A router consists of one or many HTTP request routes which are used to match a given HTTP request target.

'a is a value which is returned by a route handler of the matched route.

route is a HTTP request route. A route encapsulates a HTTP method', a request_target and a route handler. A route handler is either of the following:

• a value of type 'a
• or a function which returns a value of type 'a.

request_target is a HTTP request target value to be matched. It consists of either just a path value or a combination of path and query values.

Example request_target values:

• /home/about/ - path only
• /home/contact - path only
• /home/contact?name=a&no=123 - path (/home/contact) and query (name=a&no=123). Path and query are delimited by ? character token if both are specified.

Consult Request Target DSL for creating values of this type.

See HTTP RFC 7230 - request target.

path is a part of request_target. It consists of one or more path components. path components are tokens which are delimited by a / character token.

Example of path and path components:

• / has path a component /
• /home/about has path components home, about
• /home/contact/ has path components home, contact and /

Consult Request Target DSL for creating values of this type.

rest represents a part of request target from a given path component to the rest of a request_target.

Use rest_to_string to convert to string representation.

query is a part of request_target. It consists of one of more query components which are delimited by a & character token. A query component further consists of a pair of values called name and value. name and value tokens are delimited by a = character token. A query component is represented syntactically as (name,value).

Given a request_target /home/about?a=2&b=3, the query components are (a,2) and (b,3).

Consult Request Target DSL for creating values of this type.

method' is a HTTP request method. See HTTP RFC 7231 - HTTP Methods

arg is a component which can convert a path component or a query component value token into an OCaml typed value represented by 'a. The successfully converted value is then fed to a route handler function as an argument.

arg name convert is arg with name name and convert as the function which will convert/decode a string value to an OCaml value of type 'a.

name is used during the pretty-printing of request_target by pp_request_target.

convert v is Some a if convert can successfully convert v to a. Otherwise it is None.

Although not strictly necessary if we are only working with Request Target DSL, it is recommended to adhere to the following convention when creating a custom arg. Such an 'a arg value can be used with both Request Target DSL and wtr-ppx ppxes. The convention is as follows:

1. Arg value be encapsulated in a module
2. The module define a type called t
3. The module define a value called t which is of type t Wtr.arg
4. The name value of the arg match the name of the module.

An example of such an 'a arg component - Fruit.t arg is as below:

  module Fruit = struct
    type t = Apple | Orange | Pineapple

    let t : t Wtr.arg =
      Wtr.arg "Fruit" (function
        | "apple" -> Some Apple
        | "orange" -> Some Orange
        | "pineapple" -> Some Pineapple
        | _ -> None)
  end

See parg and qarg for usage in path and query components.

p1 / p2 is a closure that combines p1 and p2. p1 and p2 are closures which encapsulate path value.

q1 /& q1 is a closure that combines q1 and q2. q1 and q2 are closures which encapsulate query value.

p /? q is a closure which combines p and q. p is a closure which encapsulates path value and q is a closure which encapsulates query value.

p //. pe is path that consists of only path components p and pe. pe is a path value that matches the last path component.

p /. pe is a request_target value that consists of only path components p and pe. pe is a path value that matches the last path component. It is equivalent to the following:

 let p = Wtr.(exact "hello" / exact "about" //. pend) |> Wtr.of_path 

pq /?. () is request_target. pq is a closure which encapulates both path and query components.

  let request_target1 =
    Wtr.(
      exact "hello"
      / bool
      /? qint "hello"
      /& qstring "hh"
      /& qbool "b"
      /?. ())

of_path path converts path to request_target

exact e p matches a path component to e exactly.

qexact (field, e) matches a query component to e exactly. The query component token name value is field.

to_request_target p is request_target consisting of only path p.

root is a request_target with / as the only component, i.e. it matches exactly the root HTTP request.

int matches valid OCaml int values.

int32 matches valid OCaml int32 values.

int64 matches valid OCaml int64 values.

float matches valid OCaml float and int values.

Note In addition to OCaml float values, the combinator can also match OCaml int values. Therefore:

Given, p is

 let p = Wtr.(float /. pend) 

then, it can match the following instances of HTTP request targets:

• /123
• /-234
• /123.
• /123.02
• /-123.
• /-123.22

bool matches a path component if it is equal to either "true" or "false" and converts them to valid OCaml bool values.

string matches valid OCaml string values.

parg d p matches a path component if d can successfully convert path component to a value of type 'c.

The example below uses the Fruit.t arg defined above:

 let p = Wtr.(parg Fruit.t /. pend) 

p matchs the following instances of HTTP request target values:

• /pineapple
• /apple
• /orange

qint field matches a valid OCaml int value. field is the name token of query component.

qint32 field matches a valid OCaml int32 value. field is the name token of query component.

qint64 field matches a valid OCaml int64 value. field is the name token of query component.

qfloat field matches a valid OCaml float value. field is the name token of query component.

The values matched by this combinator is the same as the float combinator.

qbool field matches query component if value token is equal to either "true" or "false". The value token is then converted to a valid OCaml bool value. field is the name token of query component.

qstring field matches a valid OCaml string value. field is the name token of query component.

qarg (field, d) matches a query component if d can successfully convert path component to a value of type 'c. field is the name token of query component.

The example below uses the Fruit.t arg defined above:

 let p = Wtr.(exact "hello" /? qarg ("fruit", Fruit.t) /?. ()) 

p matchs the following instances of HTTP request target values:

• /hello?fruit=pineapple
• /hello?fruit=apple
• /hello?fruit=orange

pend matches the end of path value.

rest matches and captures all of the remaining path and query components. The captured value is then fed to a route handler.

  let%expect_test "rest: comb" =
    (Wtr.(
       router [ routes [ `GET ] (exact "public" /. rest) rest_to_string ])
     |> Wtr.match' `GET "/public/styles/style.css"
     |> function
     | Some s -> print_string s
     | None -> ());
    [%expect {| styles/style.css |}]

slash matches path component / first and then matches the end of the path value.

  let%expect_test "slash matched" =
    (Wtr.(router [ routes [ `GET ] (exact "public" /. slash) "slash" ])
     |> Wtr.match' `GET "/public/"
     |> function
     | Some s -> print_string s
     | None -> ());
    [%expect {| slash |}]

  let%expect_test "slash not matched" =
    (Wtr.(router [ routes [ `GET ] (exact "public" /. slash) "slash" ])
     |> Wtr.match' `GET "/public"
     |> function
     | Some s -> print_string s
     | None -> ());
    [%expect {| |}]

rest_to_string rest converts rest to string.

route method' request_target handler is a route.

routes methods request_target route_handler is a product of methods X request_target X route_handler. This is equivalent to calling route like so:

  List.map (fun m -> route ~method:m request_target route_handler) [meth1; meth2; meth3]

router routes is a router that is composed of routes.

match' method' request_target router is Some a if method' and request_target together matches one of the routes defined in router. Otherwise it is None. The value Some a is returned by the route handler of the matched route.

The routes are matched based on the lexical order of the routes. This means they are matched from top to bottom, left to right and to the longest match. See pp to visualize the router and the route matching mechanism.

method_equal m1 m2 is true if m1 and m2 is the same value. Otherwise it is false.

Note if both m1 and m2 are `Method m then the string comparison is case insensitive.

  Wtr.method_equal `GET `GET = true;;
  Wtr.method_equal `POST `GET = false;;
  Wtr.method_equal (`Method "meth") (`Method "METH") = true

method' m is method' where string value m is converted to method' as follows:

• "GET" to `GET
• "HEAD" to `HEAD
• "POST" to `POST
• "PUT" to `PUT
• "DELETE" to `DELETE
• "CONNECT" to `CONNECT
• "OPTIONS" to `OPTIONS
• "TRACE" to `TRACE
• Any other value m to `Method m

Note String comparison is case insensitive.

  Wtr.method' "GET" = `GET;;
  Wtr.method' "get" = `GET;;
  Wtr.method' "method" = `Method "method"

pp_request_target fmt target pretty prints target onto fmt.

Path components

arg components - name of the combinator prefixed by : token, eg. int is printed as :int, float is printed as :float. Path Arg Components

parg component - name of the arg followed by : token e.g. parg Fruit.t is printed as :Fruit.

exact component - the string literal given to exact is printed, e.g. exact "hello" is printed as hello.

slash - printed as /

rest - printed as **

A / character is inserted in between the components when printing a sequence of path components, e.g.

 let p = Wtr.(exact "hello" / int / bool /. rest) 

is printed as /hello/:int/:bool/**.

Query components

arg components - query arg components are printed similar to path arg components; with the addition of name token, e.g. qint "h" is printed as h=:int, qbool "b" is printed as b=:bool.

qarg component - is printed similar to parg; with the addition of field name, e.g. qarg ("h", Fruit.t) is printed as h=:fruit.

qexact component - is printed similar to exact; with the addition of field name, e.g. qexact ("h", "hello") is printed as h=hello.

A & character is inserted in between the components when printing a sequence of query components. Additionally, a ? character is printed in between path components and query components, e.g.

  let target1 =
    Wtr.(
      exact "hello"
      / bool
      / int
      / string
      /? qexact ("h", "hello")
      /& qbool "b"
      /?. ())
  in
  Wtr.pp_request_target Format.std_formatter target1

will print the following: /hello/:bool/:int/:string?h=hello&b=:bool

pp_method fmt m pretty prints m onto fmt. It does the inverse of method'.

pp_route fmt route first pretty prints the method followed by the request_target of a route, e.g.

  let route1 =
    Wtr.(route ~method':`GET (exact "hello" / bool /. slash)) (fun _ -> ())

route1 is pretty printed as GET/hello/:bool/

The route2 contains both path and query components:

  let route2 =
    Wtr.(
      route ~method':`GET
        (exact "hello" / bool /? qexact ("h", "hello") /& qbool "b" /?. ()))
      (fun _ _ -> ())
  in
  Wtr.pp_route Format.std_formatter route2

It is printed as follows: GET/hello/:bool?h=hello?b=:bool

pp fmt router pretty prints router onto fmt. It follows the same mechanism as pp_route and pp_request_target. However, unlike the two functions, it prints each component - path and query - onto a separate line. The component in each line is indented.

The indentation and line printing is meant to convey the order of a route component evaluation. The evaluation is from top to bottom and left to right. This gives some indication of how the routes are evaluated and thus can be used to aid in debugging routing issues.

For example, router1 which is defined as:

  let router1 =
    Wtr.(
      router'
        [
          routes
            [ `GET; `POST; `HEAD; `DELETE ]
            (exact "home" / exact "about" /. slash)
            about_page;
          routes [ `GET ]
            (exact "contact" / string / int /. pend)
            contact_page;
          routes [ `GET ]
            (exact "product" / string /? qint "section" /& qbool "q" /?. ())
            product1;
          routes [ `GET ]
            (exact "product"
            / string
            /? qint "section"
            /& qexact ("q1", "yes")
            /?. ())
            product2;
          routes [ `GET ] (exact "fruit" / parg Fruit.t /. pend) fruit_page;
        ])

is pretty printed as below:

GET
  /home
    /about
      /
  /contact
    /:string
      /:int
  /product
    /:string
      ?section=:int
        &q=:bool
        &q1=yes
  /fruit
    /:Fruit
POST
  /home
    /about
      /
HEAD
  /home
    /about
      /
DELETE
  /home
    /about
      /