URLFormat

Type safe url pattern matching without regular expressions and argument type mismatches based on parser combinators.

Example:

let format: URLFormat = ""/.users/.string/.repos/?.filter(.string)&.page(.int)
let url = URLComponents(string: "/users/apple/repos/?filter=swift&page=2")!
let request = URLRequestComponents(urlComponents: url)
let parameters = try format.parse(request)

_ = flatten(parameters) // ("apple", "swift", 2)
try format.print(parameters) // "users/apple/repos?filter=swift&page=2"
try format.template(parameters) // "users/:String/repos?filter=:String&page=:Int"

This library is based on CommonParsers which provides a common foundation for parser combinators and is heavily inspired by swift-parser-printer from pointfreeco. If you want to learn more about parser combinators and application of functional concepts in every day iOS development check out their blog.

URLFormat is used in SwiftNIOMock to implement URL router.

To use URLFormat with Vapor use a dedicated "vapor" branch (Read more)

Also checkout Interplate which provides a foundation for string templates using parser combinators and string interpolation together.

URLFormat is a URL builder that allows you to describe URL in a natural manner and allows you to pattern match it in a type safe way.

The conventional way of representing URL patterns, i.e. for web server API routes, is using some kind of string placeholder for parameters, i.e. /user/:name. This is then parsed, and path and query parameters are aggregated into a collection. The issue is that this approach is error-prone (what if : is missed) and access to the parameters is not type safe - it's possible to access parameters as a wrong type or conversion must be implemented by the client, and it's possible to access parameter by the wrong key or index.

Another approach that Swift allows is to use enums pattern matching, as described in this post and implemented in URLPatterns. While this approach allows type-safe access to parameters it's not very ergonomic and nice to read:

if case .n4("user", let userId, "profile", _) ~= url.countedPathElements() { ... }

Another downside of this approach is that it only allows to extract parameters of the same type, so most of the time you would extract all of them as String and convert to other types:

case chat(room: String, membersCount: Int)

case .n3("chat", let room, let membersCount):
  self = .chat(room: room, membersCount: number) // Cannot convert value of type 'String' to expected argument type 'Int'

In Vapor routes are defined as a collection of path components:

router.get("users", String.parameter) { req in
    let name = try req.parameters.next(String.self)
    return "User #\(name)"
}

You can as well use string placeholders for parameters:

router.get("users", ":name") { request in
    guard let userName = request.parameters["name"]?.string else {
        throw Abort.badRequest
    }

    return "You requested User #\(userName)"
}

This is nicer to write and read, but it's even less type safe - the parameters must be fetched in the order they appear in the path and their types should match but the compiler won't ensure that and you would need to make sure that the pattern definition and parameter access are always in sync.

You also can't describe query parameters in the route, they are instead accessed in the route handler either via request.data["key"]?.string or request.query?["key"]?.stirng which is also not type safe.

With URLFormat you would describe URLs as follows:

let urlFormat: URLFormat = ""/.users/.string/.repos/?.filter(.string)&.page(.int)
let url = URLComponents(string: "/users/apple/repos/?filter=swift&page=2")!
let request = URLRequestComponents(urlComponents: url)
let parameters = urlFormat.parse(request)
print(flatten(parameters)) // ("apple", "swift", 2)

This pattern will match URL with path like /users/apple/repos/?filter=swift&page=1 (first and last / are optional). The fully qualified type of urlFormat in this case would be ClosedQueryFormat<((String, String), Int)> (most of the time using base class type URLFormat is sufficient). The type of generic parameter describes the types of all captured parameters. To extract them from the actual URL you'd use parse method and one of flatten functions to "flatten" nested tuples, i.e. ((A, B), C) -> (A, B, C) which makes it more convenient to access parameters.

Note that it's not necessary to specify a generic type parameter manually as the compiler can infer it from the declaration¹. And the compiler ensures that pattern and types of captured parameters are always in sync.

A nice caveat is that URLFormat can be used to print actual URLs and their readable templates if you provide it values for its parameters (again the compiler makes sure that they are always in sync):

let parameters = parenthesize("apple", "swift", 2)
urlFormat.print(parameters) // "users/apple/repos?filter=swift&page=2"
urlFormat.template(parameters) // "users/:String/repos?filter=:String&page=:Int"

Note that there are no string literals involved in declaring this URL except the first one. This is because under the hood URLFormat implements @dynamicMemberLookup, so an expression like .users is converted to the parser that parses "users" string from the path components.

You can either leave the first string component empty² or use it to specify the HTTP method of the request if you use URLFormat with HTTP requests and not just URLs:

let urlFormat: URLFormat = "GET"/.users/.string/.repos/?.filter(.string)&.page(.int)
let url = URLComponents(string: "/users/apple/repos/?filter=swift&page=2")!
let request = URLRequestComponents(method: "GET", urlComponents: url)
let parameters = urlFormat.parse(request)
urlFormat.print(parameters) // "GET users/apple/repos?filter=swift&page=2"

Path parameters are parsed using .string and .int operators. Query parameters are parsed with a combination of these operators and dynamic member lookup, so .filter(.string) will parse a string query parameter named "filter", .page(.int) will parse an integer query parameter named "page".

URLFormat also makes sure that URL is composed of path and query components correctly by allowing usage of /, /?, &, * and *? operators only in the correct places. This is done by using different subclasses of URLFormat to keep track of the builder state. It is similar to using phantom generic type parameters but allows to implement dynamic member lookup only for specific states of the builder.

1: an exeption here is when pattern does not capture any parameters, i.e. _ = URLFormat<Prelude.Unit> = ""/.helloworld . Prelude.Unit here is a type, similar to Void, but unlike Void it is an actual empty struct type. ↩

2: String in the beginning of the pattern is needed because static dynamicMemberLookup subscript calls can't be infered without explicitly specifying type in the beginning of expression (see this discussion for details) ↩

Following parameters types are supported:

• String with .string operator
• Character with .char operator
• Int with .int operator
• Double with .double operator
• Bool with .bool operator
• UUID with .uuid operator
• Any with .any operator (unlike * this will match only single path component, * will capture all trailing path components into one string)
• LosslessStringConvertible types with lossless(MyType.self) operator
• RawRepresentable with String, Character, Int and Double raw value types with raw(MyType.self) operator

In rare cases where your URL path components collide with these operator names you can use a .const operator to define path component as a string literal and not a typed parameter:

/.users/.const("uuid")/.uuid

You can add support for your own types by implementing PartialIso<String, MyType>:

import CommonParsers

extension URLPartialIso where A == String, B == MyType {
    static var myType: URLPartialIso { ... }
}
extension OpenPathFormat where A == Prelude.Unit {
    var myType: ClosedPathFormat<MyType> {
        return ClosedPathFormat(parser %> path(.myType))
    }
}
extension OpenPathFormat {
    var myType: ClosedPathFormat<(A, MyType)> {
        return ClosedPathFormat(parser <%> path(.myType))
    }
}

With that you can use your type as a path or a query parameter:

""/.users/.myType/.repos/?.filter(.myType)&.page(.int)

/ - concatenates two path components /? - concatenates path with a query component & - concatenates two query components * - allows any trailing path components *? - concatenates path with any trailing path components and a query component

To use URLFormat with Vapor you need to install it from the "vapor" branch . Then you can use import VaporURLFormat instead of import URLFormat and register routes using router method instead of get, post, put etc.:

router.route(GET/.hello/.string) { (request, string) in
    print(string) // "vapor"
    ...
}
try app.client(.GET, "/hello/vapor")

With Swift 5.2 you can use router as a function directly (using Swift static callable feature):

router(GET/.hello/.string) { (request, string) in
    print(string) // "vapor"
    ...
}
try app.client(.GET, "/hello/vapor")

import PackageDescription

let package = Package(
    dependencies: [
        .package(url: "https://github.com/ilyapuchka/URLFormat.git", .branch("master")),
    ]
)

For using URLFormat with Vapor:

import PackageDescription

let package = Package(
    dependencies: [
        .package(url: "https://github.com/ilyapuchka/URLFormat.git", .branch("vapor")),
    ]
)