# class ActionDispatch::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).

Response is mostly a Ruby on Rails framework implementation detail, and should never be used directly in controllers. Controllers should use the methods defined in ActionController::Base instead. For example, if you want to set the HTTP response’s content MIME type, then use ActionControllerBase#headers instead of Response#headers.

Nevertheless, integration tests may want to inspect controller responses in more detail, and that’s when Response can be useful for application developers. Integration test methods such as ActionDispatch::Integration::RequestHelpers#get and ActionDispatch::Integration::RequestHelpers#post return objects of type TestResponse (which are of course also of type Response).

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

### Constants

CONTENT_TYPE
EMPTY
LOCATION
SET_COOKIE

### Attributes

charset[RW]

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.

content_type[RW]

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.

header[RW]
headers=[RW]
request[RW]
sending_file[W]
status[R]

### Public Class Methods

new(status = 200, header = {}, body = []) { |self| ... } click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 65
    def initialize(status = 200, header = {}, body = [])
      self.body, self.header, self.status = body, header, status

      @sending_file = false
      @blank = false

      if content_type = self[CONTENT_TYPE]
        type, charset = content_type.split(/;\s*charset=/)
        @content_type = Mime::Type.lookup(type)
        @charset = charset || self.class.default_charset
      end

      prepare_cache_control!

      yield self if block_given?
    end

### Public Instance Methods

body() click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 113
    def body
      strings = []
      each { |part| strings << part.to_s }
      strings.join
    end

body=(body) click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 121
    def body=(body)
      @blank = true if body == EMPTY

      # Explicitly check for strings. This is *wrong* theoretically
      # but if we don't check this, the performance on string bodies
      # is bad on Ruby 1.8 (because strings responds to each then).
      @body = if body.respond_to?(:to_str) || !body.respond_to?(:each)
        [body]
      else
        body
      end
    end

body_parts() click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 134
    def body_parts
      @body
    end

close() click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 155
    def close
      @body.close if @body.respond_to?(:close)
    end

code() click to toggle source

Returns a String to ensure compatibility with Net::HTTPResponse

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 92
    def code
      @status.to_s
    end

cookies() click to toggle source

Returns the response cookies, converted to a Hash of (name => value) pairs

    assert_equal 'AuthorOfNewPage', r.cookies['author']

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 178
    def cookies
      cookies = {}
      if header = self[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_cookie(key, value={}) click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 142
    def delete_cookie(key, value={})
      ::Rack::Utils.delete_cookie_header!(header, key, value)
    end

location() click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 146
    def location
      headers[LOCATION]
    end

Also aliased as: redirect_url
location=(url) click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 151
    def location=(url)
      headers[LOCATION] = url
    end

message() click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 96
    def message
      Rack::Utils::HTTP_STATUS_CODES[@status]
    end

Also aliased as: status_message
prepare!()
Alias for: to_a
redirect_url()
Alias for: location
respond_to?(method) click to toggle source
Calls superclass method

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 101
    def respond_to?(method)
      if method.to_sym == :to_path
        @body.respond_to?(:to_path)
      else
        super
      end
    end

response_code() click to toggle source

The response code of the request

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 87
    def response_code
      @status
    end

set_cookie(key, value) click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 138
    def set_cookie(key, value)
      ::Rack::Utils.set_cookie_header!(header, key, value)
    end

status=(status) click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 82
    def status=(status)
      @status = Rack::Utils.status_code(status)
    end

status_message()
Alias for: message
to_a() click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 159
    def to_a
      assign_default_content_type_and_charset!
      handle_conditional_get!

      @header[SET_COOKIE] = @header[SET_COOKIE].join("\n") if @header[SET_COOKIE].respond_to?(:join)

      if [204, 304].include?(@status)
        @header.delete CONTENT_TYPE
        [@status, @header, []]
      else
        [@status, @header, self]
      end
    end

Also aliased as: prepare!, to_ary
to_ary()
Alias for: to_a
to_path() click to toggle source

    # File lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb, line 109
    def to_path
      @body.to_path
    end