What signature can I use to download files using Axum and Tokio? - rust

Question

I'm using axum and this code (found here) to download files:
use axum::{
body::StreamBody,
http::{header, StatusCode},
response::{Headers, IntoResponse},
routing::get,
Router,
};
use std::net::SocketAddr;
use tokio_util::io::ReaderStream;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
let app = Router::new().route("/", get(handler));
let addr = SocketAddr::from(([127, 0, 0, 1], 3000));
axum::Server::bind(&addr)
.serve(app.into_make_service())
.await
.unwrap();
}
async fn handler() -> impl IntoResponse {
// `File` implements `AsyncRead`
let file = match tokio::fs::File::open("Cargo.toml").await {
Ok(file) => file,
Err(err) => return Err((StatusCode::NOT_FOUND, format!("File not found: {}", err))),
};
// convert the `AsyncRead` into a `Stream`
let stream = ReaderStream::new(file);
// convert the `Stream` into an `axum::body::HttpBody`
let body = StreamBody::new(stream);
let headers = Headers([
(header::CONTENT_TYPE, "text/toml; charset=utf-8"),
]);
Ok((headers, body))
}
Everything works. But I cannot find a way to move the below code in a separate function:
let file = match tokio::fs::File::open("Cargo.toml").await {
Ok(file) => file,
Err(err) => return Err((StatusCode::NOT_FOUND, format!("File not found: {}", err))),
};
I would like to use both tokio::fs::File and https://crates.io/crates/rust-s3 methods in this function.
So I need a "common type" which appear to be AsyncRead, I think.
What should be the signature of the function?
I tried with:
use tokio::io::AsyncRead;
pub struct Player {
db: Arc<DB>
}
impl Handler {
pub async fn player_pdf(
&self,
id: &str,
) -> Result<&(dyn AsyncRead)> {
//...use id here...
let file = &tokio::fs::File::open("player.pdf").await?;
Ok(file)
}
}
but I get the error:
error[E0308]: mismatched types
|
55 | Ok(file)
| -- ^^^^
| | |
| | expected reference, found struct `tokio::fs::File`
| | help: consider borrowing here: `&file`
| arguments to this enum variant are incorrect
|
= note: expected reference `&dyn tokio::io::AsyncRead`
found struct `tokio::fs::File`
I tried with: let file = &tokio::fs::File::open("player.pdf").await?; and I got:
error[E0515]: cannot return value referencing temporary value
|
43 | let file = &tokio::fs::File::open(...
| --------------------------- temporary value created here
...
55 | Ok(file)
| ^^^^^^^^ returns a value referencing data owned by the current function
What can I use?

Answer 1

Returning a generic "boxed" value might be the solution here:
impl Handler {
pub async fn player_pdf(
&self,
id: &str,
) -> Result<Box<dyn AsyncRead>> {
//...use id here...
Ok(Box::new(tokio::fs::File::open("player.pdf").await?))
}
}
Where now there's no dangling reference, it's encapsulated and fully owned.