README.md

ocaml-dispatch

ocaml-dispatch provides a basic mechanism for dispatching a request to a handler based on hierarchical path names conventionally found in URIs. It can be used both for dispatching requests in a server, as well as handing changes to hierarchical fragments in a client-side application.

Installation

Install the library and its depenencies via OPAM:

opam install dispatch

Development

To install development versions of the library, pin the package from the root of the repository:

opam pin add .

You can install the latest changes by commiting them to the local git repository and running:

opam upgrade dispatch

For building and running the tests during development, you will need to install the alcotest package and reconfigure the build process to enable tests:

opam install alcotest
dune runtest

Usage

Dispatch is designed to work with whatever sort of handler you care to use, whether it's synchronous, Lwt-based, or Async-based. Here's a simple example of using the Dispatch.DSL module to setup routing for a "Hello, World!" server. The example assumes a Server module and request type, and that handlers should return strings that will be interpreted as the body of the response.

open Dispatch

let hello_handler keys rest request =
  let who = try List.assoc "who" keys with Not_found -> "World" in
  Printf.sprintf "Hello, %s!" who
;;

let handler request =
  let routes = 
    DSL.create 
      [ "/"           , hello_handler
      ; "/hello/:who/", hello_handler
      ] 
  in
  match dispatch routes request.path with
  | Some handler -> handler request
  | None         -> "Not found!"
;;

let _ =
  Server.start handler

License

BSD3, see LICENSE file for its text.