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Module: ActionController::DataStreaming

Relationships & Source Files
Extension / Inclusion / Inheritance Descendants
Included In:
API, Base, ::ActionView::TestCase::TestController, Rails::ApplicationController, ::Rails::HealthController, Rails::InfoController, Rails::MailersController, Rails::WelcomeController
Super Chains via Extension / Inclusion / Inheritance
Class Chain:
Instance Chain:
self, Rendering
Defined in: actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/data_streaming.rb

Overview

Methods for sending arbitrary data and for streaming files to the browser, instead of rendering.

Constant Summary

Rendering - Included

RENDER_FORMATS_IN_PRIORITY

Class Method Summary

::ActiveSupport::Concern - Extended

class_methods

Define class methods from given block.

included

Evaluate given block in context of base class, so that you can write class macros here.

prepended

Evaluate given block in context of base class, so that you can write class macros here.

Instance Method Summary

Rendering - Included

#render

Renders a template and assigns the result to self.response_body.

#render_to_string

Similar to #render, but only returns the rendered template as a string, instead of setting self.response_body.

Instance Method Details

#send_data(data, options = {}) (private)

Sends the given binary data to the browser. This method is similar to render plain: data, but also allows you to specify whether the browser should display the response as a file attachment (i.e. in a download dialog) or as inline data. You may also set the content type, the file name, and other things.

Options:

  • :filename - suggests a filename for the browser to use.

  • :type - specifies an HTTP content type. Defaults to application/octet-stream. You can specify either a string or a symbol for a registered type with Mime::Type.register, for example :json. If omitted, type will be inferred from the file extension specified in :filename. If no content type is registered for the extension, the default type application/octet-stream will be used.

  • :disposition - specifies whether the file will be shown inline or downloaded. Valid values are "inline" and "attachment" (default).

  • :status - specifies the status code to send with the response. Defaults to 200.

Generic data download:

send_data buffer

Download a dynamically-generated tarball:

send_data generate_tgz('dir'), filename: 'dir.tgz'

Display an image Active Record in the browser:

send_data image.data, type: image.content_type, disposition: 'inline'

See #send_file for more information on HTTP Content-* headers and caching.

[ GitHub ]

  
# File 'actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/data_streaming.rb', line 111

def send_data(data, options = {}) # :doc:
  send_file_headers! options
  render options.slice(:status, :content_type).merge(body: data)
end

#send_file(path, options = {}) (private)

Sends the file. This uses a server-appropriate method (such as X-Sendfile) via the Rack::Sendfile middleware. The header to use is set via config.action_dispatch.x_sendfile_header. Your server can also configure this for you by setting the X-Sendfile-Type header.

Be careful to sanitize the path parameter if it is coming from a web page. send_file(params[:path]) allows a malicious user to download any file on your server.

Options:

  • :filename - suggests a filename for the browser to use. Defaults to File.basename(path).

  • :type - specifies an HTTP content type. You can specify either a string or a symbol for a registered type with Mime::Type.register, for example :json. If omitted, the type will be inferred from the file extension specified in :filename. If no content type is registered for the extension, the default type application/octet-stream will be used.

  • :disposition - specifies whether the file will be shown inline or downloaded. Valid values are "inline" and "attachment" (default).

  • :status - specifies the status code to send with the response. Defaults to 200.

  • :url_based_filename - set to true if you want the browser to guess the filename from the URL, which is necessary for i18n filenames on certain browsers (setting :filename overrides this option).

The default Content-Type and Content-Disposition headers are set to download arbitrary binary files in as many browsers as possible. IE versions 4, 5, 5.5, and 6 are all known to have a variety of quirks (especially when downloading over SSL).

Simple download:

send_file '/path/to.zip'

Show a JPEG in the browser:

send_file '/path/to.jpeg', type: 'image/jpeg', disposition: 'inline'

Show a 404 page in the browser:

send_file '/path/to/404.html', type: 'text/html; charset=utf-8', disposition: 'inline', status: 404

You can use other Content-* HTTP headers to provide additional information to the client. See MDN for a list of HTTP headers.

Also be aware that the document may be cached by proxies and browsers. The Pragma and Cache-Control headers declare how the file may be cached by intermediaries. They default to require clients to validate with the server before releasing cached responses. See www.mnot.net/cache_docs/ for an overview of web caching and RFC 9111 for the Cache-Control header spec.

Raises:

[ GitHub ]

  
# File 'actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/data_streaming.rb', line 71

def send_file(path, options = {}) # :doc:
  raise MissingFile, "Cannot read file #{path}" unless File.file?(path) && File.readable?(path)

  options[:filename] ||= File.basename(path) unless options[:url_based_filename]
  send_file_headers! options

  self.status = options[:status] || 200
  self.content_type = options[:content_type] if options.key?(:content_type)
  response.send_file path
end