How-To: The Request Object

The Request object stores all the data of the request. It stores stuff like POST data, file uploads, cookies and headers. The Request object is passed into your view functions as the first argument. If you are looking for the API reference of the Request object you can go to the request.py page.

To get the method of request you can use the method attribute.

from waffleweb.response import render

@app.route('/upload', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def upload(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        return doUploadStuff(request)
    else:
        return render(request, 'form.html')

Accessing headers

The headers of the request is stored in a dict in the META attribute. It is recommended to use get() to get the POST data as the client might not the send the expected headers.

from waffleweb.response import render

@app.route('/page', methods=['GET'])
def page(request):
    userAgent = request.META.get('USER_AGENT', None)
    if userAgent == 'agent':
        return render(request, 'page1.html')
    else:
        return render(request, 'page2.html')

Accessing POST data

The POST data of the request is stored in a dict in the POST attribute. It is recommended to use get() to get the POST data as the client might not the send the expected POST data.

from waffleweb.response import render

@app.route('/form', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def form(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        name = request.POST.get('name', 'john_doe')
        doStuff(name)
    return render(request, 'form.html')

Accessing file uploads

The file uploads of the request is stored in a dict in the FILES attribute. All the files are File objects. The content of the file is stored in the data attribute of the file and the name is stored in the name attribute.

from waffleweb.response import render

@app.route('/upload', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def form(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        file = request.FILES.get('file', None)
        if file is not None:
            with open(f'files/{file.name}', 'x') as f:
                f.write(file.data)

    return render(request, 'upload.html')

In a real life situation you should make sure the content or name is clean.

For more information you can go to Uploaded Files.

Accessing URL parameters

URL parameters are the ‘?paramName=value’ at the end of the URL. URL parameters are useful for when you want to send data in a GET request. URL parameters are stored in a dict in the URL_PARAMS attribute. Again it is recommended to use get() to get the parameters data as the client might not the send the correct parameters.

from waffleweb.response import render

@app.route('/search', methods=['GET'])
def search(request):
    term = request.URL_PARAMS.get('term', None)
    if term is None:
        return render(request, 'searchPage.html')

    results = getResults(term)
    return render(request, 'searchResults.html', {'results': results})

As this is just an example it does not clean the data, but in a real life scenario you should clean the data.

Accessing cookies

Cookies are very useful for many reasons, such as identifying users. Cookies are stored in a dict as Cookie objects in the COOKIES attribute. Once again it is recommended to use get() to get the parameters data, as the client might not the send the correct cookies. You can access the value of the cookie with the value attribute.

from waffleweb.response import render

@app.route('/enter', methods=['GET'])
def enter(request):
    if 'name' in request.COOKIES.keys():
        if request.COOKIES['name'].value == 'john':
            return render(request, 'secret.html')
        else:
            return render(request, 'user.html', {'name': request.COOKIES['name'].value})
    else:
        return render(request, 'enter.html')

Accessing other data

To access the raw request you can use the rawRequest attribute.

To access the body of the request you can use the body attribute.