tinystruct @Action Routing Reference

When to Use

Use the @Action annotation in your applications to define routes for both CLI commands and HTTP endpoints. It is appropriate whenever you need to map logic to a specific path, handle parameterized requests, or restrict execution to specific HTTP methods while maintaining a consistent command structure across environments.

How It Works

The ActionRegistry parses @Action annotations to build a routing table. For parameterized methods, the framework automatically maps Java parameter types to corresponding regex segments.

Regex Generation Rules

getUser(int id) → pattern: ^/?user/(-?\d+)$
search(String query) → pattern: ^/?search/([^/]+)$

Supported parameter types: String, int/Integer, long/Long, float/Float, double/Double, boolean/Boolean, char/Character, short/Short, byte/Byte, Date (parsed as yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss).

Mode Values

Mode	When it triggers
`DEFAULT`	Both CLI and HTTP (GET, POST, etc.)
`CLI`	CLI dispatcher only
`HTTP_GET`	HTTP GET only
`HTTP_POST`	HTTP POST only
`HTTP_PUT`	HTTP PUT only
`HTTP_DELETE`	HTTP DELETE only
`HTTP_PATCH`	HTTP PATCH only

Note: You can map HTTP method names to Mode using Action.Mode.fromName(String methodName). Unknown or null values return Mode.DEFAULT.

Examples

Basic Action Declaration

java

@Action(
    value = "path/subpath",          // required: URI segment or CLI command
    description = "What it does",    // shown in --help output
    mode = Mode.DEFAULT,             // default: Mode.DEFAULT
    example = "bin/dispatcher path/subpath/42"
)
public String myAction(int id) { ... }

Parameterized Paths

java

@Action("user/{id}")
public String getUser(int id) { ... }
// → CLI: bin/dispatcher user/42
// → HTTP: /?q=user/42

Dependency Injection

ActionRegistry automatically injects Request and/or Response from Context if they are parameters:

java

@Action(value = "upload", mode = Mode.HTTP_POST)
public String upload(Request<?, ?> req, Response<?, ?> res) throws ApplicationException {
    // Access raw request/response if needed
    return "ok";
}

Path Matching Priority

If two methods share the same path, the framework uses the first match in the ActionRegistry. Use explicit Mode values to disambiguate (e.g., separating a GET for a form and a POST for submission).