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: 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
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 can be set globally through Sinatra’s configurations, see Options and Configurations, 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 can be set globally through Sinatra’s configurations, see Options and Configurations, 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 can be set globally through Sinatra’s configurations, see Options and Configurations, 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
.
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__
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 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 handlers and templates:
helpers do
def (name)
"#{name}bar"
end
end
get '/:name' do
(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
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. # 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'].
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, 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 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 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 ofsinatra
; 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 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 :session
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 <a href='/login'>login</a>."
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 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 being included into the main namespace.
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 - Additional documentation, news, and links to other resources.
-
Contributing - Find a bug? Need help? Have a patch?