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Response

In Http Request Life Cycle, the last step is sending the response back to the client.

How it works​

There are multiple types of responses, but mainly the heavy type will be The JSON response.

Response is json by default

By default any of response object methods is used to handle the response body for json responses with different status code, for example response.success(object) returns a success response with status code 200 and the object as the response body.

Sending response​

A Warlock response object is attached to every request handler/controller and middleware as well.

To send a success json response, use response.success(data) which will return a 200 status code.

src/app/users/controllers/get-users.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";
import { User } from "./../models/user";

export default async function getUsers(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const users = await User.list();

  return response.success({
    users,
  });
}

This will return all users in the database.

Sending custom objects to response​

A good example of this case when we send list of users models or even a single model.

As a model is basically an open object, we can't send it directly to the response, we need to convert it to a plain object first.

Warlock response will parse every data returned in the response, if the value is a plain then it will be sent as-is, if it is an array it will be looped and parsed each value.

Now what about models or any custom classes?

Let's make a custom class to see how this works

src/app/users/controllers/get-user.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

class UserData {
  public name: string;
  public email: string;
  public age: number;

  public setAge(age: number) {
    this.age = age;
  }

  public getAge() {
    return this.age;
  }

  public setName(name: string) {
    this.name = name;
  }
}

export default function getUser(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const user = new UserData();

  user.setName("John Doe");
  user.setAge(30);

  return response.success({
    user,
  });
}

In this scenario the UserData class will not be parsed as the response parser does not know what will be sent to the final response body.

To determine which data will be sent, add toJSON() method to the class.

src/app/users/controllers/get-user.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

class UserData {
  public name: string;
  public email: string;
  public age: number;

  public setAge(age: number) {
    this.age = age;
  }

  public getAge() {
    return this.age;
  }

  public setName(name: string) {
    this.name = name;
  }

  public toJSON() {
    return {
      name: this.name,
      age: this.age,
    };
  }
}

export default function getUser(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const user = new UserData();

  user.setName("John Doe");
  user.setAge(30);

  return response.success({
    user,
  });
}

Success Created​

To return a 201 status code, use response.successCreate(data) method.

src/app/users/controllers/create-user.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";
import { User } from "./../models/user";

export default async function createUser(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const user = await User.create(request.all());

  return response.successCreate({
    user,
  });
}

In terms of REST standards, its better to send a 201 status code when creating a new resource.

Not found​

To return a 404 status code, use response.notFound() method.

src/app/users/controllers/get-user.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";
import { User } from "./../models/user";

export default async function getUser(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const user = await User.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!user) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  return response.success({
    user,
  });
}

You can also send data with the response:

src/app/users/controllers/get-user.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";
import { User } from "./../models/user";

export default async function getUser(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const user = await User.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!user) {
    return response.notFound({
      message: "User not found",
    });
  }

  return response.success({
    user,
  });
}

Unauthorized response​

To return a 401 status code, use response.unauthorized() method.

src/app/users/middleware/auth.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export async function auth(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const authorizationHeader = request.header("Authorization");

  if (!authorizationHeader) {
    return response.unauthorized();
  }
}

Forbidden response​

Forbidden response is used when the user is authenticated but not authorized to access the requested resource.

The response.forbidden() method returns a 403 status code.

src/app/users/middleware/auth.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export async function auth(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const authorizationHeader = request.header("Authorization");

  if (!authorizationHeader) {
    return response.unauthorized();
  }

  const user = await User.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!user) {
    return response.forbidden();
  }
}

You may of course send data with the response:

src/app/users/middleware/auth.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export async function auth(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const authorizationHeader = request.header("Authorization");

  if (!authorizationHeader) {
    return response.unauthorized();
  }

  const user = await User.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!user) {
    return response.forbidden({
      message: "You are not authorized to access this resource",
    });
  }
}

Bad request response​

To return a 400 status code, use response.badRequest() method.

src/app/users/controllers/create-user.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";
import { User } from "./../models/user";

export default async function createUser(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const name = request.input("name");

  if (!name) {
    return response.badRequest({
      error: "Name is required",
    });
  }

  const email = request.input("email");

  if (!email) {
    return response.badRequest({
      error: "Email is required",
    });
  }

  const user = await User.create(request.all());

  return response.successCreate({
    user,
  });
}

Server error response​

To return a 500 status code, use response.serverError() method.

src/app/users/controllers/create-user.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function createUser(request: Request, response: Response) {
  try {
    const database = await connectToDatabase();
    //...
  } catch (error) {
    return response.serverError({
      error: error.message,
    });
  }
}

Usually you won't need this method, but it's good to know that it exists.

Send File​

To send a file, use response.sendFile() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  return response.sendFile(avatar.path);
}

You may set a cache time in seconds as a second parameter:

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  return response.sendFile(avatar.path, 3600); // 1 hour
}

An alias method sendCachedFile works exactly the same but sets the cache time to 1 year.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  return response.sendCachedFile(avatar.path);
}

Send xml response​

To send a xml response, use response.xml() method.

src/app/general/controllers/sitemap.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";
import sitemap from "./../sitemap";

export default async function sitemap(request: Request, response: Response) {
  return response.xml(sitemap);
}

This will send a response with Content Type application/xml.

Send text response​

To send a text response, use response.text() method.

src/app/general/controllers/robots.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function robots(request: Request, response: Response) {
  return response.text("User-agent: *\nDisallow: /");
}

This will send a response with Content Type text/plain.

Send html response​

To send a html response, use response.html() method.

src/app/general/controllers/home.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function home(request: Request, response: Response) {
  return response.html("<h1>Hello World</h1>");
}

This will send a response with Content Type text/html.

Redirect​

To redirect the user to another page, use response.redirect() method.

src/app/users/controllers/login.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function login(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const user = await User.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!user) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  return response.redirect("/users");
}

By default this will make a temporary redirect with 302 status code, you can change this by passing the status code as the second parameter:

src/app/users/controllers/login.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function login(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const user = await User.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!user) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  return response.redirect("/users", 301);
}

To send a permanent redirect with 301 status code, use response.permanentRedirect() method.

src/app/users/controllers/login.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function login(request: Request, response: Response) {
  const user = await User.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!user) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  return response.permanentRedirect("/users");
}

Set Header​

To set a header, use response.header() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  response.header(
    "Content-Disposition",
    `attachment; filename="${avatar.name}"`
  );

  return response.sendFile(avatar.path);
}

Set multiple headers​

To set multiple headers, use response.headers() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  response.headers({
    "Content-Disposition": `attachment; filename="${avatar.name}"`,
    "Content-Type": avatar.mimeType,
  });

  return response.sendFile(avatar.path);
}

Remove header​

To remove a header, use response.removeHeader() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  response.removeHeader("Content-Type");

  return response.sendFile(avatar.path);
}

Get response headers​

To get all response headers, use response.getHeaders() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
// ...
const headers = response.getHeaders();

This will return an object with all headers.

Get response header​

To get a specific response header, use response.header() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
// ...
const contentType = response.header("Content-Type");

Set status code​

To set a status code, use response.setStatusCode() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  response.setStatusCode(200);

  return response.sendFile(avatar.path);
}

Set Content Type​

You don't really need to do it manually, but if you want to, you can.

To set a Content Type, use response.setContentType() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  response.setContentType(avatar.mimeType);

  return response.sendFile(avatar.path);
}

Stream file​

Sometimes we want to send large files, in that case we need to stream the file.

To stream a file, use response.streamFile() method.

src/app/users/controllers/download-avatar.ts
import { Request, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

export default async function downloadAvatar(
  request: Request,
  response: Response
) {
  const avatar = await Avatar.find(request.input("id"));

  if (!avatar) {
    return response.notFound();
  }

  return response.streamFile(avatar.path);
}

Get response body​

Getting response body, status code, headers and content type are likely will be needed when working with Response Events.

To get the response body, use response.body property.

src/app/users/controllers/get-users.ts
// ...
const body = response.body;

The response body will return the final output of the body.

Get response status code​

To get the current status code, use response.statusCode property.

src/app/users/controllers/get-users.ts
// ...
const statusCode = response.statusCode;

Response Events​

Now let's talk about response events, which is one of the most important features in Warlock.

Why would i need to listen to response events?

Well, for many reasons, for example:

  • Modify the response before sending it.
  • Add more data to each response dynamically, for example sending current user data in each response.
  • After sending response, perform some logging or any other action.

Listen to response events​

In any src/general/events directory, create send-app-version-to-response.ts file:

src/general/events/send-app-version-to-response.ts
import { Response } from "@mongez/warlock";

Response.on("sending", (response) => {
  response.body.appVersion = "1.0.0";
});

If we want to perform something after the response is sent, use on("sent") event

src/general/events/log-request.ts
import { storagePath, Response } from "@mongez/warlock";
import { putJsonFileAsync } from "@mongez/fs";

Response.on("sent", (response) => {
  const request = response.request;

  putJsonFileAsync(storagePath(`logs/${Date.now()}.json`), request.all());
});

This will log the request body in a json file.

Using putJsonFileAsync will not block io operations, so it's safe to use it in response events.