two
parts of the host. This can be changed by setting `app.subdomainOffset`.
For example, if the domain is "tobi.ferrets.example.com":
If `app.subdomainOffset` is not set, this.subdomains is `["ferrets", "tobi"]`.
If `app.subdomainOffset` is 3, this.subdomains is `["tobi"]`.
### ctx.is(type)
Check if the incoming request contains the `Content-Type`
header field, and it contains the give mime `type`.
```js
// With Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
this.is('html');
this.is('.html');
this.is('text/html');
this.is('text/*');
// => true
// When Content-Type is application/json
this.is('json');
this.is('.json');
this.is('application/json');
this.is('application/*');
// => true
this.is('html');
// => false
```
### ctx.redirect(url, [alt])
Perform a 302 redirect to `url`.
The string "back" is special-cased
to provide Referrer support, when Referrer
is not present `alt` or "/" is used.
```js
this.redirect('back');
this.redirect('back', '/index.html');
this.redirect('/login');
this.redirect('http://google.com');
```
To alter the default status of `302` or the response
body simply re-assign after this call:
```js
this.redirect('/cart');
this.status = 301;
this.body = 'Redirecting to shopping cart';
```
### ctx.attachment([filename])
Set `Content-Disposition` to "attachment" to signal the client
to prompt for download. Optionally specify the `filename` of the
download.
### ctx.accept(types)
Check if the given `type(s)` is acceptable, returning
the best match when true, otherwise `undefined`, in which
case you should respond with 406 "Not Acceptable".
The `type` value may be one or more mime type string
such as "application/json", the extension name
such as "json", or an array `["json", "html", "text/plain"]`. When a list or array is given the _best_ match, if any is returned.
```js
// Accept: text/html
this.accepts('html');
// => "html"
// Accept: text/*, application/json
this.accepts('html');
// => "html"
this.accepts('text/html');
// => "text/html"
this.accepts('json', 'text');
// => "json"
this.accepts('application/json');
// => "application/json"
// Accept: text/*, application/json
this.accepts('image/png');
this.accepts('png');
// => undefined
// Accept: text/*;q=.5, application/json
this.accepts(['html', 'json']);
this.accepts('html', 'json');
// => "json"
```
You may call `this.accepts()` as may times as you like,
or use a switch:
```js
switch (this.accepts('json', 'html', 'text')) {
case 'json': break;
case 'html': break;
case 'text': break;
}
```
### ctx.accepted
Return accepted mime types ordered by quality.
### ctx.acceptedEncodings
Return accepted content encodings ordered by quality.
### ctx.acceptedCharsets
Return accepted charsets ordered by quality.
### ctx.acceptedLanguages
Return accepted languages ordered by quality.
### ctx.headerSent
Check if a response header has already been sent. Useful for seeing
if the client may be notified on error.
### ctx.socket
Request socket object.
### ctx.error(msg, [status])
Helper method to throw an error with a `.status` property
that will allow Koa to respond appropriately. The following
combinations are allowed:
```js
this.error(403)
this.error('name required', 400)
this.error('something exploded')
```
For example `this.error('name required', 400)` is requivalent to:
```js
var err = new Error('name required');
err.status = 400;
throw err;
```
Note that these are user-level errors and are flagged with
`err.expose` meaning the messages are appropriate for
client responses, which is typically not the case for
error messages since you do not want to leak failure
details.
## Error Handling
By default outputs all errors to stderr unless __NODE_ENV__ is "test". To perform custom error-handling logic such as centralized logging you
can add an "error" event listener:
```js
app.on('error', function(err){
log.error('server error', err);
});
```
If an error in the req/res cycle and it is _not_ possible to respond to the client, the `Context` instance is also passed:
```js
app.on('error', function(err){
log.error('server error', err);
});
```
When an error occurs _and_ it is still possible to respond to the client, aka no data has been written to the socket, Koa will respond
appropriately with a 500 "Internal Server Error". In either case
an app-level "error" is emitted for logging purposes.
## Notes
### HEAD Support
Koa's upstream response middleware supports __HEAD__ for you,
however expensive requests would benefit from custom handling. For
example instead of reading a file into memory and piping it to the
client, you may wish to `stat()` and set the `Content-*` header fields
appropriately to bypass the read.
### Socket Errors
Node http servers emit a "clientError" event when a socket error occurs. You'll probably want to delegate this to your
Koa handler by doing the following, in order to centralize
logging:
```js
var app = koa();
var srv = app.listen(3000);
srv.on('clientError', function(err){
app.emit('error', err);
});
```
# License
MIT