Represents an HTTP response generated by a controller action. Use it to retrieve the current state of the response, or customize the response. It can either represent a real HTTP response (i.e. one that is meant to be sent back to the web browser) or a TestResponse (i.e. one that is generated from integration tests).

Response is mostly a Ruby on Rails framework implementation detail, and should never be used directly in controllers. Controllers should use the methods defined in ActionController::Base instead. For example, if you want to set the HTTP response's content MIME type, then use ActionControllerBase#headers instead of Response#headers.

Nevertheless, integration tests may want to inspect controller responses in more detail, and that's when Response can be useful for application developers. Integration test methods such as ActionDispatch::Integration::RequestHelpers#get and ActionDispatch::Integration::RequestHelpers#post return objects of type TestResponse (which are of course also of type Response).

For example, the following demo integration test prints the body of the controller response to the console:

class DemoControllerTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
  def test_print_root_path_to_console
    get('/')
    puts response.body
  end
end
Namespace
Methods
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Included Modules
Constants
CONTENT_TYPE = "Content-Type".freeze
 
SET_COOKIE = "Set-Cookie".freeze
 
LOCATION = "Location".freeze
 
NO_CONTENT_CODES = [204, 304]
 
EMPTY = " "
 
Attributes
[RW] charset

The charset of the response. HTML wants to know the encoding of the content you're giving them, so we need to send that along.

[R] content_type

Sets the HTTP response's content MIME type. For example, in the controller you could write this:

response.content_type = "text/plain"

If a character set has been defined for this response (see charset=) then the character set information will also be included in the content type information.

[RW] header

Get and set headers for this response.

[RW] headers=

Get and set headers for this response.

[RW] request

The request that the response is responding to.

[W] sending_file
[R] status

The HTTP status code.

[R] stream

The underlying body, as a streamable object.

Class Public methods
new(status = 200, header = {}, body = [], options = {})
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 118
def initialize(status = 200, header = {}, body = [], options = {})
  super()

  default_headers = options.fetch(:default_headers, self.class.default_headers)
  header = merge_default_headers(header, default_headers)

  self.body, self.header, self.status = body, header, status

  @sending_file = false
  @blank        = false
  @cv           = new_cond
  @committed    = false
  @sending      = false
  @sent         = false
  @content_type = nil
  @charset      = nil

  if content_type = self[CONTENT_TYPE]
    type, charset = content_type.split(/;\s*charset=/)
    @content_type = Mime::Type.lookup(type)
    @charset = charset || self.class.default_charset
  end

  prepare_cache_control!

  yield self if block_given?
end
Instance Public methods
abort()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 268
def abort
  if stream.respond_to?(:abort)
    stream.abort
  elsif stream.respond_to?(:close)
    # `stream.close` should really be reserved for a close from the
    # other direction, but we must fall back to it for
    # compatibility.
    stream.close
  end
end
await_commit()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 146
def await_commit
  synchronize do
    @cv.wait_until { @committed }
  end
end
await_sent()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 152
def await_sent
  synchronize { @cv.wait_until { @sent } }
end
body()

Returns the content of the response as a string. This contains the contents of any calls to render.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 218
def body
  strings = []
  each { |part| strings << part.to_s }
  strings.join
end
body=(body)

Allows you to manually set or override the response body.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 227
def body=(body)
  @blank = true if body == EMPTY

  if body.respond_to?(:to_path)
    @stream = body
  else
    synchronize do
      @stream = build_buffer self, munge_body_object(body)
    end
  end
end
body_parts()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 239
def body_parts
  parts = []
  @stream.each { |x| parts << x }
  parts
end
close()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 264
def close
  stream.close if stream.respond_to?(:close)
end
code()

Returns a string to ensure compatibility with Net::HTTPResponse.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 199
def code
  @status.to_s
end
commit!()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 156
def commit!
  synchronize do
    before_committed
    @committed = true
    @cv.broadcast
  end
end
committed?()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 180
def committed?; synchronize { @committed }; end
content_type=(content_type)

Sets the HTTP content type.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 189
def content_type=(content_type)
  @content_type = content_type.to_s
end
cookies()

Returns the response cookies, converted to a Hash of (name => value) pairs

assert_equal 'AuthorOfNewPage', r.cookies['author']
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 305
def cookies
  cookies = {}
  if header = self[SET_COOKIE]
    header = header.split("\n") if header.respond_to?(:to_str)
    header.each do |cookie|
      if pair = cookie.split(';').first
        key, value = pair.split("=").map { |v| Rack::Utils.unescape(v) }
        cookies[key] = value
      end
    end
  end
  cookies
end
location()

The location header we'll be responding with.

Also aliased as: redirect_url
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 254
def location
  headers[LOCATION]
end
location=(url)

Sets the location header we'll be responding with.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 260
def location=(url)
  headers[LOCATION] = url
end
message()

Returns the corresponding message for the current HTTP status code:

response.status = 200
response.message # => "OK"

response.status = 404
response.message # => "Not Found"
Also aliased as: status_message
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 211
def message
  Rack::Utils::HTTP_STATUS_CODES[@status]
end
prepare!()
Alias for: to_a
redirect_url()
Alias for: location
response_code()

The response code of the request.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 194
def response_code
  @status
end
sending!()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 164
def sending!
  synchronize do
    before_sending
    @sending = true
    @cv.broadcast
  end
end
sending?()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 179
def sending?;   synchronize { @sending };   end
sent!()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 172
def sent!
  synchronize do
    @sent = true
    @cv.broadcast
  end
end
sent?()
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 181
def sent?;      synchronize { @sent };      end
status=(status)

Sets the HTTP status code.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 184
def status=(status)
  @status = Rack::Utils.status_code(status)
end
status_message()
Alias for: message
to_a()

Turns the Response into a Rack-compatible array of the status, headers, and body. Allows explict splatting:

status, headers, body = *response
Also aliased as: prepare!
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 283
def to_a
  rack_response @status, @header.to_hash
end
to_ary()

Be super clear that a response object is not an Array. Defining this would make implicit splatting work, but it also makes adding responses as arrays work, and “flattening” responses, cascading to the rack body! Not sensible behavior.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 292
    def to_ary
      ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn("        `ActionDispatch::Response#to_ary` no longer performs implicit conversion
        to an array. Please use `response.to_a` instead, or a splat like `status,
        headers, body = *response`.
".squish)

      to_a
    end