= Sinatra Sinatra is a DSL for quickly creating web-applications in Ruby with minimal effort: # myapp.rb require 'rubygems' require 'sinatra' get '/' do 'Hello world!' end Run with ruby myapp.rb and view at http://localhost:4567 == HTTP Methods get '/' do .. show things .. end post '/' do .. create something .. end put '/' do .. update something .. end delete '/' do .. annihilate something .. end == Routes Routes are matched based on the order of declaration. The first route that matches the request is invoked. Basic routes: get '/hi' do ... end Route patterns may include named parameters, accessible via the params hash: get '/:name' do # matches "GET /foo" and "GET /bar" # params[:name] is 'foo' or 'bar' "Hello #{params[:name]}!" 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 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 == 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' == Views / Templates Templates are assumed to be located directly under a ./views directory. To use a different views directory: set :views, File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/templates' === Haml Templates The haml gem/library is required to render HAML templates: get '/' do haml :index end Renders ./views/index.haml. === Erb Templates get '/' do erb :index end Renders ./views/index.erb === Builder Templates The builder gem/library is required to render builder templates: get '/' do content_type 'application/xml', :charset => 'utf-8' builder :index end Renders ./views/index.builder. === Sass Templates The sass gem/library is required to render Sass templates: get '/stylesheet.css' do content_type 'text/css', :charset => 'utf-8' sass :stylesheet end Renders ./views/stylesheet.sass. === Inline Templates get '/' do haml '%div.title Hello World' end Renders the inlined template string. === Accessing Variables Templates are evaluated within the same context as the route blocks. Instance variables set in route blocks are available in 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. === In-file Templates Templates may be defined at the end of the source file: require 'rubygems' require 'sinatra' get '/' do haml :index end __END__ @@ layout %html = yield @@ index %div.title Hello world!!!!! NOTE: Sinatra will automaticly load any in-file-templates in the source file that first required sinatra. If you have in-file-templates in another source file you will need to explicitly call +use_in_file_templates! on main in that file. It's also possible to define named templates 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 disable layouts by passing :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 blocks 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 context of the request 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 == Halting To immediately stop a request during a before filter or route use: halt You can also specify a body when halting ... halt 'this will be the body' Set the status and body ... halt 401, 'go away!' == Passing A route can punt processing to the next matching route using the pass statement: 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. == Configuration and Reloading Sinatra supports multiple environments and reloading. Reloading happens before each request when running under the :development environment. Wrap your configurations (e.g., database connections, constants, etc.) in configure blocks to protect them from reloading or to target specific environments. 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 (RACK_ENV environment variable) 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 before 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 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+ to register them by file extension: mime :foo, 'text/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 The Sinatra::Test module includes a variety of helper methods for testing your Sinatra app. Sinatra includes support for Test::Unit, test-spec, RSpec, and Bacon through separate source files. === Test::Unit require 'sinatra' require 'sinatra/test/unit' require 'my_sinatra_app' class MyAppTest < Test::Unit::TestCase def test_my_default get '/' assert_equal 'My Default Page!', @response.body end def test_with_agent get '/', :agent => 'Songbird' assert_equal 'You're in Songbird!', @response.body end ... end === Test::Spec Install the test-spec gem and require 'sinatra/test/spec' before your app: require 'sinatra' require 'sinatra/test/spec' require 'my_sinatra_app' describe 'My app' do it "should show a default page" do get '/' should.be.ok body.should.equal 'My Default Page!' end ... end === RSpec Install the rspec gem and require 'sinatra/test/rspec' before your app: require 'sinatra' require 'sinatra/test/rspec' require 'my_sinatra_app' describe 'My app' do it 'should show a default page' do get '/' @response.should be_ok @response.body.should == 'My Default Page!' end ... end === Bacon require 'sinatra' require 'sinatra/test/bacon' require 'my_sinatra_app' describe 'My app' do it 'should be ok' do get '/' should.be.ok body.should == 'Im OK' end end See Sinatra::Test for more information on +get+, +post+, +put+, and friends. == Command line Sinatra applications can be run directly: ruby myapp.rb [-h] [-x] [-e ENVIRONMENT] [-p PORT] [-s HANDLER] Options are: -h # help -p # set the port (default is 4567) -e # set the environment (default is development) -s # specify rack server/handler (default is thin) -x # turn on the mutex lock (default is off) == Contributing === Tools Besides Ruby itself, you only need a text editor, preferably one that supports Ruby syntax hilighting. VIM and Emacs are a fine choice on any platform, but feel free to use whatever you're familiar with. Sinatra uses the Git source code management system. If you're unfamiliar with Git, you can find more information and tutorials on http://git.or.cz/ as well as http://git-scm.com/. Scott Chacon created a great series of introductory screencasts about Git, which you can find here: http://www.gitcasts.com/ === First Time: Cloning The Sinatra Repo cd where/you/keep/your/projects git clone git://github.com/bmizerany/sinatra.git cd sinatra cd path/to/your_project ln -s ../sinatra/ === Updating Your Existing Sinatra Clone cd where/you/keep/sinatra git pull === Using Edge Sinatra in Your App at the top of your sinatra_app.rb file: $LOAD_PATH.unshift File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/sinatra/lib' require 'sinatra' get '/about' do "I'm running on Version " + Sinatra::VERSION end === Contributing a Patch There are several ways to do this. Probably the easiest (and preferred) way is to fork Sinatra on GitHub (http://github.com/bmizerany/sinatra), push your changes to your Sinatra repo, and then send Blake Mizerany (bmizerany on GitHub) a pull request. You can also create a patch file and attach it to a feature request or bug fix on the issue tracker (see below) or send it to the mailing list (see Community section). === Issue Tracking and Feature Requests http://sinatra.lighthouseapp.com/ == Community === Mailing List http://groups.google.com/group/sinatrarb If you have a problem or question, please make sure to include all the relevant information in your mail, like the Sinatra version you're using, what version of Ruby you have, and so on. === IRC Channel You can find us on the Freenode network in the channel #sinatra (irc://chat.freenode.net/#sinatra) There's usually someone online at any given time, but we cannot pay attention to the channel all the time, so please stick around for a while after asking a question.