The Kapow! Resource Tree

This is the model that Kapow! uses to expose the internals of the user request being serviced.

We use this tree to get access to any data that comes in the request, as well as to compose the response.

We access the resource tree easily with the kapow set and kapow get subcommands.

Overview

/
│
├─ request
│  ├──── method                 HTTP Method used (GET, POST)
│  ├──── host                   Host part of the URL
│  ├──── version                HTTP version of the request
│  ├──── path                   Complete URL path (URL-unquoted)
│  ├──── remote                 IP address of client
│  ├──── matches
│  │     └──── <name>           Previously matched URL path parts
│  ├──── params
│  │     └──── <name>           URL parameters (after the "?" symbol)
│  ├──── headers
│  │     └──── <name>           HTTP request headers
│  ├──── cookies
│  │     └──── <name>           HTTP request cookie
│  ├──── form
│  │     └──── <name>           Value of the form field with name <name>
│  ├──── files
│  │     └──── <name>
│  │           └──── filename   Original file name of the file uploaded in the form field <name>
│  │           └──── content    The contents of the file uploaded in the form field <name>
│  └──── body                   HTTP request body
│
|─ ssl
│  └──── client
│        └──── i
│              └──── dn         Subject's DN common name coming ina request through SSL with mTLS
│─ route
│  └──── id                     Id of the route that matched this request.
│
|─ server
│  └──── log                    Log to server stderr
│        └──── <prefix>         Optional prefix to the message
│
└─ response
  ├──── status                  HTTP status code
  ├──── headers
  │     └──── <name>            HTTP response headers
  ├──── cookies
  │     └──── <name>            HTTP request cookie
  └──── body                    Response body

Resources

/request/method Resource

The HTTP method of the incoming request.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl -X POST http://kapow.example:8080

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/method
POST

/request/host Resource

The Host header as defined in the HTTP/1.1 spec of the incoming request.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl http://kapow.example:8080

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/host
kapow.example

/request/version Resource

The HTTP version of the incoming request.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl --http1.0 http://kapow.example:8080

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/version
HTTP/1.0

/request/path Resource

Contains the path substring of the URL.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl http://kapow.example:8080/foo/bar?qux=1

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/path
/foo/bar

/request/remote Resource

The IP address of the host making the incoming request.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl http://kapow.example:8080

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/remote
192.168.100.156

/request/matches/<name> Resource

Contains the part of the URL captured by the pattern name.

Sample Usage

For a route defined like this:

$ kapow route add /foo/{mymatch}/bar

if the user runs:

$ curl http://kapow.example:8080/foo/1234/bar

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/matches/mymatch
1234

/request/params/<name> Resource

Contains the value of the URL parameter name

Note

In the reference implementation only the first parameter’s value can be accessed in the case of multiple values coming in the request.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl http://kapow.example:8080/foo?myparam=bar

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/params/myparam
bar

/request/headers/<name> Resource

Contains the value of the HTTP header name of the incoming request.

Note

In the reference implementation only the first header’s value can be accessed in the case of multiple values coming in the request.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl -H X-My-Header=Bar http://kapow.example:8080/

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/headers/X-My-Header
Bar

/request/cookies/<name> Resource

Contains the value of the HTTP cookie name of the incoming request.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl --cookie MYCOOKIE=Bar http://kapow.example:8080/

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/cookies/MYCOOKIE
Bar

/request/form/<name> Resource

Contains the value of the field name of the incoming request.

Note

In the reference implementation there are some caveats:

  • Only the first form field’s value can be accessed in the case of multiple values coming in the request.
  • In order to get access to the form data a correct ‘Content-Type’ header must be present in the request (‘application/x-www-form-urlencoded’ or ‘multipart/form-data’)

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl -F -d myfield=foo http://kapow.example:8080/

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/form/myfield
foo

/request/files/<name>/filename Resource

Contains the name of the file uploaded through the incoming request.

Note

In the reference implementation to get access to the multipart data a correct Content-Type header must be present in the request (multipart/form-data or multipart/mixed).

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl -F 'myfile=@filename.txt' http://kapow.example:8080/

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/files/myfile/filename
filename.txt

/request/files/<name>/content Resource

Contents of the file that is being uploaded in the incoming request.

Note

In the reference implementation to get access to the multipart data a correct Content-Type header must be present in the request (multipart/form-data or multipart/mixed).

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl -F 'myfile=@filename.txt' http://kapow.example:8080/

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/files/myfile/content
...filename.txt contents...

/request/body Resource

Raw contents of the incoming request HTTP body.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl --data-raw foobar http://kapow.example:8080/

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /request/body
foobar

/ssl/client/i/dn Resource

The IP address of the host making the incoming request.

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl --cacert path/to/CAfile --cert path/to/clientcredentials http://kapow.example:8080

using a client certificate with DN=subject@example.net then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /ssl/client/i/dn
subject@example.net

/route/id Resource

The ID of the original route that matched this request..

Sample Usage

If the user runs:

$ curl http://kapow.example:8080/

then, when handling the request:

$ kapow get /route/id
ecd5d63f-f28b-11ea-ac55-ec21e5089c1f

/server/log/<prefix>

Allows logging to Kapow!’s server stderr:

$ kapow set /server/log/my_banana_peeler 'banana too slippery!'

… meanwhile, in the server…

2020/12/18 11:15:49.437642 620846c6-4122-11eb-abeb-002b671b12f9 my_banana_peeler: banana too slippery!

Note that the ‘/my_banana_peeler’ part is an optional arbitrary prefix, and can be omitted.

/response/status Resource

Contains the status code given in the user response.

Note

In the reference implementation there are some caveats:

  • The status code value must be between 100 and 999.
  • There is no way of writing reason phrase in the status line of the response.

Sample Usage

If during the request handling:

$ kapow set /response/status 418

then the response will have the status code 418 I am a Teapot.

/response/headers/<name> Resource

Contains the value of the header name in the user response.

Note

At this moment header values are only appended, there is no way of reset the values once set.

Sample Usage

If during the request handling:

$ kapow set /response/headers/X-My-Header Foo

then the response will contain an HTTP header named X-My-Header with value Foo.

/response/cookies/<name> Resource

Contains the value of the cookie name that will be set to the user response.

Sample Usage

If during the request handling:

$ kapow set /response/cookies/MYCOOKIE Foo

then the response will set the cookie MYCOOKIE to the user in following requests.

/response/body Resource

Contains the value of the response HTTP body.

Sample Usage

If during the request handling:

$ kapow set /response/body foobar

then the response will contain foobar in the body.