Theory: routingλ︎

In compojure, each route is a combination offer a HTTP method paired with a URL-matching pattern, an argument list, and a handler. The handler is typically the name of function.

(defroutes myapp
  (GET     "/" [] show-something)
  (POST    "/" [] create-something)
  (PUT     "/" [] replace-something)
  (PATCH   "/" [] modify-something)
  (DELETE  "/" [] annihilate-something)
  (OPTIONS "/" [] appease-something)
  (HEAD    "/" [] preview-something))

A handler is a functions which accept request maps and return response maps.

(defn show-something
  "A simple handler function"
  [request]
  {:status 200
   :headers {"Content-Type" "text/html; charset=utf-8}
   :body "<h1>I am a simple handler function</h1>"})

These handler functions can be called by passing a Clojure hash-map. The result is another Clojure hash-map that contains values for :status, :headers and :body.

(show-something {:uri "/" :request-method :post})
;; => {:status 200
;;     :headers {"Content-Type" "text/html; charset=utf-8}
;;     :body "<h1>I am a simple handler function</h1>"}

The body may be a function, which must accept the request as a parameter:

(defroutes myapp
  (GET "/" [] (fn [req] "Do something with req")))

Or, you can just use the request directly:

(defroutes myapp
  (GET "/" req "Do something with req"))

Route patterns may include named parameters:

(defroutes myapp
  (GET "/hello/:name" [name] (str "Hello " name)))

You can adjust what each parameter matches by supplying a regex:

(defroutes myapp
  (GET ["/file/:name.:ext" :name #".*", :ext #".*"] [name ext]
    (str "File: " name ext)))