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Table of Contents
S3REST and XRequest
s3rest
s3rest is a callable global object which implements the RESTful interface for the S3 framework. This interface can be configured dynamically, and can easily be used to build RESTful controllers throughout the application.
Important: an s3rest instance is created per request and must not be stored or registered into static objects to avoid memory leaks!
The default method handlers implement CRUD (create, read, update, delete) in all major representations, including the capabilities of S3XRC to use in-line XSLT for export and import of XML and JSON formats.
s3rest is an instance of the RESTController class, implemented in modules/s3rest.py.
Instead of the web2py request object, s3rest uses the XRequest class (described below) to represent the current REST request. Other than web2py/request, the XRequest of the current call is not a global object, but gets passed as argument when calling REST method handlers.
REST Methods
It is critical to understand how RESTful requests work.
A RESTful requests has two components:
- the URL addresses the resource
- the HTTP method determines the action to be taken with that resource, which is either of:
- GET, PUT, POST or DELETE
A resource in this terminology is either of:
- a database table or one or more records in that table
- a combination of tables or records (so called "compound" or "joined" resources)
- a function in the application related to one of the above resource types
Functions as resources in RESTful requests are to be understood and addressed as "sub"-resources of their respective primary resource.
The finally executed response action depends on the HTTP/method and on the type of resource addressed by the URL, e.g.
- if the method is "GET" and the resource addressed is a database table, then the response will be a list of the records in that table
- if the method is "PUT" and the resource addressed is a record in a table, then the response will be an update of that record with the data from the request body
CRUD Method Handlers
The default method handlers for each of CRUD+S are implemented in models/01_RESTlike_controller.py:
- shn_read(jr, attr)
- shn_list(jr, attr)
- shn_create(jr, attr)
- shn_update(jr, attr)
- shn_delete(jr, attr)
- shn_search(jr, attr)
- shn_options(jr, attr)
- import_xml(jr, attr)
- import_json(jr, attr)
where jr is the current XRequest, and attr contains all further arguments passed to the REST controller.
You can override these defaults at any time by
s3rest.set_handler(action, handler)
where:
- action is the name of the action, i.e. one of 'read', 'list', 'create', 'update', 'delete', 'search', 'options', 'import_xml' or 'import_json'
- handler is the handler function/lambda
Custom Methods
You can also add resource-specific custom methods by:
s3xrc.model.set_method(module, resource, method, action)
where:
- module is the module prefix of a resource
- resource is the name of the resource (without prefix)
- method is a string representing the name of the method (e.g. "search_simple")
- action is the method handler function/lambda
The action method has to take the same arguments as the default handlers: jr (XRequest) and attr.
XRequest
Important: This is a throw-away object, never store or register an XRequest object into a static or global resource to avoid memory leaks.
Attributes of the XRequest
The following attributes are set during initialisation of an XRequest object, no further call is required.
Controller Attributes
rc | the resource controller object (S3XRC) |
request | the original web2py request (Storage) |
session | the current session (Storage) |
Request Attributes
representation | the current representation of this request (string, lowercase) |
http | the HTTP method of this request (string, always uppercase!) |
extension | the extension found in the original request (string, lowercase) |
method | the method of the request if not HTTP (string, always lowercase) |
custom_action | the custom method handler for the request (function or lambda) |
Primary Resource Attributes
prefix | the prefix (=module name) of the requested resource (string) |
name | the name of the requested resource, without prefix (string) |
tablename | the name of the primary table (string) |
table | the primary table (Table) |
id | the ID of the primary record (int) |
record | the primary record (Row) |
Component Resource Attributes
component | the requested component, if any (ObjectComponent) |
pkey | the primary key of the Resource/Component join (string) |
fkey | the foreign key of the Resource/Component join (string) |
component_name | the name of the component without prefix (string) |
component_id | the ID of the component record as of the request, if any (int) |
multiple | Flag indicating that multiple component records are allowed (boolean) |
Error Indicators
error | the last error message (string) |
invalid | Flag indicating this request as invalid (boolean) |
badmethod | Flag indicating a bad method error (boolean) |
badrecord | Flag indicating a invalid record ID error (boolean) |
badrequest | Flag indicating an unqualified request error (boolean) |
ObjectComponent contains:
- prefix, name, table_name, table and attr of the component
- attr contains:
- multiple Multiple-flag
- editable, deletable and listadd
- list_fields, rss, main and extra
- onaccept, onvalidation, delete_onaccept and delete_onvalidation
- methods: set_attr() and get_attr()
Methods of the XRequest
here(representation=None)
- returns the URL of the current request
there(representation=None)
- returns the URL of a HTTP GET request for the same resource
same(representation=None)
- returns the URL of the current request with the primary record ID replaced by the string literal '[id]'
other(method=None, record_id=None, representation=None)
- returns the URL of a request with another method and record ID, but for the same resource
target()
- returns the target table of the current request as tuple of (prefix, name, table, tablename)
export_xml(permit=None, audit=None, template=None, filterby=None, pretty_print=False)
- exports the requested resources as XML
export_json(permit=None, audit=None, template=None, filterby=None, pretty_print=False)
- exports the requested resources as JSON
import_xml(tree, permit=None, audit=None, onvalidation=None, onaccept=None)
- import the requested resources from the given ElementTree
options_xml(pretty_print=False)
- exports the options of a field (or all fields) in the resource as XML
options_json(pretty_print=False)
- exports the options of a field (or all fields) in the resource as JSON
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