Add a respond method to server connections.

It's an alias of the reject method of the underlying server protocol.
It makes it easier to write process_request

It's called respond because the semantics are "consider the request
as an HTTP request and create an HTTP response".

There isn't a similar alias for accept because process_request should
just return and websockets will call accept.

docs/howto/upgrade.rst

@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ an example::
     # New implementation
 
     def process_request(connection, request):
-        return connection.protocol.reject(http.HTTPStatus.OK, "OK\n")
+        return connection.respond(http.HTTPStatus.OK, "OK\n")
 
     serve(..., process_request=process_request, ...)
 

docs/reference/new-asyncio/server.rst

@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ Using a connection
 
     .. automethod:: pong
 
+    .. automethod:: respond
+
     WebSocket connection objects also provide these attributes:
 
     .. autoattribute:: id

docs/reference/sync/server.rst

@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ Using a connection
 
     .. automethod:: pong
 
+    .. automethod:: respond
+
     WebSocket connection objects also provide these attributes:
 
     .. autoattribute:: id

src/websockets/asyncio/server.py

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 from ..http11 import SERVER, Request, Response
 from ..protocol import CONNECTING, Event
 from ..server import ServerProtocol
-from ..typing import LoggerLike, Origin, Subprotocol
+from ..typing import LoggerLike, Origin, StatusLike, Subprotocol
 from .compatibility import asyncio_timeout
 from .connection import Connection
 
@@ -75,6 +75,27 @@ def __init__(
         self.server = server
         self.request_rcvd: asyncio.Future[None] = self.loop.create_future()
 
+    def respond(self, status: StatusLike, text: str) -> Response:
+        """
+        Create a plain text HTTP response.
+
+        ``process_request`` and ``process_response`` may call this method to
+        return an HTTP response instead of performing the WebSocket opening
+        handshake.
+
+        You can modify the response before returning it, for example by changing
+        HTTP headers.
+
+        Args:
+            status: HTTP status code.
+            text: HTTP response body; it will be encoded to UTF-8.
+
+        Returns:
+            HTTP response to send to the client.
+
+        """
+        return self.protocol.reject(status, text)
+
     async def handshake(
         self,
         process_request: (

src/websockets/server.py

@@ -113,18 +113,22 @@ def accept(self, request: Request) -> Response:
         """
         Create a handshake response to accept the connection.
 
-        If the connection cannot be established, the handshake response
-        actually rejects the handshake.
+        If the handshake request is valid and the handshake successful,
+        :meth:`accept` returns an HTTP response with status code 101.
+
+        Else, it returns an HTTP response with another status code. This rejects
+        the connection, like :meth:`reject` would.
 
         You must send the handshake response with :meth:`send_response`.
 
-        You may modify it before sending it, for example to add HTTP headers.
+        You may modify the response before sending it, typically by adding HTTP
+        headers.
 
         Args:
-            request: WebSocket handshake request event received from the client.
+            request: WebSocket handshake request received from the client.
 
         Returns:
-            WebSocket handshake response event to send to the client.
+            WebSocket handshake response or HTTP response to send to the client.
 
         """
         try:
@@ -485,11 +489,7 @@ def select_subprotocol(protocol, subprotocols):
             + ", ".join(self.available_subprotocols)
         )
 
-    def reject(
-        self,
-        status: StatusLike,
-        text: str,
-    ) -> Response:
+    def reject(self, status: StatusLike, text: str) -> Response:
         """
         Create a handshake response to reject the connection.
 
@@ -498,14 +498,15 @@ def reject(
 
         You must send the handshake response with :meth:`send_response`.
 
-        You can modify it before sending it, for example to alter HTTP headers.
+        You may modify the response before sending it, for example by changing
+        HTTP headers.
 
         Args:
             status: HTTP status code.
-            text: HTTP response body; will be encoded to UTF-8.
+            text: HTTP response body; it will be encoded to UTF-8.
 
         Returns:
-            WebSocket handshake response event to send to the client.
+            HTTP response to send to the client.
 
         """
         # If a user passes an int instead of a HTTPStatus, fix it automatically.

src/websockets/sync/server.py

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 from ..http11 import SERVER, Request, Response
 from ..protocol import CONNECTING, OPEN, Event
 from ..server import ServerProtocol
-from ..typing import LoggerLike, Origin, Subprotocol
+from ..typing import LoggerLike, Origin, StatusLike, Subprotocol
 from .connection import Connection
 from .utils import Deadline
 
@@ -66,6 +66,27 @@ def __init__(
             close_timeout=close_timeout,
         )
 
+    def respond(self, status: StatusLike, text: str) -> Response:
+        """
+        Create a plain text HTTP response.
+
+        ``process_request`` and ``process_response`` may call this method to
+        return an HTTP response instead of performing the WebSocket opening
+        handshake.
+
+        You can modify the response before returning it, for example by changing
+        HTTP headers.
+
+        Args:
+            status: HTTP status code.
+            text: HTTP response body; it will be encoded to UTF-8.
+
+        Returns:
+            HTTP response to send to the client.
+
+        """
+        return self.protocol.reject(status, text)
+
     def handshake(
         self,
         process_request: (

tests/asyncio/test_server.py

@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ async def test_process_request_abort_handshake(self):
         """Server aborts handshake if process_request returns a response."""
 
         def process_request(ws, request):
-            return ws.protocol.reject(http.HTTPStatus.FORBIDDEN, "Forbidden")
+            return ws.respond(http.HTTPStatus.FORBIDDEN, "Forbidden")
 
         async with run_server(process_request=process_request) as server:
             with self.assertRaises(InvalidStatus) as raised:
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ async def test_async_process_request_abort_handshake(self):
         """Server aborts handshake if async process_request returns a response."""
 
         async def process_request(ws, request):
-            return ws.protocol.reject(http.HTTPStatus.FORBIDDEN, "Forbidden")
+            return ws.respond(http.HTTPStatus.FORBIDDEN, "Forbidden")
 
         async with run_server(process_request=process_request) as server:
             with self.assertRaises(InvalidStatus) as raised:

tests/sync/test_server.py

@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ def test_process_request_abort_handshake(self):
         """Server aborts handshake if process_request returns a response."""
 
         def process_request(ws, request):
-            return ws.protocol.reject(http.HTTPStatus.FORBIDDEN, "Forbidden")
+            return ws.respond(http.HTTPStatus.FORBIDDEN, "Forbidden")
 
         with run_server(process_request=process_request) as server:
             with self.assertRaises(InvalidStatus) as raised: