Play Framework posted values revisited

Working with posted values with Play Framework 2.0, without defining a form mapping, might not be so obvious as it was with Play 1.x, that’s why I’m writing this quick cheatsheet.

For this quick sample, let’s define the following view:

app/views/index.scala.html

@(message: String)

message: @message <br />

<h2>Scala form</h2>

<form action="@routes.ScalaPoster.save()" method="POST">
  scala name: <input name="scala_name"> <br />
  scala surname: <input name="scala_surname"> <br />
  <input type="submit" value="save">
</form>

<h2>Java form</h2>

<form action="@routes.JavaPoster.save()" method="POST">
  java name: <input name="java_name"> <br />
  java surname: <input name="java_surname"> <br />
  <input type="submit" value="save">
</form>

And the following routes file:

conf/routes

# Home page
GET     /                         controllers.Application.index

POST    /scala                    controllers.ScalaPoster.save
POST    /java                     controllers.JavaPoster.save

With java, accesing directly the request body:

app/controllers/JavaPoster.java

package controllers;

import play.mvc.*;

import views.html.*;

import java.util.Map;

public class JavaPoster extends Controller {
  
  public static Result save() {

    final Map<String, String[]> values = request().body().asFormUrlEncoded();
    final String name = values.get("java_name")[0];
    final String surname = values.get("java_surname")[0];
    
    return ok(index.render(String.format("You are %s, %s",surname, name)));
  }
  
}

Or using a DynamicForm:

package controllers;

import play.mvc.*;

import views.html.*;

import play.data.DynamicForm;

public class JavaPoster extends Controller {
  
  public static Result save() {

    final DynamicForm form = form().bindFromRequest();
    final String name = form.get("java_name");
    final String surname = form.get("java_surname");
    return ok(index.render(String.format("You are %s, %s",surname, name)));
  }
  
}

Now the scala version, accessing the body:

app/controllers/ScalaPoster.java

package controllers

import play.api.mvc._

object ScalaPoster extends Controller {

  def save = Action { request =>

    def name = request.body.asFormUrlEncoded.get("scala_name")(0)
    def surname = request.body.asFormUrlEncoded.get("scala_surname")(0)

    Ok(views.html.index("You are %s, %s".format(surname, name))) 
  }

}

And defining a form

package controllers

import play.api.mvc._

import play.api.data.Form
import play.api.data.Forms.tuple
import play.api.data.Forms.text

object ScalaPoster extends Controller {

  val form = Form(
    tuple(
      "scala_name" -> text,
      "scala_surname" -> text
    )
  )

  def save = Action { implicit request =>
 
    def values = form.bindFromRequest.data
    def name = values("scala_name")
    def surname = values("scala_surname")

    Ok(views.html.index("You are %s, %s".format(surname, name))) 
  }

}

Notice the implict request in the above sample. You could explicitly pass it to bindFromRequest with

    def values = form.bindFromRequest()(request).data

You can also play with the tuples and issue something like

    val data = form.bindFromRequest.get
    Ok(views.html.index("You are %s, %s".format(data._2, data._1))) 

or

    val (name, surname) = form.bindFromRequest.get
    Ok(views.html.index("You are %s, %s".format(surname, name))) 

And of course, if you just want to read a single posted value you could issue:

    def name = Form("scala_name" -> text).bindFromRequest.get

There are several ways to achieve it. I hope this serves as a useful reminder.

Reference: Play Framework posted values revisited from our JCG partner Sebastian Scarano at the Having fun with Play framework! blog.