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Interceptors

Interceptors play a crucial role in the RESTHeart framework, allowing developers to observe and modify requests and responses throughout the request lifecycle. This document provides an overview of the Interceptor class, available interceptor interfaces, and usage examples.

The Interceptor Class

An Interceptor is comprised of a class implementing one of the Interceptor interfaces, such as MongoInterceptor, and annotated with @RegisterPlugin.

The Interceptor interface encompasses two pivotal methods: handle(req, res) and resolve(req, res). The paramount method is handle(req, res), which is triggered only when resolve(req, res) evaluates to true. This design ensures that the interceptor’s logic is selectively applied, allowing developers to execute customized actions precisely when conditions specified in the resolve() method are met.

The req and res arguments allow you to retrieve and modify the content, query parameters, and headers of both the request and response objects.

The special interceptor interface, WildcardInterceptor, intercepts requests handled by any Service. Other interceptors can handle requests with matching types between the Service and the Interceptor:

  • WildcardInterceptor: Intercepts requests handled by any service

  • ByteArrayInterceptor: Intercepts requests handled by services implementing ByteArrayService

  • JsonInterceptor: Intercepts requests handled by services implementing JsonService

  • BsonInterceptor: Intercepts requests handled by services implementing BsonService

  • MongoInterceptor: Intercepts requests handled by the MongoService

  • GraphQLInterceptor: Intercepts GraphQL requests

  • ProxyInterceptor: Intercepts proxied requests

Note
 MongoInterceptor is particularly useful as it allows intercepting requests to the MongoService, adding logic to its data API. For instance, the following response interceptor removes the property secret from GET /coll. 
@RegisterPlugin(name = "secretFilter",
    interceptPoint = InterceptPoint.RESPONSE,
    description = "removes the property 'secret' from GET /coll")
public class ReadOnlyPropFilter implements MongoInterceptor {
    @Override
    public void handle(MongoRequest request, MongoResponse response) throws Exception {
        if (response.getContent().isDocument()) {
            response.getContent().asDocument().remove("secret");
        } else if (request.getContent().isArray()) {
            response.getContent().asArray().stream()
                .map(doc -> doc.asDocument())
                .forEach(doc -> doc.remove("secret"));
        }
    }

    @Override
    public boolean resolve(MongoRequest request, MongoResponse response) {
        return request.isGet()
            && response.getContent() != null
            && "coll".equalsIgnoreCase(request.getCollectionName());
    }
}
Tip
 Watch Interceptors

@RegisterPlugin Annotation

All plugins, including Interceptors, must be annotated with @RegisterPlugin. This annotation serves two primary purposes:

  • Discovery: Allows RESTHeart to discover plugin implementation classes in deployed JARs (see How to Deploy Plugins).

  • Configuration: Specifies parameters such as the URI of a service or the intercept point of an interceptor.

Example:

@RegisterPlugin(name = "foo",
    description = "just an example service",
    defaultUri="/foo",      // optional, default /<service-name>
    secure=false,           // optional, default false
    enabledByDefault=false) // optional, default true
public class MyPlugin implements JsonService {
...
}

Annotation Parameters:

param description mandatory default value

name

the name of the Interceptor

yes

none

description

description of the Interceptor

yes

none

enabledByDefault

true to enable the plugin; can be overridden by the plugin configuration option enabled

no

true

interceptPoint

the intercept point: REQUEST_BEFORE_EXCHANGE_INIT, REQUEST_BEFORE_AUTH, REQUEST_AFTER_AUTH, RESPONSE, RESPONSE_ASYNC

no

REQUEST_AFTER_AUTH

requiresContent

Only used by Interceptors of proxied resources (the content is always available to Interceptor of Services) Set it to true to make available the content of the request (if interceptPoint is REQUEST_BEFORE_AUTH or REQUEST_AFTER_AUTH) or of the response (if interceptPoint is RESPONSE or RESPONSE_ASYNC)

no

false

priority

the execution priority (less is higher priority)

no

10

Intercept Point Note: REQUEST_BEFORE_EXCHANGE_INIT

An interceptor using this intercept point will handle requests before the exchange initialization occurs. Such interceptors must implement the WildcardInterceptor interface, ensuring that the Interceptor.handle(request, response) method receives both UninitializedRequest and UninitializedResponse objects.

Additionally, interceptors at this stage may:

  • Provide a custom initializer for requests by using PluginUtils.attachCustomRequestInitializer().

  • Modify the raw content of the request using Request.setRawContent().

This setup allows for preliminary modifications and configurations to be applied to requests at an early stage in the processing pipeline.

Transforming Request Content Format

Interceptors at REQUEST_BEFORE_EXCHANGE_INIT can inspect and modify the request before it is initialized. The handle(req, res) and resolve(req, res) methods receive the request as UninitializedRequest and the response as UninitializedResponse. This is particularly useful for transforming request content formats.

Example:

@RegisterPlugin(name = "xmlToBsonTransformer",
    interceptPoint = InterceptPoint.REQUEST_BEFORE_EXCHANGE_INIT,
    description = "transforms XML request to Bson for MongoService")
public class XmlToBsonTransformer implements WildcardInterceptor {
    @Override
    public void handle(UninitializedRequest req, UninitializedResponse res) throws Exception {
        // Transforming XML to Bson
    }

    @Override
    public boolean resolve(UninitializedRequest req, UninitializedResponse res) {
        // Logic to determine when to apply the transformer
    }
}
Important
 Only WildcardInterceptor can use the REQUEST_BEFORE_EXCHANGE_INIT intercept point.

For a practical example of transforming request and response content to and from a different format than expected by a service, refer to the protobuffer-contacts example.