Question

what is the most efficient/elegant way to extract variables from a GET request?

Answer 1

There is better way than reading a queryString() (it returns a Map which you have to process manually). Use play.data.DynamicForm instead:

public static Result aboutAMan() {
    DynamicForm df = form().bindFromRequest();

    int age;
    String name;
    boolean isAdmin;

    name = (df.get("name") != null) ? df.get("name") : "The Unknown";
    age = (df.get("age") != null) ? Integer.parseInt(df.get("age")) : 0;
    isAdmin = Boolean.parseBoolean(df.get("is_admin"));

    String about = (name + " is " + age + " years old and " + ((isAdmin) ? "is" : "isn't") + " an admin");

    return ok(about);
}

of course you can also use shorter version while getting single params

public static Result aboutAMan() {
    return ok("ellou' " + form().bindFromRequest().get("name"));
}

link is:

http://localhost:9000/about-a-man?name=SockSocket&age=23&is_admin=false

route is:

GET    /about-a-man     controllers.Application.aboutAMan