Synopsis

  use Apache2::RequestIO ();
  
  $rc = $r->discard_request_body();
  
  $r->print("foo", "bar");
  $r->puts("foo", "bar"); # same as print, but no flushing
  $r->printf("%s $d", "foo", 5);
  
  $r->read($buffer, $len);
  
  $r->rflush();
  
  $r->sendfile($filename);
  
  $r->write("foobartarcar", 3, 5);

Description

Apache2::RequestIO provides the API to perform IO on the Apache request object.

API

Apache2::RequestIO provides the following functions and/or methods:

discard_request_body

In HTTP/1.1, any method can have a body. However, most GET handlers wouldn't know what to do with a request body if they received one. This helper routine tests for and reads any message body in the request, simply discarding whatever it receives. We need to do this because failing to read the request body would cause it to be interpreted as the next request on a persistent connection.

  $rc = $r->discard_request_body();

• obj: $r ( Apache2::RequestRec object )

  The current request

• ret: $rc ( integer )

  APR::Const status constant if request is malformed, Apache2::Const::OK otherwise.

• since: 2.0.00

Since we return an error status if the request is malformed, this routine should be called at the beginning of a no-body handler, e.g.,

   use Apache2::Const -compile => qw(OK);
   $rc = $r->discard_request_body;
   return $rc if $rc != Apache2::Const::OK;

print

Send data to the client.

  $cnt = $r->print(@msg);

• obj: $r ( Apache2::RequestRec object )
• arg1: @msg ( ARRAY )

  Data to send

• ret: $cnt ( number )

  How many bytes were sent (or buffered). If zero bytes were sent, print will return 0E0, or "zero but true," which will still evaluate to 0 in a numerical context.

• excpt: APR::Error
• since: 2.0.00

The data is flushed only if STDOUT stream's $| is true. Otherwise it's buffered up to the size of the buffer, flushing only excessive data.

printf

Format and send data to the client (same as printf).

  $cnt = $r->printf($format, @args);

• obj: $r ( Apache2::RequestRec object )
• arg1: $format ( string )

  Format string, as in the Perl core printf function.

• arg2: @args ( ARRAY )

  Arguments to be formatted, as in the Perl core printf function.

• ret: $cnt ( number )

  How many bytes were sent (or buffered)

• excpt: APR::Error
• since: 2.0.00

The data is flushed only if STDOUT stream's $| is true. Otherwise it's buffered up to the size of the buffer, flushing only excessive data.

puts

Send data to the client

  $cnt = $r->puts(@msg);

• obj: $r ( Apache2::RequestRec object )
• arg1: @msg ( ARRAY )

  Data to send

• ret: $cnt ( number )

  How many bytes were sent (or buffered)

• excpt: APR::Error
• since: 2.0.00

puts() is similar to print(), but it won't attempt to flush data, no matter what the value of STDOUT stream's $| is. Therefore assuming that STDOUT stream's $| is true, this method should be a tiny bit faster than print(), especially if small strings are printed.

read

Read data from the client.

  $cnt = $r->read($buffer, $len);
  $cnt = $r->read($buffer, $len, $offset);

• obj: $r ( Apache2::RequestRec object )
• arg1: $buffer ( SCALAR )

  The buffer to populate with the read data

• arg2: $len ( number )

  How many bytes to attempt to read

• opt arg3: $offset ( number )

  If a non-zero $offset is specified, the read data will be placed at that offset in the $buffer.

  META: negative offset and \0 padding are not supported at the moment

• ret: $cnt ( number )

  How many characters were actually read

• excpt: APR::Error
• since: 2.0.00

This method shares a lot of similarities with the Perl core read() function. The main difference in the error handling, which is done via APR::Error exceptions

rflush

Flush any buffered data to the client.

  $r->rflush();

• obj: $r ( Apache2::RequestRec object )
• ret: no return value
• since: 2.0.00

Unless STDOUT stream's $| is false, data sent via $r->print() is buffered. This method flushes that data to the client.

sendfile

Send a file or a part of it

  $rc = $r->sendfile($filename);
  $rc = $r->sendfile($filename, $offset);
  $rc = $r->sendfile($filename, $offset, $len);

• obj: $r ( Apache2::RequestRec object )
• arg1: $filename ( string )

  The full path to the file (using / on all systems)

• opt arg2: $offset ( integer )

  Offset into the file to start sending.

  No offset is used if $offset is not specified.

• opt arg3: $len ( integer )

  How many bytes to send.

  If not specified the whole file is sent (or a part of it, if $offset if specified)

• ret: $rc ( APR::Const status constant )

  On success, APR::Const::SUCCESS is returned.

  In case of a failure -- a failure code is returned, in which case normally it should be returned to the caller.

• excpt: APR::Error

  Exceptions are thrown only when this function is called in the VOID context. So if you don't want to handle the errors, just don't ask for a return value and the function will handle all the errors on its own.

• since: 2.0.00

write

Send partial string to the client

  $cnt = $r->write($buffer);
  $cnt = $r->write($buffer, $len);
  $cnt = $r->write($buffer, $len, $offset);

• obj: $r ( Apache2::RequestRec object )
• arg1: $buffer ( SCALAR )

  The string with data

• opt arg2: $len ( SCALAR )

  How many bytes to send. If not specified, or -1 is specified, all the data in $buffer (or starting from $offset) will be sent.

• opt arg3: $offset ( number )

  Offset into the $buffer string.

• ret: $cnt ( number )

  How many bytes were sent (or buffered)

• excpt: APR::Error
• since: 2.0.00

Examples:

Assuming that we have a string:

  $string = "123456789";

Then:

  $r->write($string);

sends:

  123456789

Whereas:

  $r->write($string, 3);

sends:

  123

And:

  $r->write($string, 3, 5);

sends:

  678

Finally:

  $r->write($string, -1, 5);

sends:

  6789

TIE Interface

The TIE interface implementation. This interface is used for HTTP request handlers, when running under SetHandler perl-script and Perl doesn't have perlio enabled.

See the perltie manpage for more information.

BINMODE

• since: 2.0.00

NoOP

See the binmode Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

CLOSE

• since: 2.0.00

NoOP

See the close Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

FILENO

• since: 2.0.00

See the fileno Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

GETC

• since: 2.0.00

See the getc Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

OPEN

• since: 2.0.00

See the open Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

PRINT

• since: 2.0.00

See the print Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

PRINTF

• since: 2.0.00

See the printf Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

READ

• since: 2.0.00

See the read Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

TIEHANDLE

• since: 2.0.00

See the tie Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

UNTIE

• since: 2.0.00

NoOP

See the untie Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

WRITE

• since: 2.0.00

See the write Perl entry in the perlfunc manpage

Deprecated API

The following methods are deprecated, Apache plans to remove those in the future, therefore avoid using them.

get_client_block

This method is deprecated since the C implementation is buggy and we don't want you to use it at all. Instead use the plain $r->read().

setup_client_block

This method is deprecated since $r->get_client_block is deprecated.

should_client_block

This method is deprecated since $r->get_client_block is deprecated.

See Also

mod_perl 2.0 documentation.

Copyright

mod_perl 2.0 and its core modules are copyrighted under The Apache Software License, Version 2.0.

Authors

The mod_perl development team and numerous contributors.