Jaguar

Jaguar is a full-stack production ready HTTP server framework built to be fast, simple and intuitive.

Getting started

Familiar way to write routes

Jaguar class provides methods get, put, post, delete and options to quickly add route handlers for specific HTTP methods.

main() async {
  final server = Jaguar();  // Serves the API at localhost:8080 by default
  // Add a route handler for 'GET' method at path '/hello'
  server.get('/hello', (Context ctx) => 'Hello world!');
  await server.serve();
}

Powerful route matching

Easily define and access Path parameters

Path segments prefixed with : can match any value and are also captured as path variables. Path variables can be accessed using pathParams member of Context object.

main(List<String> args) async {
  final quotes = <String>[
    'But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.',
    'When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.',
    'Learning never exhausts the mind.',
  ];

  final server = Jaguar();
  server.get('/api/quote/:index', (ctx) { // The magic!
    final int index = ctx.pathParams.getInt('index', 1);  // The magic!
    return quotes[index + 1];
  });
  await server.serve();
}

• A path can have multiple path variables.
• A path variable can appear at any position in the path.
• A path variable can be matched against a Regular expression.
• getInt, getDouble, getNum and getBool methods can be used to easily typecast path variables.
• Using * as the final path segment captures/matches all following segments.

Easily access Query parameters

Query parameters can be accessed using queryParams member of Context object.

main(List<String> args) async {
  final quotes = <String>[
    'But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.',
    'When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.',
    'Learning never exhausts the mind.',
  ];

  final server = Jaguar();
  server.get('/api/quote', (ctx) {
    final int index = ctx.queryParams.getInt('index', 1); // The magic!
    return quotes[index + 1];
  });
  await server.serve();
}

getInt, getDouble, getNum and getBool methods can be used to easily typecast query parameters into desired type.

One liner to access Forms

A single line is all it takes to obtain a form as a Map<String, String> using method bodyAsUrlEncodedForm on Request object.

main(List<String> arguments) async {
  final server = Jaguar(port: 8005);

  server.postJson('/api/add', (ctx) async {
      final Map<String, String> map = await ctx.req.bodyAsUrlEncodedForm(); // The magic!
      contacts.add(Contact.create(map));
      return contacts.map((ct) => ct.toMap).toList();
    });


  await server.serve();
}

One liner to serve static files

The method staticFiles adds static files to Jaguar server. The first argument determines the request Uri that much be matched and the second argument determines the directory from which the target files are fetched.

main() async {
  final server = Jaguar();
  server.staticFiles('/static/*', 'static'); // The magic!
  await server.serve();
}

JSON serialization with little effort

Decoding JSON requests can't be simpler than using one of the built-in bodyAsJson, bodyAsJsonMap or bodyAsJsonList methods on Request object.

Future<void> main(List<String> args) async {
  final server = Jaguar();
  server.postJson('/api/book', (Context ctx) async {
    // Decode request body as JSON Map
    final Map<String, dynamic> json = await ctx.req.bodyAsJsonMap();
    Book book = Book.fromMap(json);
    return book; // Automatically encodes Book to JSON
  });

  await server.serve();
}

Out-of-the-box Sessions support

main() async {
  final server = Jaguar();
  server.get('/api/add/:item', (ctx) async {
    final Session session = await ctx.req.session;
    final String newItem = ctx.pathParams.item;

    final List<String> items = (session['items'] ?? '').split(',');

    // Add item to shopping cart stored on session
    if (!items.contains(newItem)) {
      items.add(newItem);
      session['items'] = items.join(',');
    }

    return Response.redirect('/');
  });
  server.get('/api/remove/:item', (ctx) async {
    final Session session = await ctx.req.session;
    final String newItem = ctx.pathParams.item;

    final List<String> items = (session['items'] ?? '').split(',');

    // Remove item from shopping cart stored on session
    if (items.contains(newItem)) {
      items.remove(newItem);
      session['items'] = items.join(',');
    }

    return Response.redirect('/');
  });
  await server.serve();
}