= 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 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 === 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 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 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) === 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) === 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) === 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. If you have Tilt 1.2 or later, 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 the `coffee` binary are required to 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. === Inline Templates get '/' do haml '%div.title Hello World' end Renders the inlined 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 == 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 == 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 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 == 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. == 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 ... 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 == 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 MyApp class is an independent Rack component that can act as Rack middleware, a Rack application, or Rails metal. You can +use+ or +run+ this class from a rackup +config.ru+ file; or, control a server component shipped as a library: MyApp.run! :host => 'localhost', :port => 9090 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. === 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, 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 Alternatively, you can add the sinatra/lib directory to the LOAD_PATH in your application: $LOAD_PATH.unshift File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/sinatra/lib' require 'rubygems' require 'sinatra' get '/about' do "I'm running version " + Sinatra::VERSION end To update the Sinatra sources in the future: cd myproject/sinatra git pull == More * {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