sinatra/README.md

# Sinatra

Sinatra is a [DSL](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-specific_language) for
quickly creating web applications in Ruby with minimal effort:

``` ruby
# myapp.rb
require 'sinatra'

get '/' do
  'Hello world!'
end
```

Install the gem and run with:

``` shell
gem install sinatra
ruby myapp.rb
```

View at: http://localhost:4567

It is recommended to also run `gem install thin`, which Sinatra will
pick up if available.

## Table of Contents

* [Sinatra](#sinatra)
    * [Table of Contents](#table-of-contents)
    * [Routes](#routes)
    * [Conditions](#conditions)
        * [Return Values](#return-values)
        * [Custom Route Matchers](#custom-route-matchers)
        * [Static Files](#static-files)
        * [Views / Templates](#views--templates)
            * [Literal Templates](#literal-templates)
        * [Available Template Languages](#available-template-languages)
            * [Haml Templates](#haml-templates)
            * [Erb Templates](#erb-templates)
            * [Builder Templates](#builder-templates)
            * [Nokogiri Templates](#nokogiri-templates)
            * [Sass Templates](#sass-templates)
            * [SCSS Templates](#scss-templates)
            * [Less Templates](#less-templates)
            * [Liquid Templates](#liquid-templates)
            * [Markdown Templates](#markdown-templates)
            * [Textile Templates](#textile-templates)
            * [RDoc Templates](#rdoc-templates)
            * [Radius Templates](#radius-templates)
            * [Markaby Templates](#markaby-templates)
            * [RABL Templates](#rabl-templates)
            * [Slim Templates](#slim-templates)
            * [Creole Templates](#creole-templates)
            * [CoffeeScript Templates](#coffeescript-templates)
            * [Stylus Templates](#stylus-templates)
            * [Yajl Templates](#yajl-templates)
            * [WLang Templates](#wlang-templates)
        * [Accessing Variables in Templates](#accessing-variables-in-templates)
        * [Templates with `yield` and nested layouts](#templates-with-yield-and-nested-layouts)
        * [Inline Templates](#inline-templates)
        * [Named Templates](#named-templates)
        * [Associating File Extensions](#associating-file-extensions)
        * [Adding Your Own Template Engine](#adding-your-own-template-engine)
    * [Filters](#filters)
    * [Helpers](#helpers)
        * [Using Sessions](#using-sessions)
        * [Halting](#halting)
        * [Passing](#passing)
        * [Triggering Another Route](#triggering-another-route)
        * [Setting Body, Status Code and Headers](#setting-body-status-code-and-headers)
        * [Streaming Responses](#streaming-responses)
        * [Logging](#logging)
        * [Mime Types](#mime-types)
        * [Generating URLs](#generating-urls)
        * [Browser Redirect](#browser-redirect)
        * [Cache Control](#cache-control)
        * [Sending Files](#sending-files)
        * [Accessing the Request Object](#accessing-the-request-object)
        * [Attachments](#attachments)
        * [Dealing with Date and Time](#dealing-with-date-and-time)
        * [Looking Up Template Files](#looking-up-template-files)
    * [Configuration](#configuration)
        * [Configuring attack protection](#configuring-attack-protection)
        * [Available Settings](#available-settings)
    * [Environments](#environments)
    * [Error Handling](#error-handling)
        * [Not Found](#not-found)
        * [Error](#error)
    * [Rack Middleware](#rack-middleware)
    * [Testing](#testing)
    * [Sinatra::Base - Middleware, Libraries, and Modular Apps](#sinatrabase---middleware-libraries-and-modular-apps)
        * [Modular vs. Classic Style](#modular-vs-classic-style)
        * [Serving a Modular Application](#serving-a-modular-application)
        * [Using a Classic Style Application with a config.ru](#using-a-classic-style-application-with-a-configru)
        * [When to use a config.ru?](#when-to-use-a-configru)
        * [Using Sinatra as Middleware](#using-sinatra-as-middleware)
        * [Dynamic Application Creation](#dynamic-application-creation)
    * [Scopes and Binding](#scopes-and-binding)
        * [Application/Class Scope](#applicationclass-scope)
        * [Request/Instance Scope](#requestinstance-scope)
        * [Delegation Scope](#delegation-scope)
    * [Command Line](#command-line)
    * [Requirement](#requirement)
    * [The Bleeding Edge](#the-bleeding-edge)
        * [With Bundler](#with-bundler)
        * [Roll Your Own](#roll-your-own)
        * [Install Globally](#install-globally)
    * [Versioning](#versioning)
    * [Further Reading](#further-reading)

## Routes

In Sinatra, a route is an HTTP method paired with a URL-matching pattern.
Each route is associated with a block:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  .. show something ..
end

post '/' do
  .. create something ..
end

put '/' do
  .. replace something ..
end

patch '/' do
  .. modify something ..
end

delete '/' do
  .. annihilate something ..
end

options '/' do
  .. appease something ..
end

link '/' do
  .. affiliate something ..
end

unlink '/' do
  .. separate something ..
end
```

Routes are matched in the order they are defined. The first route that
matches the request is invoked.

Route patterns may include named parameters, accessible via the
`params` hash:

``` ruby
get '/hello/:name' do
  # matches "GET /hello/foo" and "GET /hello/bar"
  # params[:name] is 'foo' or 'bar'
  "Hello #{params[:name]}!"
end
```

You can also access named parameters via block parameters:

``` ruby
get '/hello/:name' do |n|
  "Hello #{n}!"
end
```

Route patterns may also include splat (or wildcard) parameters, accessible
via the `params[:splat]` array:

``` ruby
get '/say/*/to/*' do
  # matches /say/hello/to/world
  params[:splat] # => ["hello", "world"]
end

get '/download/*.*' do
  # matches /download/path/to/file.xml
  params[:splat] # => ["path/to/file", "xml"]
end
```

Or with block parameters:

``` ruby
get '/download/*.*' do |path, ext|
  [path, ext] # => ["path/to/file", "xml"]
end
```

Route matching with Regular Expressions:

``` ruby
get %r{/hello/([\w]+)} do
  "Hello, #{params[:captures].first}!"
end
```

Or with a block parameter:

``` ruby
get %r{/hello/([\w]+)} do |c|
  "Hello, #{c}!"
end
```

Route patterns may have optional parameters:

``` ruby
get '/posts.?:format?' do
  # matches "GET /posts" and any extension "GET /posts.json", "GET /posts.xml" etc.
end
```

By the way, unless you disable the path traversal attack protection (see below),
the request path might be modified before matching against your routes.

## Conditions

Routes may include a variety of matching conditions, such as the user agent:

``` ruby
get '/foo', :agent => /Songbird (\d\.\d)[\d\/]*?/ do
  "You're using Songbird version #{params[:agent][0]}"
end

get '/foo' do
  # Matches non-songbird browsers
end
```

Other available conditions are `host_name` and `provides`:

``` ruby
get '/', :host_name => /^admin\./ do
  "Admin Area, Access denied!"
end

get '/', :provides => 'html' do
  haml :index
end

get '/', :provides => ['rss', 'atom', 'xml'] do
  builder :feed
end
```

You can easily define your own conditions:

``` ruby
set(:probability) { |value| condition { rand <= value } }

get '/win_a_car', :probability => 0.1 do
  "You won!"
end

get '/win_a_car' do
  "Sorry, you lost."
end
```

For a condition that takes multiple values use a splat:

``` ruby
set(:auth) do |*roles|   # <- notice the splat here
  condition do
    unless logged_in? && roles.any? {|role| current_user.in_role? role }
      redirect "/login/", 303
    end
  end
end

get "/my/account/", :auth => [:user, :admin] do
  "Your Account Details"
end

get "/only/admin/", :auth => :admin do
  "Only admins are allowed here!"
end
```

### Return Values

The return value of a route block determines at least the response body passed
on to the HTTP client, or at least the next middleware in the Rack stack.
Most commonly, this is a string, as in the above examples. But other values are
also accepted.

You can return any object that would either be a valid Rack response, Rack
body object or HTTP status code:

* An Array with three elements: `[status (Fixnum), headers (Hash), response
  body (responds to #each)]`
* An Array with two elements: `[status (Fixnum), response body (responds to
  #each)]`
* An object that responds to `#each` and passes nothing but strings to
  the given block
* A Fixnum representing the status code

That way we can, for instance, easily implement a streaming example:

``` ruby
class Stream
  def each
    100.times { |i| yield "#{i}\n" }
  end
end

get('/') { Stream.new }
```

You can also use the `stream` helper method (described below) to reduce boiler
plate and embed the streaming logic in the route.

### Custom Route Matchers

As shown above, Sinatra ships with built-in support for using String patterns
and regular expressions as route matches. However, it does not stop there. You
can easily define your own matchers:

``` ruby
class AllButPattern
  Match = Struct.new(:captures)

  def initialize(except)
    @except   = except
    @captures = Match.new([])
  end

  def match(str)
    @captures unless @except === str
  end
end

def all_but(pattern)
  AllButPattern.new(pattern)
end

get all_but("/index") do
  # ...
end
```

Note that the above example might be over-engineered, as it can also be
expressed as:

``` ruby
get // do
  pass if request.path_info == "/index"
  # ...
end
```

Or, using negative look ahead:

``` ruby
get %r{^(?!/index$)} do
  # ...
end
```

### Static Files

Static files are served from the `./public` directory. You can specify
a different location by setting the `:public_folder` option:

``` ruby
set :public_folder, File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/static'
```

Note that the public directory name is not included in the URL. A file
`./public/css/style.css` is made available as
`http://example.com/css/style.css`.

Use the `:static_cache_control` setting (see below) to add
`Cache-Control` header info.

### Views / Templates

Each template language is exposed via its own rendering method. These
methods simply return a string:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  erb :index
end
```

This renders `views/index.erb`.

Instead of a template name, you can also just pass in the template content
directly:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  code = "<%= Time.now %>"
  erb code
end
```

Templates take a second argument, the options hash:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  erb :index, :layout => :post
end
```

This will render `views/index.erb` embedded in the
`views/post.erb` (default is `views/layout.erb`, if it exists).

Any options not understood by Sinatra will be passed on to the template
engine:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  haml :index, :format => :html5
end
```

You can also set options per template language in general:

``` ruby
set :haml, :format => :html5

get '/' do
  haml :index
end
```

Options passed to the render method override options set via `set`.

Available Options:

<dl>
  <dt>locals</dt>
  <dd>
    List of locals passed to the document. Handy with partials.
    Example: <tt>erb "<%= foo %>", :locals => {:foo => "bar"}</tt>
  </dd>

  <dt>default_encoding</dt>
  <dd>
    String encoding to use if uncertain. Defaults to
    <tt>settings.default_encoding</tt>.
  </dd>

  <dt>views</dt>
  <dd>
    Views folder to load templates from. Defaults to <tt>settings.views</tt>.
  </dd>

  <dt>layout</dt>
  <dd>
    Whether to use a layout (<tt>true</tt> or <tt>false</tt>), if it's a Symbol, specifies
    what template to use. Example: <tt>erb :index, :layout => !request.xhr?</tt>
  </dd>

  <dt>content_type</dt>
  <dd>
    Content-Type the template produces, default depends on template language.
  </dd>

  <dt>scope</dt>
  <dd>
    Scope to render template under. Defaults to the application instance. If you
    change this, instance variables and helper methods will not be available.
  </dd>

  <dt>layout_engine</dt>
  <dd>
    Template engine to use for rendering the layout. Useful for languages that
    do not support layouts otherwise. Defaults to the engine used for the
    template. Example: <tt>set :rdoc, :layout_engine => :erb</tt>
  </dd>

  <dt>layout_options</dt>
  <dd>
    Special options only used for rendering the layout. Example:
    <tt>set :rdoc, :layout_options => { :views => 'views/layouts' }</tt>
  </dd>

  <dd>
    Templates are assumed to be located directly under the `./views`
    directory. To use a different views directory:
  <tt>set :views, settings.root + '/templates'</tt>
  </dd>

  <dd>
    One important thing to remember is that you always have to reference
    templates with symbols, even if they're in a subdirectory (in this
    case, use: <tt>'subdir/template'</tt>). You must use a symbol because
    otherwise rendering methods will render any strings passed to them
    directly.
  </dd>
</dl>

#### Literal Templates

``` ruby
get '/' do
  haml '%div.title Hello World'
end
```

Renders the template string.

### Available Template Languages

Some languages have multiple implementations. To specify what implementation
to use (and to be thread-safe), you should simply require it first:

``` ruby
require 'rdiscount' # or require 'bluecloth'
get('/') { markdown :index }
```

#### Haml Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://haml.info/" title="haml">haml</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.haml</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>haml :index, :format => :html5</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

#### Erb Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td>
      <a href="http://www.kuwata-lab.com/erubis/" title="erubis">erubis</a>
      or erb (included in Ruby)
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extensions</td>
    <td><tt>.erb</tt>, <tt>.rhtml</tt> or <tt>.erubis</tt> (Erubis only)</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>erb :index</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

#### Builder Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td>
      <a href="http://builder.rubyforge.org/" title="builder">builder</a>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.builder</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>builder { |xml| xml.em "hi" }</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

It also takes a block for inline templates (see example).

#### Nokogiri Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://nokogiri.org/" title="nokogiri">nokogiri</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.nokogiri</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>nokogiri { |xml| xml.em "hi" }</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

It also takes a block for inline templates (see example).

#### Sass Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://sass-lang.com/" title="sass">sass</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.sass</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>sass :stylesheet, :style => :expanded</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

#### SCSS Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://sass-lang.com/" title="sass">sass</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.scss</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>scss :stylesheet, :style => :expanded</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

#### Less Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://www.lesscss.org/" title="less">less</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.less</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>less :stylesheet</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

#### Liquid Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://www.liquidmarkup.org/" title="liquid">liquid</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.liquid</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>liquid :index, :locals => { :key => 'value' }</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

Since you cannot call Ruby methods (except for `yield`) from a Liquid
template, you almost always want to pass locals to it.

#### Markdown Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td>
      Anyone of:
        <a href="https://github.com/rtomayko/rdiscount" title="RDiscount">RDiscount</a>,
        <a href="https://github.com/vmg/redcarpet" title="RedCarpet">RedCarpet</a>,
        <a href="http://deveiate.org/projects/BlueCloth" title="BlueCloth">BlueCloth</a>,
        <a href="http://kramdown.rubyforge.org/" title="kramdown">kramdown</a>,
        <a href="http://maruku.rubyforge.org/" title="maruku">maruku</a>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extensions</td>
    <td><tt>.markdown</tt>, <tt>.mkd</tt> and <tt>.md</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>markdown :index, :layout_engine => :erb</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

It is not possible to call methods from markdown, nor to pass locals to it.
You therefore will usually use it in combination with another rendering
engine:

``` ruby
erb :overview, :locals => { :text => markdown(:introduction) }
```

Note that you may also call the `markdown` method from within other templates:

``` ruby
%h1 Hello From Haml!
%p= markdown(:greetings)
```

Since you cannot call Ruby from Markdown, you cannot use layouts written in
Markdown. However, it is possible to use another rendering engine for the
template than for the layout by passing the `:layout_engine` option.

#### Textile Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://redcloth.org/" title="RedCloth">RedCloth</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.textile</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>textile :index, :layout_engine => :erb</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>


It is not possible to call methods from textile, nor to pass locals to it. You
therefore will usually use it in combination with another rendering engine:

``` ruby
erb :overview, :locals => { :text => textile(:introduction) }
```

Note that you may also call the `textile` method from within other templates:

``` ruby
%h1 Hello From Haml!
%p= textile(:greetings)
```

Since you cannot call Ruby from Textile, you cannot use layouts written in
Textile. However, it is possible to use another rendering engine for the
template than for the layout by passing the `:layout_engine` option.

#### RDoc Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://rdoc.rubyforge.org/" title="RDoc">RDoc</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.rdoc</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>rdoc :README, :layout_engine => :erb</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

It is not possible to call methods from rdoc, nor to pass locals to it. You
therefore will usually use it in combination with another rendering engine:

``` ruby
erb :overview, :locals => { :text => rdoc(:introduction) }
```

Note that you may also call the `rdoc` method from within other templates:

``` ruby
%h1 Hello From Haml!
%p= rdoc(:greetings)
```

Since you cannot call Ruby from RDoc, you cannot use layouts written in
RDoc. However, it is possible to use another rendering engine for the
template than for the layout by passing the `:layout_engine` option.

#### Radius Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://radius.rubyforge.org/" title="Radius">Radius</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.radius</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>radius :index, :locals => { :key => 'value' }</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

Since you cannot call Ruby methods directly from a Radius template, you almost
always want to pass locals to it.

#### Markaby Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://markaby.github.com/" title="Markaby">Markaby</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.mab</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>markaby { h1 "Welcome!" }</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

It also takes a block for inline templates (see example).

#### RABL Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="https://github.com/nesquena/rabl" title="Rabl">Rabl</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.rabl</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>rabl :index</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

#### Slim Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="http://slim-lang.com/" title="Slim Lang">Slim Lang</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.slim</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>slim :index</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

#### Creole Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="https://github.com/minad/creole" title="Creole">Creole</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.creole</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>creole :wiki, :layout_engine => :erb</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

It is not possible to call methods from creole, nor to pass locals to it. You
therefore will usually use it in combination with another rendering engine:

``` ruby
erb :overview, :locals => { :text => creole(:introduction) }
```

Note that you may also call the `creole` method from within other templates:

``` ruby
%h1 Hello From Haml!
%p= creole(:greetings)
```

Since you cannot call Ruby from Creole, you cannot use layouts written in
Creole. However, it is possible to use another rendering engine for the
template than for the layout by passing the `:layout_engine` option.

#### CoffeeScript Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td>
      <a href="https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script" title="Ruby CoffeeScript">
        CoffeeScript
      </a> and a
      <a href="https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs/blob/master/README.md#readme" title="ExecJS">
        way to execute javascript
      </a>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.coffee</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>coffee :index</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

#### Stylus Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td>
      <a href="https://github.com/lucasmazza/ruby-stylus" title="Ruby Stylus">
        Stylus
      </a> and a
      <a href="https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs/blob/master/README.md#readme" title="ExecJS">
        way to execute javascript
      </a>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.styl</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>stylus :index</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

Before being able to use Stylus templates, you need to load `stylus` and
`stylus/tilt` first:

``` ruby
require 'sinatra'
require 'stylus'
require 'stylus/tilt'

get '/' do
  stylus :example
end
```

#### Yajl Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="https://github.com/brianmario/yajl-ruby" title="yajl-ruby">yajl-ruby</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.yajl</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td>
      <tt>
        yajl :index,
             :locals => { :key => 'qux' },
             :callback => 'present',
             :variable => 'resource'
      </tt>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>


The template source is evaluated as a Ruby string, and the
resulting json variable is converted using `#to_json`.

``` ruby
json = { :foo => 'bar' }
json[:baz] = key
```

The `:callback` and `:variable` options can be used to decorate the rendered object.

``` ruby
var resource = {"foo":"bar","baz":"qux"}; present(resource);
```

#### WLang Templates

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Dependency</td>
    <td><a href="https://github.com/blambeau/wlang/" title="wlang">wlang</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>File Extension</td>
    <td><tt>.wlang</tt></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Example</td>
    <td><tt>wlang :index, :locals => { :key => 'value' }</tt></td>
  </tr>
</table>

Since calling ruby methods is not idiomatic in wlang, you almost always want to pass locals
to it. Layouts written in wlang and `yield` are supported, though.

### Accessing Variables in Templates

Templates are evaluated within the same context as route handlers. Instance
variables set in route handlers are directly accessible by templates:

``` ruby
get '/:id' do
  @foo = Foo.find(params[:id])
  haml '%h1= @foo.name'
end
```

Or, specify an explicit Hash of local variables:

``` ruby
get '/:id' do
  foo = Foo.find(params[:id])
  haml '%h1= bar.name', :locals => { :bar => foo }
end
```

This is typically used when rendering templates as partials from within
other templates.

### Templates with `yield` and nested layouts

A layout is usually just a template that calls `yield`.
Such a template can by used either through the `:template` option as
described above, or it can be rendered with a block as follows:

``` ruby
erb :post, :layout => false do
  erb :index
end
```

This code is mostly equivalent to `erb :index, :layout => :post`.

Passing blocks to rendering methods is most useful for creating nested
layouts:

``` ruby
erb :main_layout, :layout => false do
  erb :admin_layout do
    erb :user
  end
end
```

This can also be done in fewer lines of code with:

``` ruby
erb :admin_layout, :layout => :main_layout do
  erb :user
end
```

Currently the following rendering method accept a block: `erb`, `haml`,
`liquid`, `slim `, `wlang`.
Also the general `render` method accepts a block.

### Inline Templates

Templates may be defined at the end of the source file:

``` ruby
require 'sinatra'

get '/' do
  haml :index
end

__END__

@@ layout
%html
  = yield

@@ index
%div.title Hello world.
```

NOTE: Inline templates defined in the source file that requires sinatra are
automatically loaded. Call `enable :inline_templates` explicitly if you
have inline templates in other source files.

### Named Templates

Templates may also be defined using the top-level `template` method:

``` ruby
template :layout do
  "%html\n  =yield\n"
end

template :index do
  '%div.title Hello World!'
end

get '/' do
  haml :index
end
```

If a template named "layout" exists, it will be used each time a template
is rendered. You can individually disable layouts by passing
`:layout => false` or disable them by default via
`set :haml, :layout => false`:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  haml :index, :layout => !request.xhr?
end
```

### Associating File Extensions

To associate a file extension with a template engine, use
`Tilt.register`. For instance, if you like to use the file extension
`tt` for Textile templates, you can do the following:

``` ruby
Tilt.register :tt, Tilt[:textile]
```

### Adding Your Own Template Engine

First, register your engine with Tilt, then create a rendering method:

``` ruby
Tilt.register :myat, MyAwesomeTemplateEngine

helpers do
  def myat(*args) render(:myat, *args) end
end

get '/' do
  myat :index
end
```

Renders `./views/index.myat`. See https://github.com/rtomayko/tilt to
learn more about Tilt.

## Filters

Before filters are evaluated before each request within the same
context as the routes will be and can modify the request and response. Instance
variables set in filters are accessible by routes and templates:

``` ruby
before do
  @note = 'Hi!'
  request.path_info = '/foo/bar/baz'
end

get '/foo/*' do
  @note #=> 'Hi!'
  params[:splat] #=> 'bar/baz'
end
```

After filters are evaluated after each request within the same context and can
also modify the request and response. Instance variables set in before filters
and routes are accessible by after filters:

``` ruby
after do
  puts response.status
end
```

Note: Unless you use the `body` method rather than just returning a String from
the routes, the body will not yet be available in the after filter, since it is
generated later on.

Filters optionally take a pattern, causing them to be evaluated only if the
request path matches that pattern:

``` ruby
before '/protected/*' do
  authenticate!
end

after '/create/:slug' do |slug|
  session[:last_slug] = slug
end
```

Like routes, filters also take conditions:

``` ruby
before :agent => /Songbird/ do
  # ...
end

after '/blog/*', :host_name => 'example.com' do
  # ...
end
```

## Helpers

Use the top-level `helpers` method to define helper methods for use in
route handlers and templates:

``` ruby
helpers do
  def bar(name)
    "#{name}bar"
  end
end

get '/:name' do
  bar(params[:name])
end
```

Alternatively, helper methods can be separately defined in a module:

``` ruby
module FooUtils
  def foo(name) "#{name}foo" end
end

module BarUtils
  def bar(name) "#{name}bar" end
end

helpers FooUtils, BarUtils
```

The effect is the same as including the modules in the application class.

### Using Sessions

A session is used to keep state during requests. If activated, you have one
session hash per user session:

``` ruby
enable :sessions

get '/' do
  "value = " << session[:value].inspect
end

get '/:value' do
  session[:value] = params[:value]
end
```

Note that `enable :sessions` actually stores all data in a cookie. This
might not always be what you want (storing lots of data will increase your
traffic, for instance). You can use any Rack session middleware: in order to
do so, do **not** call `enable :sessions`, but instead pull in your
middleware of choice as you would any other middleware:

``` ruby
use Rack::Session::Pool, :expire_after => 2592000

get '/' do
  "value = " << session[:value].inspect
end

get '/:value' do
  session[:value] = params[:value]
end
```

To improve security, the session data in the cookie is signed with a session
secret. A random secret is generated for you by Sinatra. However, since this
secret will change with every start of your application, you might want to
set the secret yourself, so all your application instances share it:

``` ruby
set :session_secret, 'super secret'
```

If you want to configure it further, you may also store a hash with options in
the `sessions` setting:

``` ruby
set :sessions, :domain => 'foo.com'
```

### Halting

To immediately stop a request within a filter or route use:

``` ruby
halt
```

You can also specify the status when halting:

``` ruby
halt 410
```

Or the body:

``` ruby
halt 'this will be the body'
```

Or both:

``` ruby
halt 401, 'go away!'
```

With headers:

``` ruby
halt 402, {'Content-Type' => 'text/plain'}, 'revenge'
```

It is of course possible to combine a template with `halt`:

``` ruby
halt erb(:error)
```

### Passing

A route can punt processing to the next matching route using `pass`:

``` ruby
get '/guess/:who' do
  pass unless params[:who] == 'Frank'
  'You got me!'
end

get '/guess/*' do
  'You missed!'
end
```

The route block is immediately exited and control continues with the next
matching route. If no matching route is found, a 404 is returned.

### Triggering Another Route

Sometimes `pass` is not what you want, instead you would like to get the result
of calling another route. Simply use `call` to achieve this:

``` ruby
get '/foo' do
  status, headers, body = call env.merge("PATH_INFO" => '/bar')
  [status, headers, body.map(&:upcase)]
end

get '/bar' do
  "bar"
end
```

Note that in the example above, you would ease testing and increase performance
by simply moving `"bar"` into a helper used by both `/foo`
and `/bar`.

If you want the request to be sent to the same application instance rather than
a duplicate, use `call!` instead of `call`.

Check out the Rack specification if you want to learn more about `call`.

### Setting Body, Status Code and Headers

It is possible and recommended to set the status code and response body with the
return value of the route block. However, in some scenarios you might want to
set the body at an arbitrary point in the execution flow. You can do so with the
`body` helper method. If you do so, you can use that method from there on to
access the body:

``` ruby
get '/foo' do
  body "bar"
end

after do
  puts body
end
```

It is also possible to pass a block to `body`, which will be executed by the
Rack handler (this can be used to implement streaming, see "Return Values").

Similar to the body, you can also set the status code and headers:

``` ruby
get '/foo' do
  status 418
  headers \
    "Allow"   => "BREW, POST, GET, PROPFIND, WHEN",
    "Refresh" => "Refresh: 20; http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2324.txt"
  body "I'm a tea pot!"
end
```

Like `body`, `headers` and `status` with no arguments can be used to access
their current values.

### Streaming Responses

Sometimes you want to start sending out data while still generating parts of
the response body. In extreme examples, you want to keep sending data until
the client closes the connection. You can use the `stream` helper to avoid
creating your own wrapper:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  stream do |out|
    out << "It's gonna be legen -\n"
    sleep 0.5
    out << " (wait for it) \n"
    sleep 1
    out << "- dary!\n"
  end
end
```

This allows you to implement streaming APIs,
[Server Sent Events](http://dev.w3.org/html5/eventsource/) and can be used as
the basis for [WebSockets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket). It can also be
used to increase throughput if some but not all content depends on a slow
resource.

Note that the streaming behavior, especially the number of concurrent requests,
highly depends on the web server used to serve the application. Some servers,
like WEBRick, might not even support streaming at all. If the server does not
support streaming, the body will be sent all at once after the block passed to
`stream` finishes executing. Streaming does not work at all with Shotgun.

If the optional parameter is set to `keep_open`, it will not call `close` on
the stream object, allowing you to close it at any later point in the
execution flow. This only works on evented servers, like Thin and Rainbows.
Other servers will still close the stream:

``` ruby
# long polling

set :server, :thin
connections = []

get '/subscribe' do
  # register a client's interest in server events
  stream(:keep_open) { |out| connections << out }

  # purge dead connections
  connections.reject!(&:closed?)

  # acknowledge
  "subscribed"
end

post '/message' do
  connections.each do |out|
    # notify client that a new message has arrived
    out << params[:message] << "\n"

    # indicate client to connect again
    out.close
  end

  # acknowledge
  "message received"
end
```

### Logging

In the request scope, the `logger` helper exposes a `Logger` instance:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  logger.info "loading data"
  # ...
end
```

This logger will automatically take your Rack handler's logging settings into
account. If logging is disabled, this method will return a dummy object, so
you do not have to worry in your routes and filters about it.

Note that logging is only enabled for `Sinatra::Application` by
default, so if you inherit from `Sinatra::Base`, you probably want to
enable it yourself:

``` ruby
class MyApp < Sinatra::Base
  configure :production, :development do
    enable :logging
  end
end
```

To avoid any logging middleware to be set up, set the `logging` setting to
`nil`. However, keep in mind that `logger` will in that case return `nil`. A
common use case is when you want to set your own logger. Sinatra will use
whatever it will find in `env['rack.logger']`.

### Mime Types

When using `send_file` or static files you may have mime types Sinatra
doesn't understand. Use `mime_type` to register them by file extension:

``` ruby
configure do
  mime_type :foo, 'text/foo'
end
```

You can also use it with the `content_type` helper:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  content_type :foo
  "foo foo foo"
end
```

### Generating URLs

For generating URLs you should use the `url` helper method, for instance, in
Haml:

``` haml
%a{:href => url('/foo')} foo
```

It takes reverse proxies and Rack routers into account, if present.

This method is also aliased to `to` (see below for an example).

### Browser Redirect

You can trigger a browser redirect with the `redirect` helper method:

``` ruby
get '/foo' do
  redirect to('/bar')
end
```

Any additional parameters are handled like arguments passed to `halt`:

``` ruby
redirect to('/bar'), 303
redirect 'http://google.com', 'wrong place, buddy'
```

You can also easily redirect back to the page the user came from with
`redirect back`:

``` ruby
get '/foo' do
  "<a href='/bar'>do something</a>"
end

get '/bar' do
  do_something
  redirect back
end
```

To pass arguments with a redirect, either add them to the query:

``` ruby
redirect to('/bar?sum=42')
```

Or use a session:

``` ruby
enable :sessions

get '/foo' do
  session[:secret] = 'foo'
  redirect to('/bar')
end

get '/bar' do
  session[:secret]
end
```

### Cache Control

Setting your headers correctly is the foundation for proper HTTP caching.

You can easily set the Cache-Control header like this:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  cache_control :public
  "cache it!"
end
```

Pro tip: Set up caching in a before filter:

``` ruby
before do
  cache_control :public, :must_revalidate, :max_age => 60
end
```

If you are using the `expires` helper to set the corresponding header,
`Cache-Control` will be set automatically for you:

``` ruby
before do
  expires 500, :public, :must_revalidate
end
```

To properly use caches, you should consider using `etag` or `last_modified`.
It is recommended to call those helpers *before* doing any heavy lifting, as they
will immediately flush a response if the client already has the current
version in its cache:

``` ruby
get '/article/:id' do
  @article = Article.find params[:id]
  last_modified @article.updated_at
  etag @article.sha1
  erb :article
end
```

It is also possible to use a
[weak ETag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_ETag#Strong_and_weak_validation):

``` ruby
etag @article.sha1, :weak
```

These helpers will not do any caching for you, but rather feed the necessary
information to your cache. If you are looking for a quick reverse-proxy caching
solution, try [rack-cache](https://github.com/rtomayko/rack-cache):

``` ruby
require "rack/cache"
require "sinatra"

use Rack::Cache

get '/' do
  cache_control :public, :max_age => 36000
  sleep 5
  "hello"
end
```

Use the `:static_cache_control` setting (see below) to add
`Cache-Control` header info to static files.

According to RFC 2616 your application should behave differently if the If-Match
or If-None-Match header is set to `*` depending on whether the resource
requested is already in existence. Sinatra assumes resources for safe (like get)
and idempotent (like put) requests are already in existence, whereas other
resources (for instance for post requests), are treated as new resources. You
can change this behavior by passing in a `:new_resource` option:

``` ruby
get '/create' do
  etag '', :new_resource => true
  Article.create
  erb :new_article
end
```

If you still want to use a weak ETag, pass in a `:kind` option:

``` ruby
etag '', :new_resource => true, :kind => :weak
```

### Sending Files

For sending files, you can use the `send_file` helper method:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  send_file 'foo.png'
end
```

It also takes options:

``` ruby
send_file 'foo.png', :type => :jpg
```

The options are:

<dl>
  <dt>filename</dt>
    <dd>file name, in response, defaults to the real file name.</dd>

  <dt>last_modified</dt>
    <dd>value for Last-Modified header, defaults to the file's mtime.</dd>

  <dt>type</dt>
    <dd>content type to use, guessed from the file extension if missing.</dd>

  </dt>disposition</dt>
    <dd>
      used for Content-Disposition, possible value: <tt>nil</tt> (default),
      <tt>:attachment</tt> and <tt>:inline</tt>
    </dd>

  <dt>length</dt>
    <dd>Content-Length header, defaults to file size.</dd>

  <dt>status</dt>
    <dd>
      Status code to be send. Useful when sending a static file as an error page.

      If supported by the Rack handler, other means than streaming from the Ruby
      process will be used. If you use this helper method, Sinatra will automatically
      handle range requests.
    </dd>
</dl>

### Accessing the Request Object

The incoming request object can be accessed from request level (filter, routes,
error handlers) through the `request` method:

``` ruby
# app running on http://example.com/example
get '/foo' do
  t = %w[text/css text/html application/javascript]
  request.accept              # ['text/html', '*/*']
  request.accept? 'text/xml'  # true
  request.preferred_type(t)   # 'text/html'
  request.body                # request body sent by the client (see below)
  request.scheme              # "http"
  request.script_name         # "/example"
  request.path_info           # "/foo"
  request.port                # 80
  request.request_method      # "GET"
  request.query_string        # ""
  request.content_length      # length of request.body
  request.media_type          # media type of request.body
  request.host                # "example.com"
  request.get?                # true (similar methods for other verbs)
  request.form_data?          # false
  request["some_param"]       # value of some_param parameter. [] is a shortcut to the params hash.
  request.referrer            # the referrer of the client or '/'
  request.user_agent          # user agent (used by :agent condition)
  request.cookies             # hash of browser cookies
  request.xhr?                # is this an ajax request?
  request.url                 # "http://example.com/example/foo"
  request.path                # "/example/foo"
  request.ip                  # client IP address
  request.secure?             # false (would be true over ssl)
  request.forwarded?          # true (if running behind a reverse proxy)
  request.env                 # raw env hash handed in by Rack
end
```

Some options, like `script_name` or `path_info`, can also be
written:

``` ruby
before { request.path_info = "/" }

get "/" do
  "all requests end up here"
end
```

The `request.body` is an IO or StringIO object:

``` ruby
post "/api" do
  request.body.rewind  # in case someone already read it
  data = JSON.parse request.body.read
  "Hello #{data['name']}!"
end
```

### Attachments

You can use the `attachment` helper to tell the browser the response should be
stored on disk rather than displayed in the browser:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  attachment
  "store it!"
end
```

You can also pass it a file name:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  attachment "info.txt"
  "store it!"
end
```

### Dealing with Date and Time

Sinatra offers a `time_for` helper method that generates a Time object
from the given value. It is also able to convert `DateTime`, `Date` and
similar classes:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  pass if Time.now > time_for('Dec 23, 2012')
  "still time"
end
```

This method is used internally by `expires`, `last_modified` and akin. You can
therefore easily extend the behavior of those methods by overriding `time_for`
in your application:

``` ruby
helpers do
  def time_for(value)
    case value
    when :yesterday then Time.now - 24*60*60
    when :tomorrow  then Time.now + 24*60*60
    else super
    end
  end
end

get '/' do
  last_modified :yesterday
  expires :tomorrow
  "hello"
end
```

### Looking Up Template Files

The `find_template` helper is used to find template files for rendering:

``` ruby
find_template settings.views, 'foo', Tilt[:haml] do |file|
  puts "could be #{file}"
end
```

This is not really useful. But it is useful that you can actually override this
method to hook in your own lookup mechanism. For instance, if you want to be
able to use more than one view directory:

``` ruby
set :views, ['views', 'templates']

helpers do
  def find_template(views, name, engine, &block)
    Array(views).each { |v| super(v, name, engine, &block) }
  end
end
```

Another example would be using different directories for different engines:

``` ruby
set :views, :sass => 'views/sass', :haml => 'templates', :default => 'views'

helpers do
  def find_template(views, name, engine, &block)
    _, folder = views.detect { |k,v| engine == Tilt[k] }
    folder ||= views[:default]
    super(folder, name, engine, &block)
  end
end
```

You can also easily wrap this up in an extension and share with others!

Note that `find_template` does not check if the file really exists but
rather calls the given block for all possible paths. This is not a performance
issue, since `render` will use `break` as soon as a file is found. Also,
template locations (and content) will be cached if you are not running in
development mode. You should keep that in mind if you write a really crazy
method.

## Configuration

Run once, at startup, in any environment:

``` ruby
configure do
  # setting one option
  set :option, 'value'

  # setting multiple options
  set :a => 1, :b => 2

  # same as `set :option, true`
  enable :option

  # same as `set :option, false`
  disable :option

  # you can also have dynamic settings with blocks
  set(:css_dir) { File.join(views, 'css') }
end
```

Run only when the environment (`RACK_ENV` environment variable) is set to
`:production`:

``` ruby
configure :production do
  ...
end
```

Run when the environment is set to either `:production` or
`:test`:

```ruby
configure :production, :test do
  ...
end
```

You can access those options via `settings`:

``` ruby
configure do
  set :foo, 'bar'
end

get '/' do
  settings.foo? # => true
  settings.foo  # => 'bar'
  ...
end
```

### Configuring attack protection

Sinatra is using
[Rack::Protection](https://github.com/rkh/rack-protection#readme) to defend
your application against common, opportunistic attacks. You can easily disable
this behavior (which will open up your application to tons of common
vulnerabilities):

``` ruby
disable :protection
```

To skip a single defense layer, set `protection` to an options hash:

``` ruby
set :protection, :except => :path_traversal
```
You can also hand in an array in order to disable a list of protections:

``` ruby
set :protection, :except => [:path_traversal, :session_hijacking]
```

By default, Sinatra will only set up session based protection if `:sessions`
has been enabled. Sometimes you want to set up sessions on your own, though. In
that case you can get it to set up session based protections by passing the `:session` option:

``` ruby
use Rack::Session::Pool
set :protection, :session => true
```

### Available Settings

<dl>
  <dt>absolute_redirects</dt>
  <dd>
    If disabled, Sinatra will allow relative redirects, however, Sinatra will no
    longer conform with RFC 2616 (HTTP 1.1), which only allows absolute redirects.
  </dd>
  <dd>
    Enable if your app is running behind a reverse proxy that has not been set up
    properly. Note that the <tt>url</tt> helper will still produce absolute URLs, unless you
    pass in <tt>false</tt> as the second parameter.
  </dd>
  <dd>Disabled per default.</dd>

  <dt>add_charsets</dt>
  <dd>
    mime types the <tt>content_type</tt> helper will automatically add the charset info to.
    You should add to it rather than overriding this option:
    <tt>settings.add_charsets << "application/foobar"</tt>
  </dd>

  <dt>app_file</dt>
  <dd>
    Path to the main application file, used to detect project root, views and public
    folder and inline templates.
  </dd>

  <dt>bind</dt>
  <dd>IP address to bind to (default: 0.0.0.0). Only used for built-in server.</dd>

  <dt>default_encoding</dt>
  <dd>encoding to assume if unknown (defaults to <tt>"utf-8"</tt>).</dd>

  <dt>dump_errors</dt>
  <dd>display errors in the log.</dd>

  <dt>environment</dt>
  <dd>
    current environment, defaults to <tt>ENV['RACK_ENV']</tt>, or <tt>"development"</tt> if
    not available.
  </dd>

  <dt>logging</dt>
  <dd>use the logger.</dd>

  <dt>lock</dt>
  <dd>
    Places a lock around every request, only running processing on request
    per Ruby process concurrently.
  </dd>
  <dd>Enabled if your app is not thread-safe. Disabled per default.</dd>

  <dt>method_override</dt>
  <dd>
    use <tt>_method</tt> magic to allow put/delete forms in browsers that
    don't support it.
  </dd>

  <dt>port</dt>
  <dd>Port to listen on. Only used for built-in server.</dd>

  <dt>prefixed_redirects</dt>
  <dd>
    Whether or not to insert <tt>request.script_name</tt> into redirects if no
    absolute path is given. That way <tt>redirect '/foo'</tt> would behave like
    <tt>redirect to('/foo')</tt>. Disabled per default.
  </dd>

  <dt>protection</dt>
  <dd>Whether or not to enable web attack protections. See protection section above.</dd>

  <dt>public_dir</dt>
  <dd>Alias for <tt>public_folder</tt>. See below.</dd>

  <dt>public_folder</dt>
  <dd>
    Path to the folder public files are served from. Only used if static
    file serving is enabled (see <tt>static</tt> setting below). Inferred from
    <tt>app_file</tt> setting if not set.
  </dd>

  <dt>reload_templates</dt>
  <dd>
    Whether or not to reload templates between requests. Enabled in development mode.
  </dd>

  <dt>root</dt>
  <dd>
    Path to project root folder. Inferred from <tt>app_file</tt> setting if not set.
  </dd>

  <dt>raise_errors</dt>
  <dd>
    raise exceptions (will stop application). Enabled by default when
    <tt>environment</tt> is set to <tt>"test"</tt>, disabled otherwise.
  </dd>

  <dt>run</dt>
  <dd>
    if enabled, Sinatra will handle starting the web server, do not
    enable if using rackup or other means.
  </dd>

  <dt>running</dt>
  <dd>is the built-in server running now? do not change this setting!</dd>

  <dt>server</dt>
  <dd>
    server or list of servers to use for built-in server. defaults to
    ['thin', 'mongrel', 'webrick'], order indicates priority.
  </dd>

  <dt>sessions</dt>
  <dd>
    Enable cookie-based sessions support using <tt>Rack::Session::Cookie</tt>.
     See 'Using Sessions' section for more information.
  </dd>

  <dt>show_exceptions</dt>
  <dd>
    Show a stack trace in the browser when an exception
    happens. Enabled by default when <tt>environment</tt>
    is set to <tt>"development"</tt>, disabled otherwise.
  </dd>
  <dd>
    Can also be set to <tt>:after_handler</tt> to trigger
    app-specified error handling before showing a stack
    trace in the browser.
  </dd>

  <dt>static</dt>
  <dd>Whether Sinatra should handle serving static files.</dd>
  <dd>Disable when using a server able to do this on its own.</dd>
  <dd>Disabling will boost performance.</dd>
  <dd>
    Enabled per default in classic style, disabled for
    modular apps.
  </dd>

  <dt>static_cache_control</dt>
  <dd>
    When Sinatra is serving static files, set this to add
    <tt>Cache-Control</tt> headers to the responses. Uses the
    <tt>cache_control</tt> helper. Disabled by default.
  </dd>
  <dd>
    Use an explicit array when setting multiple values:
    <tt>set :static_cache_control, [:public, :max_age => 300]</tt>
  </dd>

  <dt>threaded</dt>
  <dd>
    If set to <tt>true</tt>, will tell Thin to use <tt>EventMachine.defer</tt>
    for processing the request.
  </dd>

  <dt>views</dt>
  <dd>
    Path to the views folder. Inferred from <tt>app_file</tt> setting if
    not set.
  </dd>

  <dt>x_cascade</dt>
  <dd>
    Whether or not to set the X-Cascade header if no route matches.
    Defaults to `true`.
  </dd>
</dl>

## Environments

There are three predefined `environments`: `"development"`,
`"production"` and `"test"`. Environments can be set
through the `RACK_ENV` environment variable. The default value is
`"development"`. In the `"development"` environment all templates are reloaded between
requests, and special `not_found` and `error` handlers
display stack traces in your browser.
In the `"production"` and `"test"` environments, templates are cached by default.

To run different environments, set the `RACK_ENV` environment variable:

``` shell
RACK_ENV=production ruby my_app.rb
```

You can use predefined methods: `development?`, `test?` and `production?` to
check the current environment setting:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  if settings.development?
    "development!"
  else
    "not development!"
  end
end
```

## Error Handling

Error handlers run within the same context as routes and before filters, which
means you get all the goodies it has to offer, like `haml`,
`erb`, `halt`, etc.

### Not Found

When a `Sinatra::NotFound` exception is raised, or the response's status
code is 404, the `not_found` handler is invoked:

``` ruby
not_found do
  'This is nowhere to be found.'
end
```

### Error

The `error` handler is invoked any time an exception is raised from a route
block or a filter. The exception object can be obtained from the
`sinatra.error` Rack variable:

``` ruby
error do
  'Sorry there was a nasty error - ' + env['sinatra.error'].name
end
```

Custom errors:

``` ruby
error MyCustomError do
  'So what happened was...' + env['sinatra.error'].message
end
```

Then, if this happens:

``` ruby
get '/' do
  raise MyCustomError, 'something bad'
end
```

You get this:

```
So what happened was... something bad
```

Alternatively, you can install an error handler for a status code:

``` ruby
error 403 do
  'Access forbidden'
end

get '/secret' do
  403
end
```

Or a range:

``` ruby
error 400..510 do
  'Boom'
end
```

Sinatra installs special `not_found` and `error` handlers when
running under the development environment to display nice stack traces
and additional debugging information in your browser.

## Rack Middleware

Sinatra rides on [Rack](http://rack.rubyforge.org/), a minimal standard
interface for Ruby web frameworks. One of Rack's most interesting capabilities
for application developers is support for "middleware" -- components that sit
between the server and your application monitoring and/or manipulating the
HTTP request/response to provide various types of common functionality.

Sinatra makes building Rack middleware pipelines a cinch via a top-level
`use` method:

``` ruby
require 'sinatra'
require 'my_custom_middleware'

use Rack::Lint
use MyCustomMiddleware

get '/hello' do
  'Hello World'
end
```

The semantics of `use` are identical to those defined for the
[Rack::Builder](http://rack.rubyforge.org/doc/classes/Rack/Builder.html) DSL
(most frequently used from rackup files). For example, the `use` method
accepts multiple/variable args as well as blocks:

``` ruby
use Rack::Auth::Basic do |username, password|
  username == 'admin' && password == 'secret'
end
```

Rack is distributed with a variety of standard middleware for logging,
debugging, URL routing, authentication, and session handling. Sinatra uses
many of these components automatically based on configuration so you
typically don't have to `use` them explicitly.

You can find useful middleware in
[rack](https://github.com/rack/rack/tree/master/lib/rack),
[rack-contrib](https://github.com/rack/rack-contrib#readm),
with [CodeRack](http://coderack.org/) or in the
[Rack wiki](https://github.com/rack/rack/wiki/List-of-Middleware).

## Testing

Sinatra tests can be written using any Rack-based testing library or framework.
[Rack::Test](http://rdoc.info/github/brynary/rack-test/master/frames)
is recommended:

``` ruby
require 'my_sinatra_app'
require 'test/unit'
require 'rack/test'

class MyAppTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
  include Rack::Test::Methods

  def app
    Sinatra::Application
  end

  def test_my_default
    get '/'
    assert_equal 'Hello World!', last_response.body
  end

  def test_with_params
    get '/meet', :name => 'Frank'
    assert_equal 'Hello Frank!', last_response.body
  end

  def test_with_rack_env
    get '/', {}, 'HTTP_USER_AGENT' => 'Songbird'
    assert_equal "You're using Songbird!", last_response.body
  end
end
```

Note: If you are using Sinatra in the modular style, replace `Sinatra::Application`
above with the class name of your app.

## Sinatra::Base - Middleware, Libraries, and Modular Apps

Defining your app at the top-level works well for micro-apps but has
considerable drawbacks when building reusable components such as Rack
middleware, Rails metal, simple libraries with a server component, or even
Sinatra extensions. The top-level assumes a micro-app style configuration
(e.g., a single application file, `./public` and `./views`
directories, logging, exception detail page, etc.). That's where
`Sinatra::Base` comes into play:

``` ruby
require 'sinatra/base'

class MyApp < Sinatra::Base
  set :sessions, true
  set :foo, 'bar'

  get '/' do
    'Hello world!'
  end
end
```

The methods available to `Sinatra::Base` subclasses are exactly the same as those
available via the top-level DSL. Most top-level apps can be converted to
`Sinatra::Base` components with two modifications:

* Your file should require `sinatra/base` instead of `sinatra`;
  otherwise, all of Sinatra's DSL methods are imported into the main
  namespace.
* Put your app's routes, error handlers, filters, and options in a subclass
  of `Sinatra::Base`.

`Sinatra::Base` is a blank slate. Most options are disabled by default,
including the built-in server. See
[Options and Configuration](http://sinatra.github.com/configuration.html)
for details on available options and their behavior.

### Modular vs. Classic Style

Contrary to common belief, there is nothing wrong with the classic style. If it
suits your application, you do not have to switch to a modular application.

The main disadvantage of using the classic style rather than the modular style is that
you will only have one Sinatra application per Ruby process. If you plan to use
more than one, switch to the modular style. There is no reason you cannot mix
the modular and the classic styles.

If switching from one style to the other, you should be aware of slightly
different default settings:

<table>
  <tr>
    <th>Setting</th>
    <th>Classic</th>
    <th>Modular</th>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>app_file</td>
    <td>file loading sinatra</td>
    <td>file subclassing Sinatra::Base</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>run</td>
    <td>$0 == app_file</td>
    <td>false</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>logging</td>
    <td>true</td>
    <td>false</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>method_override</td>
    <td>true</td>
    <td>false</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>inline_templates</td>
    <td>true</td>
    <td>false</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>static</td>
    <td>true</td>
    <td>false</td>
  </tr>
</table>

### Serving a Modular Application

There are two common options for starting a modular app, actively starting with
`run!`:

``` ruby
# my_app.rb
require 'sinatra/base'

class MyApp < Sinatra::Base
  # ... app code here ...

  # start the server if ruby file executed directly
  run! if app_file == $0
end
```

Start with:

``` ruby
ruby my_app.rb
```

Or with a `config.ru` file, which allows using any Rack handler:

``` ruby
# config.ru (run with rackup)
require './my_app'
run MyApp
```

Run:

``` ruby
rackup -p 4567
```

### Using a Classic Style Application with a config.ru

Write your app file:

``` ruby
# app.rb
require 'sinatra'

get '/' do
  'Hello world!'
end
```

And a corresponding `config.ru`:

``` ruby
require './app'
run Sinatra::Application
```

### When to use a config.ru?

A `config.ru` file is recommended if:

* You want to deploy with a different Rack handler (Passenger, Unicorn,
  Heroku, ...).
* You want to use more than one subclass of `Sinatra::Base`.
* You want to use Sinatra only for middleware, and not as an endpoint.

**There is no need to switch to a `config.ru` simply because you
switched to the modular style, and you don't have to use the modular style for running
with a `config.ru`.**

### Using Sinatra as Middleware

Not only is Sinatra able to use other Rack middleware, any Sinatra application
can in turn be added in front of any Rack endpoint as middleware itself. This
endpoint could be another Sinatra application, or any other Rack-based
application (Rails/Ramaze/Camping/...):

``` ruby
require 'sinatra/base'

class LoginScreen < Sinatra::Base
  enable :sessions

  get('/login') { haml :login }

  post('/login') do
    if params[:name] == 'admin' && params[:password] == 'admin'
      session['user_name'] = params[:name]
    else
      redirect '/login'
    end
  end
end

class MyApp < Sinatra::Base
  # middleware will run before filters
  use LoginScreen

  before do
    unless session['user_name']
      halt "Access denied, please <a href='/login'>login</a>."
    end
  end

  get('/') { "Hello #{session['user_name']}." }
end
```

### Dynamic Application Creation

Sometimes you want to create new applications at runtime without having to
assign them to a constant, you can do this with `Sinatra.new`:

``` ruby
require 'sinatra/base'
my_app = Sinatra.new { get('/') { "hi" } }
my_app.run!
```

It takes the application to inherit from as an optional argument:

```ruby
# config.ru (run with rackup)
require 'sinatra/base'

controller = Sinatra.new do
  enable :logging
  helpers MyHelpers
end

map('/a') do
  run Sinatra.new(controller) { get('/') { 'a' } }
end

map('/b') do
  run Sinatra.new(controller) { get('/') { 'b' } }
end
```

This is especially useful for testing Sinatra extensions or using Sinatra in
your own library.

This also makes using Sinatra as middleware extremely easy:

``` ruby
require 'sinatra/base'

use Sinatra do
  get('/') { ... }
end

run RailsProject::Application
```

## Scopes and Binding

The scope you are currently in determines what methods and variables are
available.

### Application/Class Scope

Every Sinatra application corresponds to a subclass of `Sinatra::Base`.
If you are using the top-level DSL (`require 'sinatra'`), then this
class is `Sinatra::Application`, otherwise it is the subclass you
created explicitly. At class level you have methods like `get` or `before`, but
you cannot access the `request` or `session` objects, as there is only a
single application class for all requests.

Options created via `set` are methods at class level:

``` ruby
class MyApp < Sinatra::Base
  # Hey, I'm in the application scope!
  set :foo, 42
  foo # => 42

  get '/foo' do
    # Hey, I'm no longer in the application scope!
  end
end
```

You have the application scope binding inside:

* Your application class body
* Methods defined by extensions
* The block passed to `helpers`
* Procs/blocks used as value for `set`
* The block passed to `Sinatra.new`

You can reach the scope object (the class) like this:

* Via the object passed to configure blocks (`configure { |c| ... }`)
* `settings` from within the request scope

### Request/Instance Scope

For every incoming request, a new instance of your application class is
created and all handler blocks run in that scope. From within this scope you
can access the `request` and `session` objects or call rendering methods like
`erb` or `haml`. You can access the application scope from within the request
scope via the `settings` helper:

``` ruby
class MyApp < Sinatra::Base
  # Hey, I'm in the application scope!
  get '/define_route/:name' do
    # Request scope for '/define_route/:name'
    @value = 42

    settings.get("/#{params[:name]}") do
      # Request scope for "/#{params[:name]}"
      @value # => nil (not the same request)
    end

    "Route defined!"
  end
end
```

You have the request scope binding inside:

* get/head/post/put/delete/options blocks
* before/after filters
* helper methods
* templates/views

### Delegation Scope

The delegation scope just forwards methods to the class scope. However, it
does not behave exactly like the class scope, as you do not have the class
binding. Only methods explicitly marked for delegation are available, and you
do not share variables/state with the class scope (read: you have a different
`self`). You can explicitly add method delegations by calling
`Sinatra::Delegator.delegate :method_name`.

You have the delegate scope binding inside:

* The top level binding, if you did `require "sinatra"`
* An object extended with the `Sinatra::Delegator` mixin

Have a look at the code for yourself: here's the
[Sinatra::Delegator mixin](https://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/blob/ca06364/lib/sinatra/base.rb#L1609-1633)
being [extending the main object](https://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/blob/ca06364/lib/sinatra/main.rb#L28-30).

## Command Line

Sinatra applications can be run directly:

``` ruby
ruby myapp.rb [-h] [-x] [-e ENVIRONMENT] [-p PORT] [-o HOST] [-s HANDLER]
```

Options are:

```
-h # help
-p # set the port (default is 4567)
-o # set the host (default is 0.0.0.0)
-e # set the environment (default is development)
-s # specify rack server/handler (default is thin)
-x # turn on the mutex lock (default is off)
```

## Requirement

The following Ruby versions are officially supported:
<dl>
  <dt>Ruby 1.8.7</dt>
  <dd>
    1.8.7 is fully supported, however, if nothing is keeping you from it, we
    recommend upgrading to 1.9.2 or switching to JRuby or Rubinius. Support for
    1.8.7 will not be dropped before Sinatra 2.0 and Ruby 2.0 except maybe in
    the unlikely event of 1.8.8 being released. Even then, we might continue
    supporting it. <b>Ruby 1.8.6 is no longer supported.</b> If you want to run
    with 1.8.6, downgrade to Sinatra 1.2, which will receive bug fixes until
    Sinatra 1.4.0 is released.
  </dd>

  <dt>Ruby 1.9.2</dt>
  <dd>
    1.9.2 is fully supported and recommended. Do not use 1.9.2p0, as it is known to
    cause segmentation faults when running Sinatra. Support will continue at least
    until the release of Ruby 1.9.4/2.0 and support for the latest 1.9 release
    will continue as long as it is still supported by the Ruby core team.
  </dd>

  <dt>Ruby 1.9.3</dt>
  <dd>
    1.9.3 is fully supported and recommended. Please note that switching to 1.9.3
    from an earlier version will invalidate all sessions.
  </dd>

  <dt>Rubinius</dt>
  <dd>
    Rubinius is officially supported (Rubinius >= 1.2.4), everything works, including
    all template languages. The upcoming 2.0 release is supported as
    well, including 1.9 mode.
  </dd>

  <dt>JRuby</dt>
  <dd>
    JRuby is officially supported (JRuby >= 1.6.7). No issues with third party
    template libraries are known, however, if you choose to use JRuby, please
    look into JRuby rack handlers, as the Thin web server is not fully supported
    on JRuby. JRuby's support for C extensions is still experimental, which only
    affects RDiscount, Redcarpet, RedCloth and Yajl templates as well as Thin
    and Mongrel at the moment.
  </dd>
</dl>
We also keep an eye on upcoming Ruby versions.

The following Ruby implementations are not officially supported but still are
known to run Sinatra:

* Older versions of JRuby and Rubinius
* Ruby Enterprise Edition
* MacRuby, Maglev, IronRuby
* Ruby 1.9.0 and 1.9.1 (but we do recommend against using those)

Not being officially supported means if things only break there and not on a
supported platform, we assume it's not our issue but theirs.

We also run our CI against ruby-head (the upcoming 2.0.0) and the 1.9.4
branch, but we can't guarantee anything, since it is constantly moving. Expect
both 1.9.4p0 and 2.0.0p0 to be supported.

Sinatra should work on any operating system supported by the chosen Ruby
implementation.

Sinatra currently doesn't run on Cardinal, SmallRuby, BlueRuby or any
Ruby version prior to 1.8.7.

## The Bleeding Edge

If you would like to use Sinatra's latest bleeding-edge code, feel free to run your
application against the master branch, it should be rather stable.

We also push out prerelease gems from time to time, so you can do a

``` shell
gem install sinatra --pre
```

To get some of the latest features.

### With Bundler

If you want to run your application with the latest Sinatra, using
[Bundler](http://gembundler.com/) is the recommended way.

First, install bundler, if you haven't:

``` shell
gem install bundler
```

Then, in your project directory, create a `Gemfile`:

```ruby
source 'https://rubygems.org'
gem 'sinatra', :github => "sinatra/sinatra"

# other dependencies
gem 'haml'                    # for instance, if you use haml
gem 'activerecord', '~> 3.0'  # maybe you also need ActiveRecord 3.x
```

Note that you will have to list all your application's dependencies in the `Gemfile`.
Sinatra's direct dependencies (Rack and Tilt) will, however, be automatically
fetched and added by Bundler.

Now you can run your app like this:

``` shell
bundle exec ruby myapp.rb
```

### Roll Your Own

Create a local clone and run your app with the `sinatra/lib` directory
on the `$LOAD_PATH`:

``` shell
cd myapp
git clone git://github.com/sinatra/sinatra.git
ruby -I sinatra/lib myapp.rb
```

To update the Sinatra sources in the future:

``` shell
cd myapp/sinatra
git pull
```
### Install Globally

You can build the gem on your own:

``` shell
git clone git://github.com/sinatra/sinatra.git
cd sinatra
rake sinatra.gemspec
rake install
```

If you install gems as root, the last step should be

``` shell
sudo rake install
```

## Versioning

Sinatra follows [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/), both SemVer and
SemVerTag.

## Further Reading

* [Project Website](http://www.sinatrarb.com/) - Additional documentation,
  news, and links to other resources.
* [Contributing](http://www.sinatrarb.com/contributing) - Find a bug? Need
  help? Have a patch?
* [Issue tracker](http://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/issues)
* [Twitter](http://twitter.com/sinatra)
* [Mailing List](http://groups.google.com/group/sinatrarb/topics)
* IRC: [#sinatra](irc://chat.freenode.net/#sinatra) on http://freenode.net
* [Sinatra Book](http://sinatra-book.gittr.com) Cookbook Tutorial
* [Sinatra Recipes](http://recipes.sinatrarb.com/) Community
  contributed recipes
* API documentation for the [latest release](http://rubydoc.info/gems/sinatra)
  or the [current HEAD](http://rubydoc.info/github/sinatra/sinatra) on
  http://rubydoc.info
* [CI server](http://travis-ci.org/sinatra/sinatra)