QUESTION TIME
Folks, I have a question regarding ...
# ktorh
hhariri
03/15/2021, 3:23 PM
QUESTION TIME
Folks, I have a question regarding Ktor “Features”. In many technologies Features are called other things such as Middleware, Interceptors, Filters, etc.
When you first came to Ktor, did you immediately understand what “Feature’ means? Do you at all find it complicated to talk about Features, not to be confused with features? 🙂
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ribesg
03/15/2021, 3:33 PMI did not immediately get what Features were when reading about them. I always found the term Middleware very confusing. Interceptor and Filter and very generic terms, like Feature, but I can’t think of a word closer to what Features actually are than Feature. It’s not very descriptive though. I’m sometimes thinking of Features as Components in a Composite Pattern. Another generic word
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christophsturm
03/15/2021, 3:40 PMI think plugin is would be a fitting name
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Alexander Kurasov
03/15/2021, 3:40 PMIt was a bit confusing
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christophsturm
03/15/2021, 3:41 PMa feature of ktor is that it supports multiple engines, or that it has a routing dsl.
plugins add features
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Big Chungus
03/15/2021, 3:50 PMI personally didn't get them at all until someone told me to think of them as "middleware". It immediately clicked after that :D
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Robert Jaros
03/15/2021, 4:03 PMI still don't understand Ktor Features 😉
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Robert Jaros
03/15/2021, 4:10 PMDocumentation (https://ktor.io/docs/features.html) is confusing. E.g. I still don't know if everything between request and response is just a Feature? Or if "routing is a feature" and "By default, Ktor does not activate any Feature" how is routing available without installing it with
install(Routing)b
Big Chungus
03/15/2021, 4:26 PMrouting is implicitly installed when using
routing {}r
Robert Jaros
03/15/2021, 4:31 PMI'm just saying it's a bit confusing 😉
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Jorge R
03/16/2021, 12:29 AMThe importance of naming… maybe Feature is holding a very wide set of options… But definitely better than Middleware
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Sami Eljabali
03/16/2021, 3:10 AMI recall repeating term definitions to myself when learning Ktor. "Features" is a bit too broad, and not used as such amongst other frameworks, at least amongst the ones that I know.
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hhariri
03/16/2021, 5:41 AM
What do folks think of the concept of “Interceptor”? In that it is essentially intercepting the request/response?
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Anders Sveen
03/16/2021, 7:12 AMYes, I would interpret interceptor as a request/response thing in the context of KTor. To me it would make sense to have separate concepts for plugins and interceptors (filters). Even though looking from the inside of KTor it is conceptually the same because you want it to be really flexible. 🙂
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christophsturm
03/16/2021, 8:34 AMif its only intercepting requests and responses then interceptor or filter is good. if it can add all kinds of behavior, then plugin is better. for example routing is a feature now, does it only intercept requests?
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Oliver.O
03/16/2021, 5:42 PMLooking at the list of "Features" available, I'd lean towards "Strategy" as a generic term, with derivatives being "LoggingStrategy", "CompressionStrategy", "RoutingStrategy", and others...
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hhariri
03/16/2021, 5:57 PM
Not everything however is a strategy.
hhariri
03/16/2021, 6:08 PM
Please feel free to comment on this issue at it affects all Ktor users immensely https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/KTOR-2326
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Oliver.O
03/16/2021, 8:50 PMHmm, it probably depends on how broadly one interprets the term, but still: I wonder which Ktor "Feature" doesn't qualify as a strategy?