path: root/docs/narr/subrequest.rst

.. index::
   single: subrequest

.. _subrequest_chapter:

Invoking a Subrequest
=====================

.. versionadded:: 1.4

:app:`Pyramid` allows you to invoke a subrequest at any point during the
processing of a request.  Invoking a subrequest allows you to obtain a
:term:`response` object from a view callable within your :app:`Pyramid`
application while you're executing a different view callable within the same
application.

Here's an example application which uses a subrequest:

.. code-block:: python

   from wsgiref.simple_server import make_server
   from pyramid.config import Configurator
   from pyramid.request import Request

   def view_one(request):
       subreq = Request.blank('/view_two')
       response = request.invoke_subrequest(subreq)
       return response

   def view_two(request):
       request.response.body = 'This came from view_two'
       return request.response

   if __name__ == '__main__':
       config = Configurator()
       config.add_route('one', '/view_one')
       config.add_route('two', '/view_two')
       config.add_view(view_one, route_name='one')
       config.add_view(view_two, route_name='two')
       app = config.make_wsgi_app()
       server = make_server('0.0.0.0', 8080, app)
       server.serve_forever()

When ``/view_one`` is visted in a browser, the text printed in the browser
pane will be ``This came from view_two``.  The ``view_one`` view used the
:meth:`pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` API to obtain a response
from another view (``view_two``) within the same application when it
executed.  It did so by constructing a new request that had a URL that it
knew would match the ``view_two`` view registration, and passed that new
request along to :meth:`pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest`.  The
``view_two`` view callable was invoked, and it returned a response.  The
``view_one`` view callable then simply returned the response it obtained from
the ``view_two`` view callable.

Note that it doesn't matter if the view callable invoked via a subrequest
actually returns a *literal* Response object.  Any view callable that uses a
renderer or which returns an object that can be interpreted by a response
adapter when found and invoked via
:meth:`pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` will return a Response
object:

.. code-block:: python

   from wsgiref.simple_server import make_server
   from pyramid.config import Configurator
   from pyramid.request import Request

   def view_one(request):
       subreq = Request.blank('/view_two')
       response = request.invoke_subrequest(subreq)
       return response

   def view_two(request):
       return 'This came from view_two'

   if __name__ == '__main__':
       config = Configurator()
       config.add_route('one', '/view_one')
       config.add_route('two', '/view_two')
       config.add_view(view_one, route_name='one')
       config.add_view(view_two, route_name='two', renderer='string')
       app = config.make_wsgi_app()
       server = make_server('0.0.0.0', 8080, app)
       server.serve_forever()

Even though the ``view_two`` view callable returned a string, it was invoked
in such a way that the ``string`` renderer associated with the view
registration that was found turned it into a "real" response object for
consumption by ``view_one``.

Being able to unconditionally obtain a response object by invoking a view
callable indirectly is the main advantage to using
:meth:`pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` instead of simply importing
a view callable and executing it directly.  Note that there's not much
advantage to invoking a view using a subrequest if you *can* invoke a view
callable directly.  Subrequests are slower and are less convenient if you
actually do want just the literal information returned by a function that
happens to be a view callable.

Note that, by default, if a view callable invoked by a subrequest raises an
exception, the exception will be raised to the caller of
:meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` even if you have a
:term:`exception view` configured:

.. code-block:: python

   from wsgiref.simple_server import make_server
   from pyramid.config import Configurator
   from pyramid.request import Request

   def view_one(request):
       subreq = Request.blank('/view_two')
       response = request.invoke_subrequest(subreq)
       return response

   def view_two(request):
       raise ValueError('foo')

   def excview(request):
       request.response.body = b'An exception was raised'
       request.response.status_int = 500
       return request.response

   if __name__ == '__main__':
       config = Configurator()
       config.add_route('one', '/view_one')
       config.add_route('two', '/view_two')
       config.add_view(view_one, route_name='one')
       config.add_view(view_two, route_name='two', renderer='string')
       config.add_view(excview, context=Exception)
       app = config.make_wsgi_app()
       server = make_server('0.0.0.0', 8080, app)
       server.serve_forever()

When we run the above code and visit ``/view_one`` in a browser, the
``excview`` :term:`exception view` will *not* be executed.  Instead, the call
to :meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` will cause a
:exc:`ValueError` exception to be raised and a response will never be
generated.  We can change this behavior; how to do so is described below in
our discussion of the ``use_tweens`` argument.

The :meth:`pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` API accepts two
arguments: a positional argument ``request`` that must be provided, and
``use_tweens`` keyword argument that is optional; it defaults to ``False``.

The ``request`` object passed to the API must be an object that implements
the Pyramid request interface (such as a :class:`pyramid.request.Request`
instance).  If ``use_tweens`` is ``True``, the request will be sent to the
:term:`tween` in the tween stack closest to the request ingress.  If
``use_tweens`` is ``False``, the request will be sent to the main router
handler, and no tweens will be invoked.

In the example above, the call to
:meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` will always raise an
exception.  This is because it's using the default value for ``use_tweens``,
which is ``False``.  You can pass ``use_tweens=True`` instead to ensure that
it will convert an exception to a Response if an :term:`exception view` is
configured instead of raising the exception.  This is because exception views
are called by the exception view :term:`tween` as described in
:ref:`exception_views` when any view raises an exception.

We can cause the subrequest to be run through the tween stack by passing
``use_tweens=True`` to the call to
:meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest`, like this:

.. code-block:: python

   from wsgiref.simple_server import make_server
   from pyramid.config import Configurator
   from pyramid.request import Request

   def view_one(request):
       subreq = Request.blank('/view_two')
       response = request.invoke_subrequest(subreq, use_tweens=True)
       return response

   def view_two(request):
       raise ValueError('foo')

   def excview(request):
       request.response.body = b'An exception was raised'
       request.response.status_int = 500
       return request.response

   if __name__ == '__main__':
       config = Configurator()
       config.add_route('one', '/view_one')
       config.add_route('two', '/view_two')
       config.add_view(view_one, route_name='one')
       config.add_view(view_two, route_name='two', renderer='string')
       config.add_view(excview, context=Exception)
       app = config.make_wsgi_app()
       server = make_server('0.0.0.0', 8080, app)
       server.serve_forever()

In the above case, the call to ``request.invoke_subrequest(subreq)`` will not
raise an exception.  Instead, it will retrieve a "500" response from the
attempted invocation of ``view_two``, because the tween which invokes an
exception view to generate a response is run, and therefore ``excview`` is
executed.

This is one of the major differences between specifying the
``use_tweens=True`` and ``use_tweens=False`` arguments to
:meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest`.  ``use_tweens=True`` may
also imply invoking transaction commit/abort for the logic executed in the
subrequest if you've got ``pyramid_tm`` in the tween list, injecting debug
HTML if you've got ``pyramid_debugtoolbar`` in the tween list, and other
tween-related side effects as defined by your particular tween list.

The :meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` function also
unconditionally:
        
- manages the threadlocal stack so that
  :func:`~pyramid.threadlocal.get_current_request` and
  :func:`~pyramid.threadlocal.get_current_registry` work during a request 
  (they will return the subrequest instead of the original request)

- Adds a ``registry`` attribute and a ``invoke_subrequest`` attribute (a
  callable) to the request object it's handed.

- sets request extensions (such as those added via
  :meth:`~pyramid.config.Configurator.add_request_method` or
  :meth:`~pyramid.config.Configurator.set_request_property`) on the subrequest
  object passed as ``request``

- causes a :class:`~pyramid.event.NewRequest` event to be sent at the
  beginning of request processing.

- causes a :class:`~pyramid.event.ContextFound` event to be sent when a
  context resource is found.
  
- Ensures that the user implied by the request passed has the necessary
  authorization to invoke view callable before calling it.

- causes a :class:`~pyramid.event.NewResponse` event to be sent when the
  Pyramid application returns a response.

- Calls any :term:`response callback` functions defined within the subrequest's
  lifetime if a response is obtained from the Pyramid application.

- Calls any :term:`finished callback` functions defined within the subrequest's
  lifetime.

The invocation of a subrequest has more or less exactly the same effect as
the invocation of a request received by the Pyramid router from a web client
when ``use_tweens=True``.  When ``use_tweens=False``, the tweens are skipped
but all the other steps take place.

It's a poor idea to use the original ``request`` object as an argument to
:meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest`.  You should construct a
new request instead as demonstrated in the above example, using
:meth:`pyramid.request.Request.blank`.  Once you've constructed a request
object, you'll need to massage it to match the view callable you'd like
to be executed during the subrequest.  This can be done by adjusting the
subrequest's URL, its headers, its request method, and other attributes.  The
documentation for :class:`pyramid.request.Request` exposes the methods you
should call and attributes you should set on the request you create to
massage it into something that will actually match the view you'd like to
call via a subrequest.

We've demonstrated use of a subrequest from within a view callable, but you
can use the :meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` API from
within a tween or an event handler as well.  It's usually a poor idea to
invoke :meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` from within a
tween, because tweens already by definition have access to a function that
will cause a subrequest (they are passed a ``handle`` function), but you can
do it.  It's fine to invoke
:meth:`~pyramid.request.Request.invoke_subrequest` from within an event
handler, however.