= Sinatra Sinatra is a DSL for quickly creating web applications in Ruby with minimal effort: # myapp.rb require 'sinatra' get '/' do 'Hello world!' end Install the gem and run with: gem install sinatra ruby -rubygems myapp.rb View at: http://localhost:4567 == Routes In Sinatra, a route is an HTTP method paired with an URL matching pattern. Each route is associated with a block: get '/' do .. show something .. end post '/' do .. create something .. end put '/' do .. update something .. end delete '/' do .. annihilate something .. end options '/' do .. appease 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: 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: get '/hello/:name' do |n| "Hello #{n}!" end Route patterns may also include splat (or wildcard) parameters, accessible via the params[:splat] array. 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 Route matching with Regular Expressions: get %r{/hello/([\w]+)} do "Hello, #{params[:captures].first}!" end Or with a block parameter: get %r{/hello/([\w]+)} do |c| "Hello, #{c}!" end === Conditions Routes may include a variety of matching conditions, such as the user agent: 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+: 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: 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 === 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: class Stream def each 100.times { |i| yield "#{i}\n" } end end get('/') { Stream.new } == Static Files Static files are served from the ./public directory. You can specify a different location by setting the :public option: set :public, 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. == Views / Templates Templates are assumed to be located directly under the ./views directory. To use a different views directory: set :views, File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/templates' 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 :'subdir/template'). You must use a symbol because otherwise rendering methods will render any strings passed to them directly. === Haml Templates The haml gem/library is required to render HAML templates: # You'll need to require haml in your app require 'haml' get '/' do haml :index end Renders ./views/index.haml. {Haml's options}[http://haml-lang.com/docs/yardoc/file.HAML_REFERENCE.html#options] can be set globally through Sinatra's configurations, see {Options and Configurations}[http://www.sinatrarb.com/configuration.html], and overridden on an individual basis. set :haml, :format => :html5 # default Haml format is :xhtml get '/' do haml :index, :format => :html4 # overridden end === Erb Templates # You'll need to require erb in your app require 'erb' get '/' do erb :index end Renders ./views/index.erb. === Erubis Templates The erubis gem/library is required to render Erubis templates: # You'll need to require erubis in your app require 'erubis' get '/' do erubis :index end Renders ./views/index.erubis. It is also possible to replace Erb with Erubis: require 'erubis' Tilt.register :erb, Tilt[:erubis] get '/' do erb :index end Renders ./views/index.erb with Erubis. === Builder Templates The builder gem/library is required to render builder templates: # You'll need to require builder in your app require 'builder' get '/' do builder :index end Renders ./views/index.builder. === Nokogiri Templates The nokogiri gem/library is required to render nokogiri templates: # You'll need to require nokogiri in your app require 'nokogiri' get '/' do nokogiri :index end Renders ./views/index.nokogiri. === Sass Templates The haml or sass gem/library is required to render Sass templates: # You'll need to require haml or sass in your app require 'sass' get '/stylesheet.css' do sass :stylesheet end Renders ./views/stylesheet.sass. {Sass' options}[http://sass-lang.com/docs/yardoc/file.SASS_REFERENCE.html#options] can be set globally through Sinatra's configurations, see {Options and Configurations}[http://www.sinatrarb.com/configuration.html], and overridden on an individual basis. set :sass, :style => :compact # default Sass style is :nested get '/stylesheet.css' do sass :stylesheet, :style => :expanded # overridden end === Scss Templates The haml or sass gem/library is required to render Scss templates: # You'll need to require haml or sass in your app require 'sass' get '/stylesheet.css' do scss :stylesheet end Renders ./views/stylesheet.scss. {Scss' options}[http://sass-lang.com/docs/yardoc/file.SASS_REFERENCE.html#options] can be set globally through Sinatra's configurations, see {Options and Configurations}[http://www.sinatrarb.com/configuration.html], and overridden on an individual basis. set :scss, :style => :compact # default Scss style is :nested get '/stylesheet.css' do scss :stylesheet, :style => :expanded # overridden end === Less Templates The less gem/library is required to render Less templates: # You'll need to require less in your app require 'less' get '/stylesheet.css' do less :stylesheet end Renders ./views/stylesheet.less. === Liquid Templates The liquid gem/library is required to render Liquid templates: # You'll need to require liquid in your app require 'liquid' get '/' do liquid :index end Renders ./views/index.liquid. Since you cannot call Ruby methods (except for +yield+) from a Liquid template, you almost always want to pass locals to it: liquid :index, :locals => { :key => 'value' } === Markdown Templates The rdiscount gem/library is required to render Markdown templates: # You'll need to require rdiscount in your app require "rdiscount" get '/' do markdown :index end Renders ./views/index.markdown (+md+ and +mkd+ are also valid file extensions). 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: erb :overview, :locals => { :text => markdown(:introduction) } Note that you may also call the +markdown+ method from within other templates: %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: get '/' do markdown :index, :layout_engine => :erb end This will render ./views/index.md with ./views/layout.erb as layout. Remember that you can set such rendering options globally: set :markdown, :layout_engine => :haml, :layout => :post get '/' do markdown :index end This will render ./views/index.md (and any other Markdown template) with ./views/post.haml as layout. It is also possible to parse Markdown with BlueCloth rather than RDiscount: require 'bluecloth' Tilt.register 'markdown', BlueClothTemplate Tilt.register 'mkd', BlueClothTemplate Tilt.register 'md', BlueClothTemplate get '/' do markdown :index end Renders ./views/index.md with BlueCloth. === Textile Templates The RedCloth gem/library is required to render Textile templates: # You'll need to require redcloth in your app require "redcloth" get '/' do textile :index end Renders ./views/index.textile. 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: erb :overview, :locals => { :text => textile(:introduction) } Note that you may also call the +textile+ method from within other templates: %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: get '/' do textile :index, :layout_engine => :erb end This will render ./views/index.textile with ./views/layout.erb as layout. Remember that you can set such rendering options globally: set :textile, :layout_engine => :haml, :layout => :post get '/' do textile :index end This will render ./views/index.textile (and any other Textile template) with ./views/post.haml as layout. === RDoc Templates The rdoc gem/library is required to render RDoc templates: # You'll need to require rdoc in your app require "rdoc" get '/' do rdoc :index end Renders ./views/index.rdoc. 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: erb :overview, :locals => { :text => rdoc(:introduction) } Note that you may also call the +rdoc+ method from within other templates: %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: get '/' do rdoc :index, :layout_engine => :erb end This will render ./views/index.rdoc with ./views/layout.erb as layout. Remember that you can set such rendering options globally: set :rdoc, :layout_engine => :haml, :layout => :post get '/' do rdoc :index end This will render ./views/index.rdoc (and any other RDoc template) with ./views/post.haml as layout. === Radius Templates The radius gem/library is required to render Radius templates: # You'll need to require radius in your app require 'radius' get '/' do radius :index end Renders ./views/index.radius. Since you cannot call Ruby methods (except for +yield+) from a Radius template, you almost always want to pass locals to it: radius :index, :locals => { :key => 'value' } === Markaby Templates The markaby gem/library is required to render Markaby templates: # You'll need to require markaby in your app require 'markaby' get '/' do markaby :index end Renders ./views/index.mab. You may also use inline Markaby: get '/' do markaby { h1 "Welcome!" } end === Slim Templates The slim gem/library is required to render Slim templates: # You'll need to require slim in your app require 'slim' get '/' do slim :index end Renders ./views/index.slim. === CoffeeScript Templates The coffee-script gem/library and at least one of the following options to execute JavaScript: * +node+ (from Node.js) in your path * you must be running on OSX * +therubyracer+ gem/library See http://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script for an updated list of options. Now you can render CoffeeScript templates: # You'll need to require coffee-script in your app require 'coffee-script' get '/application.js' do coffee :application end Renders ./views/application.coffee. === Embedded Templates get '/' do haml '%div.title Hello World' end Renders the embedded template string. === Accessing Variables in Templates Templates are evaluated within the same context as route handlers. Instance variables set in route handlers are direcly accessible by templates: get '/:id' do @foo = Foo.find(params[:id]) haml '%h1= @foo.name' end Or, specify an explicit Hash of local variables: get '/:id' do foo = Foo.find(params[:id]) haml '%h1= foo.name', :locals => { :foo => foo } end This is typically used when rendering templates as partials from within other templates. === Inline Templates Templates may be defined at the end of the source file: 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: 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. 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: Tilt.register :tt, Tilt[:textile] === Adding You Own Template Engine First, register your engine with Tilt, then create a rendering method: 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: before do @note = 'Hi!' request.path_info = '/foo/bar/baz' end get '/foo/*' do @note #=> 'Hi!' params[:splat] #=> 'bar/baz' end After filter 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: 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 taking a pattern, causing them to be evaluated only if the request path matches that pattern: before '/protected/*' do authenticate! end after '/create/:slug' do |slug| session[:last_slug] = slug end Like routes, filters also take conditions: 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: helpers do def bar(name) "#{name}bar" end end get '/:name' do bar(params[:name]) end === Halting To immediately stop a request within a filter or route use: halt You can also specify the status when halting: halt 410 Or the body: halt 'this will be the body' Or both: halt 401, 'go away!' With headers: halt 402, {'Content-Type' => 'text/plain'}, 'revenge' === Passing A route can punt processing to the next matching route using pass: 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: get '/foo' do status, headers, body = call request.env.merge("PATH_INFO" => '/bar') [status, body.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 and Status Code 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 arbritary 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: get '/foo' do body "bar" end after do puts body end It is also possible to pass a block to body, that 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: get '/foo' do status 418 halt "I'm a tea pot!" end === Generating URLs For generating URLs you should use the +url+ helper method, for instance, in 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: get '/foo' do redirect to('/bar') end Any additional parameters are handled like arguments passed to +halt+: 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: get '/foo' do "do something" end get '/bar' do do_something redirect back end To pass arguments with a redirect, either add them to the query: redirect to('/bar?sum=42') Or use a session: enable :session get '/foo' do session[:secret] = 'foo' redirect to('/bar') end get '/bar' do session[:secret] end === Sending Files For sending files, you can use the send_file helper method: get '/' do send_file 'foo.png' end It also take a couple of options: send_file 'foo.png', :type => :jpg The options are: [filename] file name in response, defaults to the real file name. [last_modified] value for Last-Modified header, defaults to the file's mtime. [type] content type to use, guessed from the file extension if missing. [disposition] used for Content-Disposition, possible values: +nil+ (default), :attachement and :inline [length] Content-Length header, defaults to file size. 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. === Accessing the Request Object The incoming request object can be accessed from request level (filter, routes, error handlers) through the request method: # app running on http://example.com/example get '/foo' do 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_HEADER"] # value of SOME_HEADER header request.referer # the referer 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 request.env # raw env hash handed in by Rack end Some options, like script_name or path_info can also be written: before { request.path_info = "/" } get "/" do "all requests end up here" end The request.body is an IO or StringIO object: post "/api" do request.body.rewind # in case someone already read it data = JSON.parse request.body.read "Hello #{data['name']}!" end == Configuration Run once, at startup, in any environment: 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: configure :production do ... end Run when the environment is set to either :production or :test: configure :production, :test do ... end You can access those options via settings: configure do set :foo, 'bar' end get '/' do settings.foo? # => true settings.foo # => 'bar' ... end === Available Settings [absolute_redirects] If disabled, Sinatra will allow relative redirects, however, Sinatra will no longer conform with RFC 2616 (HTTP 1.1), which only allows absolute redirects. Enable if your app is running behind a reverse proxy that has not been set up properly. Note that the +url+ helper will still produce absolute URLs, unless you pass in +false+ as second parameter. Disabled per default. [add_charsets] mime types the content_type helper will automatically add the charset info to. You should add to it rather than overriding this option: settings.add_charsets << "application/foobar" [app_file] main application file, used to detect project root, views and public folder and inline templates [bind] IP address to bind to (default: 0.0.0.0). Only used for built-in server. [default_encoding] encoding to assume if unknown (defaults to "utf-8") [dump_errors] display errors in the log [environment] current environment, defaults to ENV['RACK_ENV'], or "development" if not available [logging] use the logger [lock] Places a lock around every request, only running processing on request per Ruby process concurrently. Enabled if your app is not thread-safe. Disabled per default. [method_override] use _method magic to allow put/delete forms in browsers that don't support it [port] Port to listen on. Only used for built-in server. [prefixed_redirects] Whether or not to insert request.script_name into redirects if no absolute path is given. That way redirect '/foo' would behave like redirect to('/foo'). Disabled per default. [public] folder public files are server from [reload_templates] whether or not to reload templates between requests. enabled in development mode and on Ruby 1.8.6 (to compensate a bug in Ruby causing a memory leak) [root] project root folder [raise_errors] raise exceptions (will stop application) [run] if enabled, Sinatra will handle starting the webserver, do not enable if using rackup or other means. [running] is the built-in server running now? do not change this setting! [server] server or list of servers to use for built-in server. defaults to ['thin', 'mongrel', 'webrick'], order indicates priority. [sessions] enable cookie based sessions [show_exceptions] show a stacktrace in the browser [static] Whether Sinatra should handle serving static files. Disable when using a Server able to do this on its own. Disabling will boost performance. Enabled per default. [views] views folder == 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: 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: error do 'Sorry there was a nasty error - ' + env['sinatra.error'].name end Custom errors: error MyCustomError do 'So what happened was...' + request.env['sinatra.error'].message end Then, if this happens: get '/' do raise MyCustomError, 'something bad' end You get this: So what happened was... something bad Alternatively, you can install error handler for a status code: error 403 do 'Access forbidden' end get '/secret' do 403 end Or a range: error 400..510 do 'Boom' end Sinatra installs special not_found and error handlers when running under the development environment. == 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: mime_type :foo, 'text/foo' You can also use it with the +content_type+ helper: content_type :foo == 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: 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: 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 of these components automatically based on configuration so you typically don't have to +use+ them explicitly. == Testing Sinatra tests can be written using any Rack-based testing library or framework. {Rack::Test}[http://gitrdoc.com/brynary/rack-test] is recommended: 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: The built-in Sinatra::Test module and Sinatra::TestHarness class are deprecated as of the 0.9.2 release. == 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 DSL pollutes the Object namespace and 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: 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 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 believes, there is nothing wrong with classic style. If it suits your application, you do not have to switch to a modular application. There are only two downsides compared to modulare style: * You may only have one Sinatra application per Ruby process - if you plan to use more, switch to modular style. * Classic style pollutes Object with delegator methods - if you plan to ship your application in a library/gem, switch to modular style. There is no reason you cannot mix modular and classic style. If switching from one style to the other, you should be aware of slight differences in the setting: Setting Classic Modular app_file file loading sinatra nil run $0 == app_file false logging true false method_override true false inline_templates true false === Serving a Modular Application There are two common options for starting a modular app, activly starting with run!: # 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 my_app.rb Or with a config.ru, which allows using any Rack handler: # config.ru require 'my_app' run MyApp Run: rackup -p 4567 === Using a Classic Style Application with a config.ru Write your app file: # app.rb require 'sinatra' get '/' do 'Hello world!' end And a corresponding config.ru: require 'app' run Sinatra::Application === When to use a config.ru? Good signs you probably want to use a config.ru: * 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, but not as endpoint. There is no need to switch to a config.ru only because you switched to modular style, and you don't have to use 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/...). require 'sinatra/base' class LoginScreen < Sinatra::Base enable :sessions get('/login') { haml :login } post('/login') do if params[:name] = 'admin' and 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 login." end end get('/') { "Hello #{session['user_name']}." } end == 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+ object or the +session+, as there only is a single application class for all requests. Options created via +set+ are methods at class level: 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+ You can reach the scope object (the class) like this: * Via the object passed to configure blocks (configure { |c| ... }) * +settings+ from within 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+ object or call rendering methods like +erb+ or +haml+. You can access the application scope from within the request scope via the +settings+ helper: 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 100% 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}[http://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/blob/ceac46f0bc129a6e994a06100aa854f606fe5992/lib/sinatra/base.rb#L1128] being {included into the main namespace}[http://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/blob/ceac46f0bc129a6e994a06100aa854f606fe5992/lib/sinatra/main.rb#L28]. == Command Line Sinatra applications can be run directly: 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) == The Bleeding Edge If you would like to use Sinatra's latest bleeding 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 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 recommend way. First, install bundler, if you haven't: gem install bundler Then, in you project directory, create a +Gemfile+: source :rubygems gem 'sinatra', :git => "git://github.com/sinatra/sinatra.git" # 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 applications dependencies in there. Sinatra's direct dependencies (Rack and Tilt) will however be automatically fetched and added by Bundler. Now you can run your app like this: 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: cd myapp git clone git://github.com/sinatra/sinatra.git ruby -Isinatra/lib myapp.rb To update the Sinatra sources in the future: cd myapp/sinatra git pull === Install Globally You can build the gem on your own: 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 sudo rake install == 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