@@ -470,6 +470,56 @@ recommended: NOTE: The built-in Sinatra::Test module and Sinatra::TestHarness class are deprecated as of the 0.9.2 release. +== Sinatra::Base - Middleware, Libraries, and Modular Apps + +Defining your app at the top-level works well for micro-apps but has +considerable drawbacks when building reuseable components such as Rack +middleware, Rails metal, simple libraries with a server component, or +even Sinatra extensions. The top-level DSL pollutes the Object namespace +and assumes a micro-app style configuration (e.g., a single application +file, ./public and ./views directories, logging, exception detail page, +etc.). That's where Sinatra::Base comes into play: + + require 'sinatra/base' + + class MyApp < Sinatra::Base + set :sessions, true + set :foo, 'bar' + + get '/' do + 'Hello world!' + end + end + +The MyApp class is an independent Rack component that can act as +Rack middleware, a Rack application, or Rails metal. You can +use+ or ++run+ this class from a rackup +config.ru+ file; or, control a server +component shipped as a library: + + MyApp.run! :host => 'localhost', :port => 9090 + +The methods available to Sinatra::Base subclasses are exactly as those +available via the top-level DSL. Most top-level apps can be converted to +Sinatra::Base components with two modifications: + +* Your file should require +sinatra/base+ instead of +sinatra+; + otherwise, all of Sinatra's DSL methods are imported into the main + namespace. +* Put your app's routes, error handlers, filters, and options in a subclass + of Sinatra::Base. + ++Sinatra::Base+ is a blank slate. Most options are disabled by default, +including the built-in server. See {Options and Configuration}[http://sinatra.github.com/configuration.html] +for details on available options and their behavior. + +SIDEBAR: Sinatra's top-level DSL is implemented using a simple delegation +system. The +Sinatra::Application+ class -- a special subclass of +Sinatra::Base -- receives all :get, :put, :post, :delete, :before, +:error, :not_found, :configure, and :set messages sent to the +top-level. Have a look at the code for yourself: here's the +{Sinatra::Delegator mixin}[http://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/blob/master/lib/sinatra/base.rb#L1064] +being {included into the main namespace}[http://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/blob/master/lib/sinatra/main.rb#L25]. + == Command line Sinatra applications can be run directly: README.rdoc e997abbb1939f71db12ed41a69c503593f16bf75 Simon Rozet simon@rozet.name http://github.com/sr/sinatra/commit/29e01ebc5b0a52ec8dcdf75ac7b3e3aec976a317 29e01ebc5b0a52ec8dcdf75ac7b3e3aec976a317 2009-06-08T00:16:11-07:00 2009-06-06T03:06:45-07:00 Add a note about Sinatra::Base to the README Edited-By: Ryan Tomayko <rtomayko@gmail.com> 632976a012a2fad44a159c9c568933455658e993 Ryan Tomayko rtomayko@gmail.com