WSGI Middleware to record Request and Response data

sessionrecorder.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

"""
WSGI middleware to record requests and responses.
"""

from __future__ import print_function, unicode_literals

import logging
import time

# Required to be loaded early to avoid hitting deadlock situation when processing requests
# See http://code.google.com/p/modwsgi/wiki/ApplicationIssues (at the bottom, under Non Blocking Module Imports)
import _strptime

import itertools
from cStringIO import StringIO

class RequestResponseState(object):
    """Capture the data for a request-response."""
    def __init__(self, id, method, url, request_headers, content_length, request_body):
        self.request_id = id
        self.method = method
        self.url = url
        self.request_headers = request_headers
        self.content_length = content_length
        self.request_body = request_body
        self.status = -1
        self.response_headers = None
        self.response_chunks = None
        self.duration_msecs = 0
        self.started_at = time.time()

    def start_response(self, status, response_headers):
        self.status = status
        self.response_headers = response_headers

    def finish_response(self, response_chunks):
        self.duration_msecs = 1000.0 * (time.time() - self.started_at)
        self.response_chunks = response_chunks
        return response_chunks

class SessionRecorderMiddleware(object):
    """WSGI Middleware for recording of request-response"""
    def __init__(self, app, recorder):
        self.app = app
        self.recorder = recorder
        self.request_counter = itertools.count().next # Threadsafe counter

    def __call__(self, environ, start_response):
        state = RequestResponseState(
                    self.request_counter(),
                    environ['REQUEST_METHOD'],
                    self.request_url(environ),
                    [(k, v) for k,v in self.parse_request_headers(environ)],
                    *self.request_body(environ)
                )

        def _start_response(status, response_headers, *args):
            # Capture status and response_headers for later processing
            state.start_response(status, response_headers)
            return start_response(status, response_headers, *args)

        response_chunks = state.finish_response( self.app(environ, _start_response) )
        self.recorder(state)

        # return data to WSGI server
        return response_chunks

    def request_url(self, environ):
        return '{0}{1}{2}'.format(
                environ.get('SCRIPT_NAME', ''),
                environ.get('PATH_INFO', ''),
                '?' + environ['QUERY_STRING'] if environ.get('QUERY_STRING') else '',
            )

    _parse_headers_special = {
        'HTTP_CGI_AUTHORIZATION': 'Authorization',
        'CONTENT_LENGTH': 'Content-Length',
        'CONTENT_TYPE': 'Content-Type',
        }

    def parse_request_headers(self, environ):
        for cgi_var, value in environ.iteritems():
            if cgi_var in self._parse_headers_special:
                yield self._parse_headers_special[cgi_var], value
            elif cgi_var.startswith('HTTP_'):
                yield cgi_var[5:].title().replace('_', '-'), value

    def request_body(self, environ):
        content_length = environ.get('CONTENT_LENGTH')
        body = ''
        if content_length:
            if content_length == '-1':
                # This is a special case, where the content length is basically undetermined
                body = environ['wsgi.input'].read(-1)
                content_length = len(body)
            else:
                content_length = int(content_length)
                body = environ['wsgi.input'].read(content_length)
            environ['wsgi.input'] = StringIO(body) # reset request body for the nested app
        else:
            content_length = 0
        return content_length, body

def is_binary_content_type(content_type):
    type_subtype = content_type.split(';')
    _type, subtype = type_subtype.split('/')
    if _type == 'text':
        return False
    elif _type == 'application':
        return subtype not in (
            'atom+xml', 'ecmascript', 'json', 'javascript', 'rss+xml', 'soap+xml', 'xhtml+xml')
    else:
        return True

def log_results(state):
    # TODO: create an HttpArchive
    data = [
        'SR: {0}'.format(state.request_id),
        '{0} {1}'.format(state.method, state.url),
        str(state.request_headers),
        # TODO: sanitize binary request body => look at request Content-Type
        '{0} bytes: {1}'.format(state.content_length, state.request_body or '<EMPTY>'),
        '=> {0} :: {1:.3f} ms :: {2}'.format(
            state.status, state.duration_msecs, str(state.response_headers)),
    ] + (
        # TODO: sanitize binary response body => look at response Content-Type
        state.response_chunks
    ) + ['========']
    logging.info('\n'.join(data))

# TODO: unit tests

I was getting some problems with proto request/response (the body was a byte arrya). I am not a python expert, I added a hack to use this code.

try:
    environ['wsgi.input'] = StringIO(body)  # reset request body for the nested app
except:
    environ['wsgi.input'] = BytesIO(body)  # reset request body for the nested app

Another way to handle this is

# reset request body for the nested app
io_wrapper = BytesIO if self.is_binary_content_type(environ.get('CONTENT_TYPE')) else StringIO
environ['wsgi.input'] = io_wrapper(body)

(Untested.)

Can you give an example of how to use this? I'm not sure where the recorder object comes in

It's been at least five years since I used it, so I don't remember the details. But it goes something like this. There's a stack of WSGI middleware, each one wrapping inner layers. A single middleware can inspect or modify an incoming request, then pass it on to the next one in the layer. Eventually, something (a WSGI app) actually handles the request and generates a response. The various middlewares (in reverse order) are notified about the response and can inspect or modify before passing it on to the next layer out.

The session recorder is intended to be an outer layer, which records the request and response for debugging.

For measuring durations, use time.monotonic() and not time.time().

While this function [time.time()] normally returns non-decreasing values, it can return a lower value than a previous call if the system clock has been set back between the two calls.