Content

In Vapor 3, all content types (JSON, protobuf, URLEncodedForm, Multipart, etc) are treated the same. All you need to parse and serialize content is a Codable class or struct.

For this introduction, we will use JSON as an example. But keep in mind the API is the same for any supported content type.

Request

Let's take a look at how you would parse the following HTTP request.

POST /login HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "email": "user@vapor.codes",
    "password": "don't look!"
}

First, create a struct or class that represents the data you expect.

import Vapor

struct LoginRequest: Content {
    var email: String
    var password: String
}

Then simply conform this struct or class to Content. Now we are ready to decode that HTTP request.

router.post("login") { req -> Future<HTTPStatus> in
    return req.content.decode(LoginRequest.self).map(to: HTTPStatus.self) { loginRequest in
        print(loginRequest.email) // user@vapor.codes
        print(loginRequest.password) // don't look!
        return .ok
    }
}

We use .map(to:) here since req.content.decode(_:) returns a future.

Response

Let's take a look at how you would create the following HTTP response.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "name": "Vapor User",
    "email": "user@vapor.codes"
}

Just like decoding, first create a struct or class that represents the data that you are expecting.

import Vapor

struct User: Content {
    var name: String
    var email: String
}

Then just conform this struct or class to Content. Now we are ready to encode that HTTP response.

router.get("user") { req -> User in
    return User(
        name: "Vapor User",
        email: "user@vapor.codes"
    )
}

Great job! Now you know how to encode and decode data in Vapor.

Tip

See Vapor → Content for more in-depth information.

The next section in this guide is Async.