In Racket 5.0.2 and before, the Web Server supported implicit
conversion of X-expressions and lists with the format (cons/c bytes? (listof (or/c string? bytes?))) into response data structures for output.
After 5.0.2, this implicit conversion has been generalized into any->response. In the process, implicit conversion has been completely removed from some internal plumbing AND the response structures have been streamlined---primarily for efficiency.
This document describes the incompatible changes and how to restore the old behavior when that is possible.
--- Coercion behavior ---
The old coercion behavior will be dynamically introduced by requiring
web-server/compat/0/coerce or running:
(require web-server/compat/0/http/response-structs)
(set-any->response! normalize-response)
Users may want to allow implicit X-expression conversion by
running
(set-any->response! response/xexpr)
--- New response structures ---
The http/response-structs module has changed to be almost
unrecognizable. http/response-structs was provided through http and
servlet, so many Web applications implicitly rely on it.
web-server/compat/0/http/response-structs provides a version that
implements the old behavior without interfering with new version
(i.e., they can both be required simultaneously.) [N.B. response/port
was only present for a few weeks, so it is not provided in the
compatibility library.]
--- xexpr-response/cookies ---
The http/cookie module provided xexpr-response/cookies, but that
functionality is now part of response/xexpr. The old function can be
required from web-server/compat/0/http/cookie (without interfering
with any other bindings from the new cookie module.)
--- Internal APIs ---
Many internal APIs are restricted to receive only actual response?
structures:
configuration-table responders
authentication responder on dispatchers/dispatch-passwords
dispatchers/dispatch-lift --- make
dispatchers/dispatch-pathprocedure --- make
http/response --- output-response and output-response/method
No compatible interface is provided for these functions and data structures.
--- External APIs ---
Most external APIs now use the new response/c. Specifically:
dispatch/serve --- serve/dispatch
servlet-dispatch --- dispatch/servlet
servlet-env --- serve/servlet
servlet/web --- send/*, with-errors-to-browser
dispatchers/dispatch-servlets --- servlet-loading responder argument
#lang web-server/insta
lang/web --- make-stateless-servlet
private/servlet --- handler field
servlet/servlet-structs --- response-generator/c, expiration-handler/c
servlet/setup --- make*servlet
These represent nearly every place where servlets typically interact
with the server.
However, one function: send/formlet from formlets used to allow any
old response/c as a wrapper result, while the new version requires
that the wrapper returns an Xexpr. This changes is justified in that
formlets already bake in support for Xexpr as a fundamental part of
their syntax.
--- Removed contracts ---
web-server/compat/0/servlet/servlet-structs
is a replacement for the old
web-server/servlet/servlet-structs
because
k-url?
response-generator/c
expiration-handler/c
are now removed. (This change is to ensure that internal uses of these
have can-be-response? close to where they are used so any->response can be called appropriately.)
