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Request Processing

Users interact with web applications through the browser. This process consists of request and response strings being exchanged between the web server and the browser. A form is defined by a response string, which is interpreted by the browser to produce components that allow user interaction. A user can fill in data in a text field, and press the submit button. The browser first collects the data from the form input fields, and constructs a request string to send to the web server, which receives the request string and parses it. Values from input fields can be accessed separately but are represented as strings. A web application bears the responsibility of converting these strings to actual types to be used in further processing of the request. In WebDSL, the conversion of request parameters is done automatically. This is the first phase of the request processing lifecycle. The request processing lifecycle consists of the following phases:

  • Convert request parameters
  • Update model values
  • Validate forms
  • Handle actions
  • Render page or redirect

Request parameter conversion is not possible if the incoming value is not well-formed. For example, a value of "3f" cannot be converted to an integer. Since a failed conversion invalidates any input this triggers re-rendering the page with error messages.

In the first phase, parameters are decoded from strings. In the 'Update Model Values' phase, these parameters are automatically inserted in data model entities. WebDSL supports such data binding through input elements. For example, the element

input(u.email)

declares that an input field should be displayed with the current contents of the email property of variable u of type User. Furthermore, when a user submits the containing form with a new value in the email field, the new value will be assigned to u.email.

Data binding requires assignments to and collection operations on entity properties which trigger validation checks defined in the entity. When a property is validated each validation rule defined on that property is checked, possibly producing multiple error messages. When at least one validation fails during this phase, further processing is disabled and errors are displayed.

When the model is updated and entity validations are checked, there can still be validation rules in pages which need to be enforced. The form validation phase traverses the form that is submitted and checks any validation it encounters. An invalid result prevents any action from executing and produces an error in the page.

When all validation checks in previous phases have succeeded, the selected action is executed. During the execution of an action there can be action assertions that validate the data in the current execution state of the action. Moreover, data invariants are still checked during this phase and can produce validation errors as well. If any validation check fails, the entire action is cancelled (clearing all changes made during that request).

Validation messages produced in the previous phases result in a re-render of the same page with error messages inserted. If all validations succeed, the action results in a redirect to the same or a different page.

Notes:

  • Unless validation fails at some point, all changes made to entities are persisted, except for transient entities (new entities that weren't in the database before), these need to be explicitly saved (by calling entity.save()).