Skip to Content Skip to Search

Action Dispatch Response

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).

The Response object for the current request is exposed on controllers as ActionController::Metal#response. ActionController::Metal also provides a few additional methods that delegate to attributes of the Response such as ActionController::Metal#headers.

Integration tests will likely also want to inspect responses in more detail. Methods such as Integration::RequestHelpers#get and Integration::RequestHelpers#post return instances of TestResponse (which inherits from Response) for this purpose.

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
A
B
C
D
E
G
H
L
M
N
P
R
S
T
W
Included Modules

Constants

CONTENT_TYPE = "Content-Type"
 
ContentTypeHeader = Struct.new :mime_type, :charset
 
Header = Headers
 

To be deprecated:

Headers = ::Rack::Headers
 
NO_CONTENT_CODES = [100, 101, 102, 103, 204, 205, 304]
 
NullContentTypeHeader = ContentTypeHeader.new nil, nil
 
SET_COOKIE = "Set-Cookie"
 

Attributes

[R] header

The headers for the response.

header["Content-Type"] # => "text/plain"
header["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
header["Content-Type"] # => "application/json"

Also aliased as headers.

headers["Content-Type"] # => "text/plain"
headers["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
headers["Content-Type"] # => "application/json"

Also aliased as header for compatibility.

[R] headers

The headers for the response.

header["Content-Type"] # => "text/plain"
header["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
header["Content-Type"] # => "application/json"

Also aliased as headers.

headers["Content-Type"] # => "text/plain"
headers["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
headers["Content-Type"] # => "application/json"

Also aliased as header for compatibility.

[RW] request

The request that the response is responding to.

[R] status

The HTTP status code.

[R] stream

The underlying body, as a streamable object.

Class Public methods

create(status = 200, headers = {}, body = [], default_headers: self.default_headers)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 159
def self.create(status = 200, headers = {}, body = [], default_headers: self.default_headers)
  headers = merge_default_headers(headers, default_headers)
  new status, headers, body
end

merge_default_headers(original, default)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 164
def self.merge_default_headers(original, default)
  default.respond_to?(:merge) ? default.merge(original) : original
end

new(status = 200, headers = nil, body = [])

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 171
def initialize(status = 200, headers = nil, body = [])
  super()

  @headers = Headers.new

  headers&.each do |key, value|
    @headers[key] = value
  end

  self.body, self.status = body, status

  @cv           = new_cond
  @committed    = false
  @sending      = false
  @sent         = false

  prepare_cache_control!

  yield self if block_given?
end

Instance Public methods

abort()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 396
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 197
def await_commit
  synchronize do
    @cv.wait_until { @committed }
  end
end

await_sent()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 203
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 330
def body
  @stream.body
end

body=(body)

Allows you to manually set or override the response body.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 339
def body=(body)
  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 383
def body_parts
  parts = []
  @stream.each { |x| parts << x }
  parts
end

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.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 300
def charset
  header_info = parsed_content_type_header
  header_info.charset || self.class.default_charset
end

charset=(charset)

Sets the HTTP character set. In case of nil parameter it sets the charset to default_charset.

response.charset = 'utf-16' # => 'utf-16'
response.charset = nil      # => 'utf-8'
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 289
def charset=(charset)
  content_type = parsed_content_type_header.mime_type
  if false == charset
    set_content_type content_type, nil
  else
    set_content_type content_type, charset || self.class.default_charset
  end
end

close()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 392
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 311
def code
  @status.to_s
end

commit!()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 207
def commit!
  synchronize do
    before_committed
    @committed = true
    @cv.broadcast
  end
end

committed?()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 231
def committed?; synchronize { @committed }; end

content_type()

Content type of response.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 269
def content_type
  super.presence
end

content_type=(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.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 259
def content_type=(content_type)
  return unless content_type
  new_header_info = parse_content_type(content_type.to_s)
  prev_header_info = parsed_content_type_header
  charset = new_header_info.charset || prev_header_info.charset
  charset ||= self.class.default_charset unless prev_header_info.mime_type
  set_content_type new_header_info.mime_type, charset
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 419
def cookies
  cookies = {}
  if header = get_header(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

delete_header(key)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 195
def delete_header(key); @headers.delete key; end

each(&block)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 77
def each(&block)
  sending!
  x = @stream.each(&block)
  sent!
  x
end

get_header(key)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 193
def get_header(key);    @headers[key];       end

has_header?(key)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 192
def has_header?(key);   @headers.key? key;   end

location

Location of the response.

Also aliased as: redirect_url
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 235
    

location=(location)

Sets the location of the response

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 240
    

media_type()

Media type of response.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 274
def media_type
  parsed_content_type_header.mime_type
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 323
def message
  Rack::Utils::HTTP_STATUS_CODES[@status]
end

prepare!()

Alias for: to_a

redirect_url

The location header we’ll be responding with.

Alias for: location

reset_body!()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 379
def reset_body!
  @stream = build_buffer(self, [])
end

response_code()

The response code of the request.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 306
def response_code
  @status
end

send_file(path)

Send the file stored at path as the response body.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 374
def send_file(path)
  commit!
  @stream = FileBody.new(path)
end

sending!()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 215
def sending!
  synchronize do
    before_sending
    @sending = true
    @cv.broadcast
  end
end

sending?()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 230
def sending?;   synchronize { @sending };   end

sending_file=(v)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 278
def sending_file=(v)
  if true == v
    self.charset = false
  end
end

sent!()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 223
def sent!
  synchronize do
    @sent = true
    @cv.broadcast
  end
end

sent?()

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 232
def sent?;      synchronize { @sent };      end

set_header(key, v)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 194
def set_header(key, v); @headers[key] = v;   end

status=(status)

Sets the HTTP status code.

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 247
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 explicit splatting:

status, headers, body = *response
Also aliased as: prepare!
# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 410
def to_a
  commit!
  rack_response @status, @headers.to_hash
end

write(string)

# File actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 334
def write(string)
  @stream.write string
end