Wiki source code of URL Architecture

Version 18.2 by Vincent Massol on 2021/06/16

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1 {{box cssClass="floatinginfobox" title="**Contents**"}}
2 {{toc/}}
3 {{/box}}
4
5 This is how URLs are handled when entering an XWiki instance:
6
7 {{plantuml}}
8 @startuml
9 !theme bluegray
10 start
11 -> URL;
12 :Routing Filter;
13 floating note left
14 Executed as the first
15 Filter in web.xml
16 end note
17 floating note right
18 Parse URL and check if there's
19 a Resource Reference Handler to
20 handle the Resource Type
21 end note
22 if (Resource Reference Filter?) then (Yes)
23 :Resource Reference Handler Servlet;
24 :Resource Reference Handler;
25 note: e.g. WebJarsResourceReferenceHandler
26 kill
27 else (No)
28 partition "Legacy Action Handling" {
29 :Evaluate rest of web.xml;
30 split
31 :Legacy Action Servlet;
32 kill
33 split again
34 :Other Servlets;
35 kill
36 end split
37 }
38 endif
39 @enduml
40 {{/plantuml}}
41
42 Specifically:
43
44 * When parsing an incoming URL, the Routing Filter will use a ##default## Resource Type Resolver (##ResourceTypeResolver##) component to extract the Resource Type (##ResourceType##) from the URL (the Resource Type is the type of URL pointed to, e.g. an Entity if the URL is pointing to a Document for example, a WebJar URL, a Skin URL, a REST URL, etc). In turn, the ##default## Resource Type Resolver will read the XWiki configuration to see what URL Scheme is configured (through the ##url.format## configuration parameter) and will then locate a ##ResourceTypeResolver## component with a hint corresponding to the URL Scheme. It'll use it to extract the Resource Type.
45 * The Resource Reference Handler Servlet will use a ##default## Resource Reference Resolver (##ResourceReferenceResolver##) component to parse the passed URL into a ##ResourceReference## object that can then be given to a ##ResourceReferenceHandler## to perform an action. In turn the ##default## Resource Reference Resolver will read the XWiki configuration to see what URL Scheme is configured (through the ##url.format## configuration parameter) and will then locate a ##ResourceReferenceResolver## component with a hint corresponding to the URL Scheme. It'll use it to extract the Resource Reference.
46
47 For more details see the [[Resource API>>extensions:Extension.Resource API]] and the [[URL API>>extensions:Extension.URL API]] reference documentation.
48
49 = Standard URL Scheme =
50
51 This is the default URL format used by XWiki. See [[Standard URL Scheme>>platform:DevGuide.Standard URL Format]].
52
53 = Customizing URLs =
54
55 There are several solutions to customize XWiki URLs:
56
57 * You can tune them to some degree by modifying XWiki's configuration. The various options are described in the [[Short URL documentation>>platform:Main.ShortURLs]].
58 * You can rewrite both incoming URLs but also outbound URLs using a Rewrite Filter. An example is also provided in the [[Short URL documentation>>platform:Main.ShortURLs]].
59 * You can implement a new URL Scheme. See the [[URL API>>extensions:Extension.URL API]].
60 * You can simply register new Resource Types or new Entity Actions. See the [[Resource API>>extensions:Extension.Resource API]].
61
62 {{info}}
63 Note that using Tuckey's [[Rewrite Filter>>http://tuckey.org/urlrewrite/]] is very powerful as it also allows using dynamic rules written in Java by using the [[##<class-rule>##>>http://tuckey.org/urlrewrite/manual/4.0/index.html#class-rule]] feature. However, [[dynamic outbound rules are not yet possible>>https://code.google.com/p/urlrewritefilter/issues/detail?id=73]].
64
65 [[Here's an example of writing a custom ##class-rule##>>https://github.com/xwiki-contrib/url-rewrite-reference]].
66 {{/info}}
67
68 = Legacy Actions Servlet Architecture =
69
70 As shown above, when there's no Resource Reference Handler registered to handle a Resource Type, the rest of ##web.xml## is processed and if the URL type is ##bin## or ##wiki##, the Servlet in charge of the legacy actions is then called and the following happens:
71
72 {{plantuml}}
73 @startuml
74 !theme bluegray
75 start
76 :Legacy Action Servlet;
77 floating note: Configured in ""WEB-INF/web.xml""
78 :Initialize XWiki;
79 floating note left
80 Initialize XWiki objects:
81 * ""XWikiContext"" / ""ExecutionContext""
82 * ""XWiki""
83 * ""XWikiRequest""
84 * ""XWikiResponse""
85 * ...
86 end note
87 floating note right
88 The called Action is a component with a
89 hint equals to the URL part representing
90 the action (e.g. ""edit"" for ""EditAction"")
91 end note
92 split
93 :View Action;
94 :Renders view.vm;
95 split again
96 :Save Action;
97 :Renders save.vm;
98 split again
99 :Other Actions;
100 :Renders other Velocity
101 template files;
102 end split
103 :Service APIs
104 (exposed in the context);
105 @enduml
106 {{/plantuml}}
107
108 For example for the ##http:~/~/www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome## URL for the ##standard## URL scheme, the following happens:
109
110 * {{version since="13.0"}}The URL path contains ##/view/## and thus the ##ViewAction## class is executed (because the role hint of the ViewAction component is ##view##) and called by the Legacy Action Servlet, itself configured in ##web.xml##{{/version}}(((
111 {{version before="13.0"}}The mapping between the URL and the Action class to execute is defined in ##struts-config.xml##, and the Struts Action is configured in ##web.xml##.{{/version}}
112 )))
113 * The wiki is the main wiki in this example (since the server name starts by ##www##). See [[Accessing a wiki>>platform:AdminGuide.AccessWiki]] for more details on how wikis are accessed from URLs.
114 * ##ViewAction## specifies that ##view.vm## will be rendered using Velocity
115 * The space asked is ##Main## and the document's name is ##WebHome##

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