161 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
161 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
==========
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Middleware
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==========
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Middleware is a framework of hooks into Django's request/response processing.
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It's a light, low-level "plugin" system for globally altering Django's input
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and/or output.
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Each middleware component is responsible for doing some specific function. For
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example, Django includes a middleware component, ``XViewMiddleware``, that adds
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an ``"X-View"`` HTTP header to every response to a ``HEAD`` request.
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This document explains all middleware components that come with Django, how to
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use them, and how to write your own middleware.
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Activating middleware
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=====================
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To activate a middleware component, add it to the ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`` list
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in your Django settings. In ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES``, each middleware component
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is represented by a string: the full Python path to the middleware's class
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name. For example, here's the default ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`` created by
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``django-admin.py startproject``::
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MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
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"django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware",
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"django.middleware.doc.XViewMiddleware",
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)
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The default admin site has the following ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`` set::
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MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
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"django.middleware.sessions.SessionMiddleware",
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"django.middleware.admin.AdminUserRequired",
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"django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware",
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)
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Django applies middleware in the order it's defined in ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES``.
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For a regular (i.e., non-admin) Django installation, no middleware is required,
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but it's strongly suggested that you use ``CommonMiddleware``. For a Django
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admin site, ``SessionMiddleware`` and ``AdminUserRequired`` (in that order) are
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required.
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Available middleware
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====================
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``django.middleware.admin.AdminUserRequired``
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Limits site access to valid users with the ``is_staff`` flag set. This is
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required by Django's admin, and this middleware requires ``SessionMiddleware``.
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``django.middleware.cache.CacheMiddleware``
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Enables site-wide cache. If this is enabled, each Django-powered page will be
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cached for as long as the ``CACHE_MIDDLEWARE_SECONDS`` setting defines. See
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the `cache documentation`_.
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.. _`cache documentation`: http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/cache/#the-per-site-cache
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``django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware``
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Adds a few conveniences for perfectionists:
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* Forbids access to user agents in the ``DISALLOWED_USER_AGENTS`` setting,
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which should be a list of strings.
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* Performs URL rewriting based on the ``APPEND_SLASH`` and ``PREPEND_WWW``
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settings. If ``APPEND_SLASH`` is ``True``, URLs that lack a trailing
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slash will be redirected to the same URL with a trailing slash. If
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``PREPEND_WWW`` is ``True``, URLs that lack a leading "www." will be
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redirected to the same URL with a leading "www."
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Both of these options are meant to normalize URLs. The philosophy is that
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each URL should exist in one, and only one, place. Technically a URL
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``foo.com/bar`` is distinct from ``foo.com/bar/`` -- a search-engine
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indexer would treat them as separate URLs -- so it's best practice to
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normalize URLs.
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* Handles ETags based on the ``USE_ETAGS`` setting. If ``USE_ETAGS`` is set
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to ``True``, Django will calculate an ETag for each request by
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MD5-hashing the page content, and it'll take care of sending
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``Not Modified`` responses, if appropriate.
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* Handles flat pages. Every time Django encounters a 404 -- either within
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a view or as a result of no URLconfs matching -- it will check the
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database of flat pages based on the current URL.
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``django.middleware.doc.XViewMiddleware``
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Sends custom ``X-View`` HTTP headers to HEAD requests that come from IP
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addresses defined in the ``INTERNAL_IPS`` setting. This is used by Django's
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automatic documentation system.
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``django.middleware.sessions.SessionMiddleware``
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Enables session support. See the `session documentation`_.
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.. _`session documentation`: http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/sessions/
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Writing your own middleware
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===========================
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Writing your own middleware is easy. Each middleware component is a single
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Python class that defines one or more of the following methods:
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process_request
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---------------
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Interface: ``process_request(self, request)``
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``request`` is an ``HttpRequest`` object. This method is called on each
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request, before Django decides which view to execute.
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``process_request()`` should return either ``None`` or an ``HttpResponse``
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object. If it returns ``None``, Django will continue processing this request,
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executing any other middleware and, then, the appropriate view. If it returns
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an ``HttpResponse`` object, Django won't bother calling ANY other middleware or
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the appropriate view; it'll return that ``HttpResponse``.
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process_view
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------------
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Interface: ``process_view(self, request, view_func, param_dict)``
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``request`` is an ``HttpRequest`` object. ``view_func`` is the Python function
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that Django is about to use. (It's the actual function object, not the name of
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the function as a string.) ``param_dict`` is a dictionary of keyword arguments
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that will be passed to the view -- NOT including the first argument (``request``).
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``process_view()`` is called just before Django calls the view. It should
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return either ``None`` or an ``HttpResponse`` object. If it returns ``None``,
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Django will continue processing this request, executing any other
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``process_view()`` middleware and, then, the appropriate view. If it returns an
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``HttpResponse`` object, Django won't bother calling ANY other middleware or
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the appropriate view; it'll return that ``HttpResponse``.
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process_response
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----------------
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Interface: ``process_response(self, request, response)``
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``request`` is an ``HttpRequest`` object. ``response`` is the ``HttpResponse``
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object returned by a Django view.
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``process_response()`` should return an ``HttpResponse`` object. It could alter
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the given ``response``, or it could create and return a brand-new
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``HttpResponse``.
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Guidelines
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----------
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* Middleware classes don't have to subclass anything.
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* The middleware class can live anywhere on your Python path. All Django
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cares about is that the ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`` setting includes the path
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to it.
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* Feel free to look at Django's available middleware for examples. The
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default Django middleware classes are in ``django/middleware/`` in the
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Django distribution.
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* If you write a middleware component that you think would be useful to
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other people, contribute to the community! Let us know, and we'll
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consider adding it to Django.
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