1Mojolicious::Guides::RoUusteirngC(o3n)tributed Perl DocuMmoejnotlaitciioonus::Guides::Routing(3)
2
3
4
6 Mojolicious::Guides::Routing - Routing requests
7
9 This document contains a simple and fun introduction to the Mojolicious
10 router and its underlying concepts.
11
13 Essentials every Mojolicious developer should know.
14
15 Dispatcher
16 The foundation of every web framework is a tiny black box connecting
17 incoming requests with code generating the appropriate response.
18
19 GET /user/show/1 -> $c->render(text => 'Daniel');
20
21 This black box is usually called a dispatcher. There are many
22 implementations using different strategies to establish these
23 connections, but pretty much all are based around mapping the path part
24 of the request URL to some kind of response generator.
25
26 /user/show/2 -> $c->render(text => 'Isabell');
27 /user/show/3 -> $c->render(text => 'Sara');
28 /user/show/4 -> $c->render(text => 'Stefan');
29 /user/show/5 -> $c->render(text => 'Fynn');
30
31 While it is very well possible to make all these connections static, it
32 is also rather inefficient. That's why regular expressions are commonly
33 used to make the dispatch process more dynamic.
34
35 qr!/user/show/(\d+)! -> $c->render(text => $users{$1});
36
37 Modern dispatchers have pretty much everything HTTP has to offer at
38 their disposal and can use many more variables than just the request
39 path, such as request method and headers like "Host", "User-Agent" and
40 "Accept".
41
42 GET /user/show/23 HTTP/1.1
43 Host: mojolicious.org
44 User-Agent: Mojolicious (Perl)
45 Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
46
47 Routes
48 While regular expressions are quite powerful they also tend to be
49 unpleasant to look at and are generally overkill for ordinary path
50 matching.
51
52 qr!/user/admin/(\d+)! -> $c->render(text => $users{$1});
53
54 This is where routes come into play, they have been designed from the
55 ground up to represent paths with placeholders.
56
57 /user/admin/:id -> $c->render(text => $users{$id});
58
59 The only difference between a static path and the route above is the
60 ":id" placeholder. One or more placeholders can be anywhere in the
61 route.
62
63 /user/:role/:id
64
65 A fundamental concept of the Mojolicious router is that extracted
66 placeholder values are turned into a hash.
67
68 /user/admin/23 -> /user/:role/:id -> {role => 'admin', id => 23}
69
70 This hash is basically the center of every Mojolicious application, you
71 will learn more about this later on. Internally, routes get compiled
72 to regular expressions, so you can get the best of both worlds with a
73 little bit of experience.
74
75 /user/admin/:id -> qr/(?-xism:^\/user\/admin\/([^\/.]+))/
76
77 A trailing slash in the path is always optional.
78
79 /user/admin/23/ -> /user/:role/:id -> {role => 'admin', id => 23}
80
81 Reversibility
82 One more huge advantage routes have over regular expressions is that
83 they are easily reversible, extracted placeholders can be turned back
84 into a path at any time.
85
86 /sebastian -> /:name -> {name => 'sebastian'}
87 {name => 'sebastian'} -> /:name -> /sebastian
88
89 Every placeholder has a name, even if it's just an empty string.
90
91 Standard placeholders
92 Standard placeholders are the simplest form of placeholders, they use a
93 colon prefix and match all characters except "/" and ".", similar to
94 the regular expression "([^/.]+)".
95
96 /hello -> /:name/hello -> undef
97 /sebastian/23/hello -> /:name/hello -> undef
98 /sebastian.23/hello -> /:name/hello -> undef
99 /sebastian/hello -> /:name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian'}
100 /sebastian23/hello -> /:name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian23'}
101 /sebastian 23/hello -> /:name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian 23'}
102
103 All placeholders can be surrounded by "<" and ">" to separate them from
104 the surrounding text.
105
106 /hello -> /<:name>hello -> undef
107 /sebastian/23hello -> /<:name>hello -> undef
108 /sebastian.23hello -> /<:name>hello -> undef
109 /sebastianhello -> /<:name>hello -> {name => 'sebastian'}
110 /sebastian23hello -> /<:name>hello -> {name => 'sebastian23'}
111 /sebastian 23hello -> /<:name>hello -> {name => 'sebastian 23'}
112
113 The colon prefix is optional for standard placeholders that are
114 surrounded by "<" and ">".
115
116 /i♥mojolicious -> /<one>♥<two> -> {one => 'i', two => 'mojolicious'}
117
118 Relaxed placeholders
119 Relaxed placeholders are just like standard placeholders, but use a
120 hash prefix and match all characters except "/", similar to the regular
121 expression "([^/]+)".
122
123 /hello -> /#name/hello -> undef
124 /sebastian/23/hello -> /#name/hello -> undef
125 /sebastian.23/hello -> /#name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian.23'}
126 /sebastian/hello -> /#name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian'}
127 /sebastian23/hello -> /#name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian23'}
128 /sebastian 23/hello -> /#name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian 23'}
129
130 They can be especially useful for manually matching file names with
131 extensions, rather than using format detection.
132
133 /music/song.mp3 -> /music/#filename -> {filename => 'song.mp3'}
134
135 Wildcard placeholders
136 Wildcard placeholders are just like the two types of placeholders
137 above, but use an asterisk prefix and match absolutely everything,
138 including "/" and ".", similar to the regular expression "(.+)".
139
140 /hello -> /*name/hello -> undef
141 /sebastian/23/hello -> /*name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian/23'}
142 /sebastian.23/hello -> /*name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian.23'}
143 /sebastian/hello -> /*name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian'}
144 /sebastian23/hello -> /*name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian23'}
145 /sebastian 23/hello -> /*name/hello -> {name => 'sebastian 23'}
146
147 They can be useful for manually matching entire file paths.
148
149 /music/rock/song.mp3 -> /music/*filepath -> {filepath => 'rock/song.mp3'}
150
152 Most commonly used features every Mojolicious developer should know
153 about.
154
155 Minimal route
156 The attribute "routes" in Mojolicious contains a router you can use to
157 generate route structures.
158
159 # Application
160 package MyApp;
161 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious', -signatures;
162
163 sub startup ($self) {
164 # Router
165 my $r = $self->routes;
166
167 # Route
168 $r->get('/welcome')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'welcome');
169 }
170
171 1;
172
173 The minimal route above will load and instantiate the class
174 "MyApp::Controller::Foo" and call its "welcome" method. Routes are
175 usually configured in the "startup" method of the application class,
176 but the router can be accessed from everywhere (even at runtime).
177
178 # Controller
179 package MyApp::Controller::Foo;
180 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Controller', -signatures;
181
182 # Action
183 sub welcome ($self) {
184 # Render response
185 $self->render(text => 'Hello there.');
186 }
187
188 1;
189
190 All routes match in the same order in which they were defined, and
191 matching stops as soon as a suitable route has been found. So you can
192 improve the routing performance by declaring your most frequently
193 accessed routes first. A routing cache will also be used automatically
194 to handle sudden traffic spikes more gracefully.
195
196 Routing destination
197 After you start a new route with methods like "get" in
198 Mojolicious::Routes::Route, you can also give it a destination in the
199 form of a hash using the chained method "to" in
200 Mojolicious::Routes::Route.
201
202 # /welcome -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'welcome'}
203 $r->get('/welcome')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'welcome');
204
205 Now if the route matches an incoming request it will use the content of
206 this hash to try and find appropriate code to generate a response.
207
208 HTTP methods
209 There are already shortcuts for the most common HTTP request methods
210 like "post" in Mojolicious::Routes::Route, and for more control "any"
211 in Mojolicious::Routes::Route accepts an optional array reference with
212 arbitrary request methods as first argument.
213
214 # PUT /hello -> undef
215 # GET /hello -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'hello'}
216 $r->get('/hello')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'hello');
217
218 # PUT /hello -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'hello'}
219 $r->put('/hello')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'hello');
220
221 # POST /hello -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'hello'}
222 $r->post('/hello')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'hello');
223
224 # GET|POST /bye -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bye'}
225 $r->any(['GET', 'POST'] => '/bye')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'bye');
226
227 # * /whatever -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'whatever'}
228 $r->any('/whatever')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'whatever');
229
230 There is one small exception, "HEAD" requests are considered equal to
231 "GET", but content will not be sent with the response even if it is
232 present.
233
234 # GET /test -> {controller => 'bar', action => 'test'}
235 # HEAD /test -> {controller => 'bar', action => 'test'}
236 $r->get('/test')->to(controller => 'bar', action => 'test');
237
238 You can also use the "_method" query parameter to override the request
239 method. This can be very useful when submitting forms with browsers
240 that only support "GET" and "POST".
241
242 # PUT /stuff -> {controller => 'baz', action => 'stuff'}
243 # POST /stuff?_method=PUT -> {controller => 'baz', action => 'stuff'}
244 $r->put('/stuff')->to(controller => 'baz', action => 'stuff');
245
246 IRIs
247 IRIs are handled transparently, that means paths are guaranteed to be
248 unescaped and decoded from bytes to characters.
249
250 # GET /☃ (Unicode snowman) -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'snowman'}
251 $r->get('/☃')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'snowman');
252
253 Stash
254 The generated hash of a matching route is actually the center of the
255 whole Mojolicious request cycle. We call it the stash, and it persists
256 until a response has been generated.
257
258 # /bye -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bye', mymessage => 'Bye'}
259 $r->get('/bye')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'bye', mymessage => 'Bye');
260
261 There are a few stash values with special meaning, such as "controller"
262 and "action", but you can generally fill it with whatever data you need
263 to generate a response. Once dispatched the whole stash content can be
264 changed at any time.
265
266 sub bye ($self) {
267
268 # Get message from stash
269 my $msg = $self->stash('mymessage');
270
271 # Change message in stash
272 $self->stash(mymessage => 'Welcome');
273 }
274
275 For a full list of reserved stash values see "stash" in
276 Mojolicious::Controller.
277
278 Nested routes
279 It is also possible to build tree structures from routes to remove
280 repetitive code. A route with children can't match on its own though,
281 only the actual endpoints of these nested routes can.
282
283 # /foo -> undef
284 # /foo/bar -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar'}
285 my $foo = $r->any('/foo')->to(controller => 'foo');
286 $foo->get('/bar')->to(action => 'bar');
287
288 The stash is simply inherited from route to route and newer values
289 override old ones.
290
291 # /cats -> {controller => 'cats', action => 'index'}
292 # /cats/nyan -> {controller => 'cats', action => 'nyan'}
293 # /cats/lol -> {controller => 'cats', action => 'default'}
294 my $cats = $r->any('/cats')->to(controller => 'cats', action => 'default');
295 $cats->get('/')->to(action => 'index');
296 $cats->get('/nyan')->to(action => 'nyan');
297 $cats->get('/lol');
298
299 With a few common prefixes you can also greatly improve the routing
300 performance of applications with many routes, because children are only
301 tried if the prefix matched first.
302
303 Special stash values
304 When the dispatcher sees "controller" and "action" values in the stash
305 it will always try to turn them into a class and method to dispatch to.
306 The "controller" value gets converted from "snake_case" to "CamelCase"
307 using "camelize" in Mojo::Util and appended to one or more namespaces,
308 defaulting to a controller namespace based on the application class
309 ("MyApp::Controller"), as well as the bare application class ("MyApp"),
310 and these namespaces are searched in that order. The action value is
311 not changed at all, so both values are case-sensitive.
312
313 # Application
314 package MyApp;
315 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious', -signatures;
316
317 sub startup ($self) {
318 # /bye -> MyApp::Controller::Foo->bye
319 $self->routes->get('/bye')->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'bye');
320 }
321
322 1;
323
324 # Controller
325 package MyApp::Controller::Foo;
326 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Controller', -signatures;
327
328 # Action
329 sub bye ($self) {
330 # Render response
331 $self->render(text => 'Good bye.');
332 }
333
334 1;
335
336 Controller classes are perfect for organizing code in larger projects.
337 There are more dispatch strategies, but because controllers are the
338 most commonly used ones they also got a special shortcut in the form of
339 "controller#action".
340
341 # /bye -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bye', mymessage => 'Bye'}
342 $r->get('/bye')->to('foo#bye', mymessage => 'Bye');
343
344 During camelization "-" characters get replaced with "::", this allows
345 multi-level "controller" hierarchies.
346
347 # / -> MyApp::Controller::Foo::Bar->hi
348 $r->get('/')->to('foo-bar#hi');
349
350 You can also just specify the "controller" in CamelCase form instead of
351 snake_case.
352
353 # / -> MyApp::Controller::Foo::Bar->hi
354 $r->get('/')->to('Foo::Bar#hi');
355
356 For security reasons the dispatcher will always check if the
357 "controller" is actually a subclass of Mojolicious::Controller or Mojo
358 before dispatching to it.
359
360 Namespaces
361 You can use the "namespace" stash value to change the namespace of a
362 whole route with all its children.
363
364 # /bye -> MyApp::MyController::Foo::Bar->bye
365 $r->get('/bye')->to(namespace => 'MyApp::MyController', controller => 'Foo::Bar', action => 'bye');
366
367 The "controller" is always converted from "snake_case" to "CamelCase"
368 with "camelize" in Mojo::Util, and then appended to this "namespace".
369
370 # /bye -> MyApp::MyController::Foo::Bar->bye
371 $r->get('/bye')->to('foo-bar#bye', namespace => 'MyApp::MyController');
372
373 # /hey -> MyApp::MyController::Foo::Bar->hey
374 $r->get('/hey')->to('Foo::Bar#hey', namespace => 'MyApp::MyController');
375
376 You can also change the default namespaces for all routes in the
377 application with the router attribute "namespaces" in
378 Mojolicious::Routes, which usually defaults to a namespace based on the
379 application class ("MyApp::Controller"), as well as the bare
380 application class ("MyApp").
381
382 $r->namespaces(['MyApp::MyController']);
383
384 Route to callback
385 The "cb" stash value, which won't be inherited by nested routes, can be
386 used to bypass controllers and execute a callback instead.
387
388 $r->get('/bye')->to(cb => sub ($c) {
389 $c->render(text => 'Good bye.');
390 });
391
392 But just like in Mojolicious::Lite you can also pass the callback
393 directly, which usually looks much better.
394
395 $r->get('/bye' => sub ($c) {
396 $c->render(text => 'Good bye.');
397 });
398
399 Named routes
400 Naming your routes will allow backreferencing in many methods and
401 helpers throughout the whole framework, most of which internally rely
402 on "url_for" in Mojolicious::Controller for this.
403
404 # /foo/marcus -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', user => 'marcus'}
405 $r->get('/foo/:user')->to('foo#bar')->name('baz');
406
407 # Generate URL "/foo/marcus" for route "baz" (in previous request context)
408 my $url = $c->url_for('baz');
409
410 # Generate URL "/foo/jan" for route "baz"
411 my $url = $c->url_for('baz', user => 'jan');
412
413 # Generate URL "http://127.0.0.1:3000/foo/jan" for route "baz"
414 my $url = $c->url_for('baz', user => 'jan')->to_abs;
415
416 You can assign a name with "name" in Mojolicious::Routes::Route, or let
417 the router generate one automatically, which would be equal to the
418 route itself without non-word characters, custom names have a higher
419 precedence though.
420
421 # /foo/bar ("foobar")
422 $r->get('/foo/bar')->to('test#stuff');
423
424 # Generate URL "/foo/bar"
425 my $url = $c->url_for('foobar');
426
427 To refer to the current route you can use the reserved name "current"
428 or no name at all.
429
430 # Generate URL for current route
431 my $url = $c->url_for('current');
432 my $url = $c->url_for;
433
434 To check or get the name of the current route you can use the helper
435 "current_route" in Mojolicious::Plugin::DefaultHelpers.
436
437 # Name for current route
438 my $name = $c->current_route;
439
440 # Check route name in code shared by multiple routes
441 $c->stash(button => 'green') if $c->current_route('login');
442
443 Optional placeholders
444 Extracted placeholder values will simply redefine older stash values if
445 they already exist.
446
447 # /bye -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', mymessage => 'bye'}
448 # /hey -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', mymessage => 'hey'}
449 $r->get('/:mymessage')->to('foo#bar', mymessage => 'hi');
450
451 One more interesting effect, a placeholder automatically becomes
452 optional if there is already a stash value of the same name present,
453 this works similar to the regular expression "([^/.]+)?".
454
455 # / -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', mymessage => 'hi'}
456 $r->get('/:mymessage')->to('foo#bar', mymessage => 'hi');
457
458 # /test/123 -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', mymessage => 'hi'}
459 # /test/bye/123 -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', mymessage => 'bye'}
460 $r->get('/test/:mymessage/123')->to('foo#bar', mymessage => 'hi');
461
462 And if two optional placeholders are only separated by a slash, that
463 slash can become optional as well.
464
465 Restrictive placeholders
466 A very easy way to make placeholders more restrictive are alternatives,
467 you just make a list of possible values, which then work similar to the
468 regular expression "(bender|leela)".
469
470 # /fry -> undef
471 # /bender -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', name => 'bender'}
472 # /leela -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', name => 'leela'}
473 $r->get('/:name' => [name => ['bender', 'leela']])->to('foo#bar');
474
475 You can also adjust the regular expressions behind placeholders
476 directly, just make sure not to use "^" and "$" or capturing groups
477 "(...)", because placeholders become part of a larger regular
478 expression internally, non-capturing groups "(?:...)" are fine though.
479
480 # /23 -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', number => 23}
481 # /test -> undef
482 $r->get('/:number' => [number => qr/\d+/])->to('foo#bar');
483
484 # /23 -> undef
485 # /test -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', name => 'test'}
486 $r->get('/:name' => [name => qr/[a-zA-Z]+/])->to('foo#bar');
487
488 This way you get easily readable routes and the raw power of regular
489 expressions.
490
491 Placeholder types
492 And if you have multiple routes using restrictive placeholders you can
493 also turn them into placeholder types with "add_type" in
494 Mojolicious::Routes.
495
496 # A type with alternatives
497 $r->add_type(futurama_name => ['bender', 'leela']);
498
499 # /fry -> undef
500 # /bender -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', name => 'bender'}
501 # /leela -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', name => 'leela'}
502 $r->get('/<name:futurama_name>')->to('foo#bar');
503
504 Placeholder types work just like restrictive placeholders, they are
505 just reusable with the "<placeholder:type>" notation.
506
507 # A type adjusting the regular expression
508 $r->add_type(upper => qr/[A-Z]+/);
509
510 # /user/ROOT -> {controller => 'users', action => 'show', name => 'ROOT'}
511 # /user/root -> undef
512 # /user/23 -> undef
513 $r->get('/user/<name:upper>')->to('users#show');
514
515 Some types like "num" are used so commonly that they are available by
516 default.
517
518 # /article/12 -> {controller => 'article', action => 'show', id => 12}
519 # /article/test -> undef
520 $r->get('/article/<id:num>')->to('articles#show');
521
522 For a full list of available placeholder types see also "TYPES" in
523 Mojolicious::Routes.
524
525 Introspection
526 The command Mojolicious::Command::routes can be used from the command
527 line to list all available routes together with names and underlying
528 regular expressions.
529
530 $ ./myapp.pl routes -v
531 /foo/:name .... POST fooname ^/foo/([^/.]+)/?(?:\.([^/]+))?$
532 /bar ..U. * bar ^/bar
533 +/baz ...W GET baz ^/baz/?(?:\.([^/]+))?$
534 /yada .... * yada ^/yada/?(?:\.([^/]+))?$
535
536 Under
537 To share code with multiple nested routes you can use "under" in
538 Mojolicious::Routes::Route, because unlike normal nested routes, the
539 routes generated with it have their own intermediate destination and
540 result in additional dispatch cycles when they match.
541
542 # /foo -> undef
543 # /foo/bar -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'baz'}
544 # {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar'}
545 my $foo = $r->under('/foo')->to('foo#baz');
546 $foo->get('/bar')->to('#bar');
547
548 The actual action code for this destination needs to return a true
549 value or the dispatch chain will be broken, this can be a very powerful
550 tool for authentication.
551
552 # /blackjack -> {cb => sub {...}}
553 # {controller => 'hideout', action => 'blackjack'}
554 my $auth = $r->under('/' => sub ($c) {
555
556 # Authenticated
557 return 1 if $c->req->headers->header('X-Bender');
558
559 # Not authenticated
560 $c->render(text => "You're not Bender.", status => 401);
561 return undef;
562 });
563 $auth->get('/blackjack')->to('hideout#blackjack');
564
565 Broken dispatch chains can be continued by calling "continue" in
566 Mojolicious::Controller, this allows for example, non-blocking
567 operations to finish before reaching the next dispatch cycle.
568
569 my $maybe = $r->under('/maybe' => sub ($c) {
570
571 # Wait 3 seconds and then give visitors a 50% chance to continue
572 Mojo::IOLoop->timer(3 => sub {
573
574 # Loser
575 return $c->render(text => 'No luck.') unless int rand 2;
576
577 # Winner
578 $c->continue;
579 });
580
581 return undef;
582 });
583 $maybe->get('/')->to('maybe#winner');
584
585 Every destination is just a snapshot of the stash at the time the route
586 matched, and only the "format" value is shared by all of them. For a
587 little more power you can introspect the preceding and succeeding
588 destinations with "match" in Mojolicious::Controller.
589
590 # Action of the fourth dispatch cycle
591 my $action = $c->match->stack->[3]{action};
592
593 Formats
594 File extensions like ".html" and ".txt" at the end of a route can be
595 detected and stored in the stash value "format". Use a restrictive
596 placeholder to declare the possible values.
597
598 # /foo.txt -> undef
599 # /foo.rss -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', format => 'rss'}
600 # /foo.xml -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', format => 'xml'}
601 $r->get('/foo' => [format => ['rss', 'xml']])->to('foo#bar');
602
603 This for example, allows multiple templates in different formats to
604 share the same action code. And just like with placeholders you can use
605 a default value to make the format optional.
606
607 # /foo -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar'}
608 # /foo.html -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', format => 'html'}
609 # /foo.txt -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', format => 'txt'}
610 $r->get('/foo' => [format => ['html', 'txt']])->to('foo#bar', format => undef);
611
612 Formats can be inherited by nested routes.
613
614 # /foo -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'one', format => undef}
615 # /foo.html -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'one', format => 'html'}
616 # /foo.json -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'one', format => 'json'}
617 # /bar -> {controller => 'bar', action => 'two', format => undef}
618 # /bar.html -> {controller => 'bar', action => 'two', format => 'html'}
619 # /bar.json -> {controller => 'bar', action => 'two', format => 'json'}
620 my $with_format = $r->any('/' => [format => ['html', 'json']])->to(format => undef);
621 $with_format->get('/foo')->to('foo#one');
622 $with_format->get('/bar')->to('bar#two');
623
624 A "format" value can also be passed to "url_for" in
625 Mojolicious::Controller.
626
627 # /foo/23.txt -> {controller => 'foo', action => 'bar', id => 23, format => 'txt'}
628 $r->get('/foo/:id')->to('foo#bar')->name('baz');
629
630 # Generate URL "/foo/24.txt" for route "baz"
631 my $url = $c->url_for('baz', id => 24, format => 'txt');
632
633 WebSockets
634 With the method "websocket" in Mojolicious::Routes::Route you can
635 restrict access to WebSocket handshakes, which are normal "GET"
636 requests with some additional information.
637
638 # /echo (WebSocket handshake)
639 $r->websocket('/echo')->to('foo#echo');
640
641 # Controller
642 package MyApp::Controller::Foo;
643 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Controller', -signatures;
644
645 # Action
646 sub echo ($self) {
647 $self->on(message => sub ($self, $msg) {
648 $self->send("echo: $msg");
649 });
650 }
651
652 1;
653
654 The connection gets established when you respond to the WebSocket
655 handshake request with a 101 response status, which happens
656 automatically if you subscribe to an event with "on" in
657 Mojolicious::Controller or send a message with "send" in
658 Mojolicious::Controller right away.
659
660 GET /echo HTTP/1.1
661 Host: mojolicious.org
662 User-Agent: Mojolicious (Perl)
663 Connection: Upgrade
664 Upgrade: websocket
665 Sec-WebSocket-Key: IDM3ODE4NDk2MjA1OTcxOQ==
666 Sec-WebSocket-Version: 13
667
668 HTTP/1.1 101 Switching Protocols
669 Server: Mojolicious (Perl)
670 Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2015 17:08:24 GMT
671 Connection: Upgrade
672 Upgrade: websocket
673 Sec-WebSocket-Accept: SWsp5N2iNxPbHlcOTIw8ERvyVPY=
674
675 Catch-all route
676 Since routes match in the order in which they were defined, you can
677 catch all requests that did not match in your last route with an
678 optional wildcard placeholder.
679
680 # * /*
681 $r->any('/*whatever' => {whatever => ''} => sub ($c) {
682 my $whatever = $c->param('whatever');
683 $c->render(text => "/$whatever did not match.", status => 404);
684 });
685
686 Conditions
687 Conditions such as "headers", "agent" and "host" from
688 Mojolicious::Plugin::HeaderCondition can be applied to any route with
689 the method "requires" in Mojolicious::Routes::Route, and allow even
690 more powerful route constructs.
691
692 # / (Origin: http://perl.org)
693 $r->get('/')->requires(headers => {Origin => qr/perl\.org/})->to('foo#bar');
694
695 # / (Firefox)
696 $r->get('/')->requires(agent => qr/Firefox/)->to('browser-test#firefox');
697
698 # / (Internet Explorer)
699 $r->get('/')->requires(agent => qr/Internet Explorer/)->to('browser-test#ie');
700
701 # http://docs.mojolicious.org/Mojolicious
702 $r->get('/')->requires(host => 'docs.mojolicious.org')->to('perldoc#index');
703
704 Just be aware that conditions are too complex for the routing cache,
705 which normally speeds up recurring requests, and can therefore reduce
706 performance.
707
708 Hooks
709 Hooks operate outside the routing system and allow you to extend the
710 framework itself by sharing code with all requests indiscriminately
711 through "hook" in Mojolicious, which makes them a very powerful tool
712 especially for plugins.
713
714 # Application
715 package MyApp;
716 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious', -signatures;
717
718 sub startup ($self) {
719
720 # Check all requests for a "/test" prefix
721 $self->hook(before_dispatch => sub ($c) {
722 $c->render(text => 'This request did not reach the router.') if $c->req->url->path->contains('/test');
723 });
724
725 # These will not be reached if the hook above renders a response
726 my $r = $self->routes;
727 $r->get('/welcome')->to('foo#welcome');
728 $r->post('/bye')->to('foo#bye');
729 }
730
731 1;
732
733 Post-processing the response to add or remove headers is a very common
734 use.
735
736 # Make sure static files are cached
737 $app->hook(after_static => sub ($c) {
738 $c->res->headers->cache_control('max-age=3600, must-revalidate');
739 });
740
741 # Remove a default header
742 $app->hook(after_dispatch => sub ($c) {
743 $c->res->headers->remove('Server');
744 });
745
746 Same for pre-processing the request.
747
748 # Choose template variant based on request headers
749 $app->hook(before_dispatch => sub ($c) {
750 return unless my $agent = $c->req->headers->user_agent;
751 $c->stash(variant => 'ie') if $agent =~ /Internet Explorer/;
752 });
753
754 Or more advanced extensions to add monitoring to your application.
755
756 # Forward exceptions to a web service
757 $app->hook(after_dispatch => sub ($c) {
758 return unless my $e = $c->stash('exception');
759 $c->ua->post('https://example.com/bugs' => form => {exception => $e});
760 });
761
762 You can even extend much of the core functionality.
763
764 # Make controller object available to actions as $_
765 $app->hook(around_action => sub ($next, $c, $action, $last) {
766 local $_ = $c;
767 return $next->();
768 });
769
770 # Pass route name as argument to actions
771 $app->hook(around_action => sub ($next, $c, $action, $last) {
772 return $c->$action($c->current_route);
773 });
774
775 For a full list of available hooks see "HOOKS" in Mojolicious.
776
778 Less commonly used and more powerful features.
779
780 Shortcuts
781 To make route generation more expressive, you can also add your own
782 shortcuts with "add_shortcut" in Mojolicious::Routes.
783
784 # Simple "resource" shortcut
785 $r->add_shortcut(resource => sub ($r, $name) {
786
787 # Prefix for resource
788 my $resource = $r->any("/$name")->to("$name#");
789
790 # Render a list of resources
791 $resource->get('/')->to('#index')->name($name);
792
793 # Render a form to create a new resource (submitted to "store")
794 $resource->get('/create')->to('#create')->name("create_$name");
795
796 # Store newly created resource (submitted by "create")
797 $resource->post->to('#store')->name("store_$name");
798
799 # Render a specific resource
800 $resource->get('/:id')->to('#show')->name("show_$name");
801
802 # Render a form to edit a resource (submitted to "update")
803 $resource->get('/:id/edit')->to('#edit')->name("edit_$name");
804
805 # Store updated resource (submitted by "edit")
806 $resource->put('/:id')->to('#update')->name("update_$name");
807
808 # Remove a resource
809 $resource->delete('/:id')->to('#remove')->name("remove_$name");
810
811 return $resource;
812 });
813
814 # GET /users -> {controller => 'users', action => 'index'}
815 # GET /users/create -> {controller => 'users', action => 'create'}
816 # POST /users -> {controller => 'users', action => 'store'}
817 # GET /users/23 -> {controller => 'users', action => 'show', id => 23}
818 # GET /users/23/edit -> {controller => 'users', action => 'edit', id => 23}
819 # PUT /users/23 -> {controller => 'users', action => 'update', id => 23}
820 # DELETE /users/23 -> {controller => 'users', action => 'remove', id => 23}
821 $r->resource('users');
822
823 Rearranging routes
824 From application startup until the first request has arrived, all
825 routes can still be moved around or even removed with methods like
826 "add_child" in Mojolicious::Routes::Route and "remove" in
827 Mojolicious::Routes::Route.
828
829 # GET /example/show -> {controller => 'example', action => 'show'}
830 my $show = $r->get('/show')->to('example#show');
831 $r->any('/example')->add_child($show);
832
833 # Nothing
834 $r->get('/secrets/show')->to('secrets#show')->name('show_secrets');
835 $r->find('show_secrets')->remove;
836
837 Especially for rearranging routes created by plugins this can be very
838 useful, to find routes by their name you can use "find" in
839 Mojolicious::Routes::Route.
840
841 # GET /example/test -> {controller => 'example', action => 'test'}
842 $r->get('/something/else')->to('something#else')->name('test');
843 my $test = $r->find('test');
844 $test->pattern->parse('/example/test');
845 $test->pattern->defaults({controller => 'example', action => 'test'});
846
847 Even the route pattern and destination can still be changed with
848 "parse" in Mojolicious::Routes::Pattern and "defaults" in
849 Mojolicious::Routes::Pattern.
850
851 Adding conditions
852 You can also add your own conditions with the method "add_condition" in
853 Mojolicious::Routes. All conditions are basically router plugins that
854 run every time a new request arrives, and which need to return a true
855 value for the route to match.
856
857 # A condition that randomly allows a route to match
858 $r->add_condition(random => sub ($route, $c, $captures, $num) {
859
860 # Loser
861 return undef if int rand $num;
862
863 # Winner
864 return 1;
865 });
866
867 # /maybe (25% chance)
868 $r->get('/maybe')->requires(random => 4)->to('foo#bar');
869
870 Use whatever request information you need.
871
872 # A condition to check query parameters (useful for mock web services)
873 $r->add_condition(query => sub ($route, $c, $captures, $hash) {
874
875 for my $key (keys %$hash) {
876 my $param = $c->req->url->query->param($key);
877 return undef unless defined $param && $param eq $hash->{$key};
878 }
879
880 return 1;
881 });
882
883 # /hello?to=world&test=1
884 $r->get('/hello')->requires(query => {test => 1, to => 'world'})->to('foo#bar');
885
886 Condition plugins
887 You can also package your conditions as reusable plugins.
888
889 # Plugin
890 package Mojolicious::Plugin::WerewolfCondition;
891 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin', -signatures;
892
893 use Astro::MoonPhase;
894
895 sub register ($self, $app, $conf) {
896
897 # Add "werewolf" condition
898 $app->routes->add_condition(werewolf => sub ($route, $c, $captures, $days) {
899
900 # Keep the werewolves out!
901 return undef if abs(14 - (phase(time))[2]) > ($days / 2);
902
903 # It's ok, no werewolf
904 return 1;
905 });
906 }
907
908 1;
909
910 Now just load the plugin and you are ready to use the condition in all
911 your applications.
912
913 # Application
914 package MyApp;
915 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious', -signatures;
916
917 sub startup ($self) {
918
919 # Plugin
920 $self->plugin('WerewolfCondition');
921
922 # /hideout (keep them out for 4 days after full moon)
923 $self->routes->get('/hideout')->requires(werewolf => 4)->to(controller => 'foo', action => 'bar');
924 }
925
926 1;
927
928 Mount applications
929 The easiest way to embed one application into another is
930 Mojolicious::Plugin::Mount, which allows you to mount whole self-
931 contained applications under a domain and/or prefix.
932
933 use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
934
935 # Whole application mounted under "/prefix"
936 plugin Mount => {'/prefix' => '/home/sri/myapp/script/myapp'};
937
938 # Mount application with subdomain
939 plugin Mount => {'test.example.com' => '/home/sri/myapp2.pl'};
940
941 # Normal route
942 get '/' => sub ($c) {
943 $c->render(text => 'Hello World!');
944 };
945
946 app->start;
947
948 Embed applications
949 For a little more power you can also embed applications by using them
950 instead of a controller. This allows for example, the use of the
951 Mojolicious::Lite domain specific language in normal Mojolicious
952 controllers.
953
954 # Controller
955 package MyApp::Controller::Bar;
956 use Mojolicious::Lite -signatures;
957
958 # /hello
959 get '/hello' => sub ($c) {
960 my $name = $c->param('name');
961 $c->render(text => "Hello $name.");
962 };
963
964 1;
965
966 With the attribute "partial" in Mojolicious::Routes::Route, you can
967 allow the route to partially match and use only the remaining path in
968 the embedded application, the base path will be passed along in the
969 "path" stash value.
970
971 # /foo/*
972 $r->any('/foo')->partial(1)->to('bar#', name => 'Mojo');
973
974 A minimal embeddable application is nothing more than a subclass of
975 Mojolicious, containing a "handler" method accepting
976 Mojolicious::Controller objects.
977
978 package MyApp::Controller::Bar;
979 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious', -signatures;
980
981 sub handler ($self, $c) {
982 $c->res->code(200);
983 my $name = $c->param('name');
984 $c->res->body("Hello $name.");
985 }
986
987 1;
988
989 The host application will only share very little information with the
990 embedded application through the stash. So you cannot currently use
991 route placeholders in routes leading to embedded applications, since
992 that would cause problems with "url_for" in Mojolicious::Controller.
993
994 Application plugins
995 You can even package applications as self-contained reusable plugins.
996
997 # Plugin
998 package Mojolicious::Plugin::MyEmbeddedApp;
999 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Plugin', -signatures;
1000
1001 sub register ($self, $app, $conf) {
1002
1003 # Automatically add route
1004 $app->routes->any('/foo')->partial(1)->to(app => EmbeddedApp::app());
1005 }
1006
1007 package EmbeddedApp;
1008 use Mojolicious::Lite;
1009
1010 get '/bar' => 'bar';
1011
1012 1;
1013 __DATA__
1014 @@ bar.html.ep
1015 Hello World!
1016
1017 The "app" stash value, which won't be inherited by nested routes, can
1018 be used for already instantiated applications. Now just load the
1019 plugin and you're done.
1020
1021 # Application
1022 package MyApp;
1023 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious', -signatures;
1024
1025 sub startup ($self) {
1026
1027 # Plugin
1028 $self->plugin('MyEmbeddedApp');
1029 }
1030
1031 1;
1032
1034 You can continue with Mojolicious::Guides now or take a look at the
1035 Mojolicious wiki <https://github.com/mojolicious/mojo/wiki>, which
1036 contains a lot more documentation and examples by many different
1037 authors.
1038
1040 If you have any questions the documentation might not yet answer, don't
1041 hesitate to ask in the Forum <https://forum.mojolicious.org> or the
1042 official IRC channel "#mojo" on "irc.libera.chat" (chat now!
1043 <https://web.libera.chat/#mojo>).
1044
1045
1046
1047perl v5.34.0 2021-07-22 Mojolicious::Guides::Routing(3)