doc/book/en/devweb/request.rst
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     1 The `Request` class (`cubicweb.web`)
       
     2 ------------------------------------
       
     3 
       
     4 Overview
       
     5 ````````
       
     6 
       
     7 A request instance is created when an HTTP request is sent to the web server.
       
     8 It contains informations such as form parameters, user authenticated, etc.
       
     9 
       
    10 **Globally, a request represents a user query, either through HTTP or not
       
    11 (we also talk about RQL queries on the server side for example).**
       
    12 
       
    13 An instance of `Request` has the following attributes:
       
    14 
       
    15 * `user`, instance of `cubicweb.common.utils.User` corresponding to the authenticated
       
    16   user
       
    17 * `form`, dictionary containing the values of a web form
       
    18 * `encoding`, character encoding to use in the response
       
    19 
       
    20 But also:
       
    21 
       
    22 * `Session data handling`
       
    23 
       
    24   * `session_data()`, returns a dictionary containing all the session data
       
    25   * `get_session_data(key, default=None)`, returns a value associated to the given
       
    26     key or the value `default` if the key is not defined
       
    27   * `set_session_data(key, value)`, assign a value to a key
       
    28   * `del_session_data(key)`,  suppress the value associated to a key
       
    29 
       
    30 *  `Cookies handling`
       
    31 
       
    32   * `get_cookie()`, returns a dictionary containing the value of the header
       
    33     HTTP 'Cookie'
       
    34   * `set_cookie(cookie, key, maxage=300)`, adds a header HTTP `Set-Cookie`,
       
    35     with a minimal 5 minutes length of duration by default (`maxage` = None
       
    36     returns a *session* cookie which will expire when the user closes the browser
       
    37     window)
       
    38   * `remove_cookie(cookie, key)`, forces a value to expire
       
    39 
       
    40 * `URL handling`
       
    41 
       
    42   * `url()`, returns the full URL of the HTTP request
       
    43   * `base_url()`, returns the root URL of the web application
       
    44   * `relative_path()`, returns the relative path of the request
       
    45 
       
    46 * `And more...`
       
    47 
       
    48   * `set_content_type(content_type, filename=None)`, adds the header HTTP
       
    49     'Content-Type'
       
    50   * `get_header(header)`, returns the value associated to an arbitrary header
       
    51     of the HTTP request
       
    52   * `set_header(header, value)`, adds an arbitrary header in the response
       
    53   * `cursor()` returns a RQL cursor on the session
       
    54   * `execute(*args, **kwargs)`, shortcut to ``.cursor().execute()``
       
    55   * `property_value(key)`, properties management (`CWProperty`)
       
    56   * dictionary `data` to store data to share informations between components
       
    57     *while a request is executed*
       
    58 
       
    59 Please note that this class is abstract and that a concrete implementation
       
    60 will be provided by the *frontend* web used (in particular *twisted* as of
       
    61 today). For the views or others that are executed on the server side,
       
    62 most of the interface of `Request` is defined in the session associated
       
    63 to the client.
       
    64 
       
    65 API
       
    66 ```
       
    67 
       
    68 The elements we gave in overview for above are built in three layers,
       
    69 from ``cubicweb.req.RequestSessionBase``, ``cubicweb.dbapi.DBAPIRequest`` and
       
    70 ``cubicweb.web.CubicWebRequestBase``.
       
    71 
       
    72 .. autoclass:: cubicweb.req.RequestSessionBase
       
    73    :members:
       
    74 
       
    75 .. autoclass:: cubicweb.dbapi.DBAPIRequest
       
    76    :members:
       
    77 
       
    78 .. autoclass:: cubicweb.web.request.CubicWebRequestBase
       
    79    :members: