In Play, the response to a request is a result. A result has two components: the response header and the response body. Let's look at a simple example of this:

def plainResult = Action {
  Result( 
    header = ResponseHeader(200, Map(CONTENT_TYPE -> "text/plain")), 
    body = Enumerator("This is the response from plainResult method".getBytes())
  )
}

Notice that we used an enumerator for the response body. An enumerator is a means to provide data to an iteratee. We will discuss these in detail in Chapter 6, Reactive Data Streams.

Apart from this, a result has additional functions that equips us with better means to handle response headers, sessions, cookies, and so on.

A result can send JSON, XML, and images as a response, apart from a String content. An easier way of generating a result is to use the result helpers. A result helper is used for most of the HTTP response status. As an example, let's see how the TODO Action that comes built in with Play is implemented...