Request Binding

Okapi Request Binding

Binding populates a struct from the request by inspecting struct tags and the Content-Type. Validation runs automatically at the end of c.Bind — the tags are documented in the validation/ skill.

Source Tags

Source tags combine on one field — the body is decoded first, then path/query/form/header/cookie values are overlaid:

type BookInput struct {
    ID    int    `json:"id" path:"id"`
    Name  string `json:"name" form:"name" query:"name"`
    Price int    `json:"price" form:"price" query:"price"`
}

Two Binding Styles

1. Flat binding — body fields sit alongside query/header/cookie/path fields in one struct.

2. Body-field binding (recommended) — a field named Body (or tagged json:"body") holds the payload; sibling fields carry metadata. The presence of such a field switches c.Bind to this mode.

type CreateBookRequest struct {
    Body struct {                                        // request payload
        Name  string `json:"name" required:"true" minLength:"2"`
        Price int    `json:"price" required:"true" min:"5"`
    }

    BookID    string   `path:"bookId" required:"true"`   // path parameter
    Tags      []string `query:"tags"`                    // query parameter
    APIKey    string   `header:"X-API-Key" required:"true"` // header
    SessionID string   `cookie:"SessionID"`              // cookie
}

Binding Methods on *Context

c.Bind(&v) error              // auto: content-type body decode + tag overlay + validation
c.B(&v) error                 // shortcut for Bind
c.ShouldBind(&v) (bool, error) // same as Bind, plus an ok flag
c.BindJSON(&v) error
c.BindXML(&v) error
c.BindYAML(&v) error
c.BindProtoBuf(msg proto.Message) error
c.BindQuery(&v) error
c.BindForm(&v) error
c.BindMultipart(&v) error     // multipart/form-data, including file fields

c.Bind picks the body decoder from Content-Type:

The bind target must be a non-nil pointer to a struct.

File Uploads

BindMultipart (and c.Bind on a multipart request) fills these field types from form: tags:

type UploadRequest struct {
    Title  string                  `form:"title" required:"true"`
    File   *multipart.FileHeader   `form:"file"`
    Files  []*multipart.FileHeader `form:"files"`   // multiple files under one key
}

Direct access without binding:

fh, err := c.FormFile("file")
c.SetMaxMultipartMemory(64 << 20)   // per-request override (app default: 32 MB)
c.MaxMultipartMemory()              // current limit

Set the app-wide limit with okapi.WithMaxMultipartMemory(max int64).

Typed Handlers (Bind + Validate Automatically)

okapi.H(func(c *okapi.Context, in *Input) error { ... })       // shorthand
okapi.Handle(func(c *okapi.Context, in *Input) error { ... })
okapi.HandleIO(func(c *okapi.Context, in *Input) (*Output, error) { ... })
okapi.HandleO(func(c *okapi.Context) (*Output, error) { ... })

Pair them with route.WithInput(...), route.WithOutput(...), or route.WithIO(...) so the schemas reach OpenAPI.

Manual Value Access

c.Param("id") / c.PathParam("id")
c.Query("page")
c.QueryArray("tags")   // repeated (?tags=a&tags=b) and comma-separated (?tags=a,b)
c.QueryMap()
c.Form("name") / c.FormValue("name")
c.Header("X-API-Key") / c.Headers()
c.Cookie("session")    // (string, error)

Error Handling

o.Post("/books", func(c *okapi.Context) error {
    var in CreateBookRequest
    if err := c.Bind(&in); err != nil {
        return c.AbortBadRequest("Invalid request body", err)
    }
    return c.Created(in.Body)
})

Binding and validation failures are returned as a single error; convert it with an Abort* helper, or return structured field errors via c.AbortValidationErrors(...).