WebClient

The WebClient class is used to manage client side HTTP requests and responses. The basic lifecycle of WebClient:

1. configure request fields such as reqUri, reqMethod, and reqHeaders
2. send request headers via writeReq
3. optionally write request body via reqOut
4. read response status and headers via readRes
5. process response fields such as resCode and resHeaders
6. optionally read response body via resIn

Using the low level methods writeReq and readRes enables HTTP pipelining (multiple requests and responses on the same TCP socket connection). There are also a series of convenience methods which make common cases easier.

See pod doc and examples.

Authenticate request using HTTP Basic with given username and password.

Close the HTTP request and the underlying socket. Return this.

Cookies to pass for "Cookie" request header. If set to an empty list then the "Cookie" request header is removed. After a request has been completed if the "Set-Cookie" response header specified one or more cookies then this field is automatically updated with the server specified cookies.

When set to true a 3xx response with a Location header will automatically update the reqUri field and retry the request using the alternate URI. Redirects are not followed if the request has a content body.

Make a GET request and return the response content as an in-memory byte buffer. The web client is automatically closed. Throw IOErr is response is not 200.

Make a GET request and return the input stream to the response or throw IOErr if response is not 200. It is the caller's responsibility to close this web client.

Make a GET request and return the response content as an in-memory string. The web client is automatically closed. Throw IOErr is response is not 200.

Return if this web client is currently connected to the remote host.

Construct with optional request URI.

Convenience for writeBuf("POST", content).readRes

Convenience for writeFile("POST", file).readRes

Convenience for writeForm("POST", form).readRes

Convenience for writeStr("POST", content).readRes

If non-null, then all requests are routed through this proxy address (host and port). Default is configured in "etc/web/config.props" with the key "proxy". Proxy exceptions can be configured with the "proxy.exceptions" config key as comma separated list of Regex globs.

Read the response status line and response headers. This method may be called after the request has been written via writeReq and reqOut. Once this method completes the response status and headers are available. If there is a response body, it is available for reading via resIn. Throw IOErr if there is a network or protocol error. Return this.

The HTTP headers to use for the next request. This map uses case insensitive keys. The "Host" header is implicitly defined by reqUri and must not be defined in this map.

The HTTP method for the request. Defaults to "GET".

Get the output stream used to write the request body. This stream is only available if the request headers included a "Content-Type" header. If an explicit "Content-Length" was specified then this is a fixed length output stream, otherwise the request is automatically configured to use a chunked transfer encoding. This stream should be closed once the content has been fully written.

The absolute URI of request.

HTTP version to use for request must be 1.0 or 1.1. Default is 1.1.

Return the entire response back as an in-memory byte buffer. Convenience for resIn.readAllBuf.

HTTP status code returned by response.

Get a response header. If not found and checked is false then return true, otherwise throw Err.

HTTP headers returned by response.

Input stream to read response content. The input stream will correctly handle end of stream when the content has been fully read. If the "Content-Length" header was specified the end of stream is based on the fixed number of bytes. If the "Transfer-Encoding" header defines a chunked encoding, then chunks are automatically handled. If the response has no content body, then throw IOErr.

The response input stream is automatically configured with the correct character encoding if one is specified in the "Content-Type" response header.

Also see convenience methods: resStr and resBuf.

HTTP status reason phrase returned by response.

Return the entire response back as an in-memory string. Convenience for resIn.readAllStr.

HTTP version returned by response.

The SocketConfig to use for creating sockets

Write a binary buffer using the given HTTP method to the URI. If Content-Type header is not already set, then it is set as ""application/octet-stream". This method does not support the "Expect" header

Write a file using the given HTTP method to the URI. If Content-Type header is not already set, then it is set from the file extension's MIME type. This method does not support the "Expect" header (it writes full file before reading response). Should primarily be used for "POST" and "PATCH" requests.

Make a request with the given HTTP method to the URI with the given form data. Set the Content-Type to application/x-www-form-urlencoded. This method does not support the "Expect" header (it writes all form data before reading response). Should primarily be used for POST and PATCH requests.

Write the request line and request headers. Once this method completes the request body may be written via reqOut, or the response may be immediately read via readRes. Throw IOErr if there is a network or protocol error. Return this.

Make a request with the given HTTP method to the URI using UTF-8 encoding of given string. If Content-Type is not already set, then set it to "text/plain; charset=utf-8". This method does not support the "Expect" header (it writes full string before reading response). Should primarily be used for "POST" and "PATCH" requests.