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Introduction










HTTP Built-ins

HTTP Built-ins create HTTP requests and responses. They are primarily used for Request Builder functions (get, post, put delete, head or options) and their available builder methods.

If this is your first time using HTTP Built-ins, please visit our HTTP Built-ins Tutorial.

More complex functionality and specific use cases are described in the following sections:

Request Builder Functions

The Request Builder is an object that builds a well-formed HTTP request from the parameters passed to it. Its functions build requests and take a URI as parameter. They may be chained with any non-static RequestBuilder methods as described in the Apache documentation. All Request Builder functions must be completed with the .build().

After building and sending the request message, the server responds with an Http response message, called by executeHttpRequest.

Note: When specifying the URI, it should always begin with the http:// or https:// prefix. Otherwise an error will occur.

HTTP Get

Requests data from the specified web server using the GET method.

Syntax 

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<result RequestBuilder> := Http.get(<uri String>)

Returns
The request builder instance that helps to build a request to the specified URI using the GET method.

Parameter

  • uri - The URI of the server the data is being returned from

Example 

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request := Http.get("http://www.qitasc.com")
               .addHeader("Content-Type", "text/plain")
               .addParameter("username", "User")
               .addParameter("password", "Secret!")
               .build()
response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)

HTTP Post

Requests data from the specified web server using the POST method.

Syntax 

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<result RequestBuilder> := Http.post(<uri String>)

Returns
The enclosed data entity from the post request.

Parameter

  • uri - The URI that the enclosed data is being sent to

Example 

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request      := Http.post("http://www.qitasc.com")
                    .build()
response     := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)

HTTP Put

Requests data from the specified web server using the PUT method.

Syntax 

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<result RequestBuilder> := Http.put(<uri String>)

Returns
The enclosed data from the PUT request.

Parameter

  • uri - The URI that the enclosed data is being sent to

Example 

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request      := Http.put("http://www.qitasc.com")
                    .build()
response     := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)

HTTP Delete

Requests data from the specified web server using the DELETE method.

Syntax 

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<result RequestBuilder> := Http.delete(<uri String>)

Returns
The resource to be deleted.

Parameter

  • uri - The URI of the resource being deleted

Example 

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request      := Http.delete("http://www.qitasc.com/oldfiles")
                    .build()
response     := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)

HTTP Head

Requests data from the specified web server using the HEAD method.

Syntax 

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<result RequestBuilder>   := Http.head(<uri String>)

Returns
The request builder instance that helps to build a request to the specified URI using the HEAD method.

Parameter

  • uri - The URI of the resource whose header is requested

Example 

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request           := Http.head("http://www.qitasc.com")
                         .build()
response          := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)

HTTP Options

Requests data from the specified web server using the OPTIONS method.

Syntax 

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<result RequestBuilder> := Http.options(<uri String>)

Returns
The methods returned by the URI's server.

Parameter

  • uri - The server's URI

Example 

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request          := Http.options("http://www.qitasc.com")
                        .build()
response         := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)

HTTP Response

HTTP Request Builder methods must have an associated HTTP response. When using executeHttpRequest, intaQt will always open a new client. To send multuple requests, Http.newClient() can be used instead.

Syntax 

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<response HttpResponse> := Http.executeHttpRequest(<request HttpUriRequest>)

Returns
The response from the server to the message.

Parameter

  • request - The HTTP request built using the Request Builder

Example 

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request           := Http.head("http://www.qitasc.com")
                         .build()
response          := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)

Additional Response Builder Methods

The following methods can be used on the HttpResponse received from Http.executeHttpRequest(). These must be prepended with the response object's name. For example, response.getEntity(). Additionally, .getValue() and .getName() can be chained to any method involving headers, such as getFirstHeader().

Example 

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locationUrl := response.getFirstHeader("Location").getValue()

Write to File

Writes the HTTP response to a specified file.

Syntax 

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<response HttpResonse>.writeToFile(<file File>)

Parameters

  • response - The HTTP response

  • file - The file being written to

Example 

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response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
response.writeToFile(File.fromProject("response.txt"))

Get Status Line

Returns the response's status line, for example, HTTP/1.1 200 OK. Additionally, .getProtocolVersion(), .getReasonPhrase() and .getStatusCode() can be chained to getStatusLine().

Syntax 

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<statusLine StatusLine> := <response HttpResonse>.getStatusLine()

Returns
The response's status line, or null if not yet set.

Parameter

  • response - The HTTP response

Example 

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stepdef "print http content"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(Http.getContentString(response))
    println(response.getStatusLine())
    statusLine := response.getStatusLine().toString()
    if not statusLine.contains("200 OK") then
        assert false ! "error, status code != 200 (OK)"
    end
end

Get Entity

Returns the response's message entity.

Syntax 

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<entity MessageEntity> := <response HttpResonse>.getEntity()

Returns
The message entity, or null if none.

Parameter

  • response - The HTTP response

Example 

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stepdef "get entity"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.getEntity())
    httpEntity := response.getEntity()
end

Get Protocol Version

Returns the protocol version compatible with the response's message.

Syntax 

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<result ProtocolVersion> := <response HttpResonse>.getProtocolVersion()

Returns
The protocol version.

Parameters

  • response - The HTTP response

Example 

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stepdef "get protocol version"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.getProtocolVersion())
    httpEntity := response.getProtocolVersion()
end

Contains Header

Checks if the specified header is present in the response message.

Syntax 

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<containsHeader Boolean> := <response HttpResonse>.containsHeader(<headerName String>)

Returns
true if at least one header with the specified name is present, false otherwise.

Parameters

  • response - The HTTP response

  • headerName - The header name to check for

Example 

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if (response.containsHeader("Table of Contents")) then
  println("the response contains a table of contents")
end

Get Headers

Returns all specified headers.

Syntax 

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<result Headers> := <response HttpResonse>.getHeaders(<headerName String>)

Returns
The specified headers.

Parameters

  • response - The HTTP response

  • headerName - The header name(s) to return

Example 

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stepdef "get headers"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.getHeaders("Table of Contents"))
    httpHeaders := response.getHeaders("Table of Contents")
end

Get First Header

Returns the first header whose name matches the specified name.

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<result Header> := <response HttpResonse>.getFirstHeader(<headerName String>)

Returns
The first header that matches the specified name, or null if no match exists.

Parameters

  • response - The HTTP response

  • headerName - The name of header to match

Example 

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stepdef "get first header"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.getFirstHeader("Table of Contents"))
    httpFirstHeader := response.getFirstHeader("Table of Contents")
end

Get Last Header

Returns the last header whose name property matches the specified name.

Syntax 

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<result Header> := <response HttpResonse>.getLastHeader(<headerName String>)

Returns
The last header that matches the specified name, or null if no match exists.

Parameters

  • response - The HTTP response

  • headerName - The name of header to match

Example 

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stepdef "get last header"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.getLastHeader("Table of Contents"))
    httpLastHeader := response.getLastHeader("Table of Contents")
end

Get All Headers

Returns all headers.

Syntax 

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<result Headers> := <response HttpResonse>.getAllHeaders()

Returns
An array of all the headers contained in the response.

Parameter

  • response - The HTTP response

Example 

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stepdef "get all headers"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.getAllHeaders())
    httpAllHeaders := response.getAllHeaders()
    for header in httpAllHeaders
      println(header)
    end
end

Header Iterator

Returns an iterator of all header objects in the sequence that they are sent over a connection.

Syntax 

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<result Iterator> := <response HttpResonse>.headerIterator(<headerName String>)

Returns
The header iterator.

Parameters

  • response - The HTTP response

  • headerName (Optional) - The name of the headers to iterate over

Example 

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stepdef "create header iterator"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.headerIterator())
    httpIterator := response.headerIterator()
end

Get Content String

Returns a string containing the response's message content.

Syntax 

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<result String> := Http.getContentString(<response HttpResponse>)

Returns
The content string.

Parameter

  • response - The response message whose content will be accessed

Example 

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stepdef "print http content"
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                    .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(Http.getContentString(response))
end

Use Case with HTTP and JSON Built-ins 

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stepdef "get the country code of ip {}" /ip/
    countryCode := GeoPluginJSON.getCountryCodeOf(ip)
    setContextObject("countryCode", countryCode)
end
model GeoPluginJSON
    func getCountryCodeOf(ipaddress)
        request := Http.get("http://www.geoplugin.net/json.gp?ip=" + ipaddress).build()
        response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
        content := response.getContentString()
        countryCode := extractCountryCodeFromJSON(content)
        println("Country Code of " + ipaddress + ": " + countryCode)
        return countryCode
    end

    func extractCountryCodeFromJSON(json)
        decoded := Json.decode(json)
        return decoded["geoplugin_countryCode"]
    end
end

In the example above, HTTP Built-ins are used with JSON Built-ins to retrieve information from a JSON file hosted on a web server. The getContentString function is then used to return the content contained in the response.

String Entity

Creates a StringEntity, which is the raw data sent in the request. This can then be parsed by the server, which then generates a response.

Syntax 

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<result StringEntity> := Http.stringEntity(<content String>, <charset String>)

Returns
The string entity.

Parameters

  • content - The content to be included in the string entity

  • charset (Optional) - The content's charset

Example 

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stepdef "post string to httpbin service"
    body := Http.stringEntity("Hello world", "UTF-8")
    request := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                   .setEntity(body)
                   .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.getContentString())
end

URL Encoded Form Entity Builder

This method returns a FormEntityBuilder object that can be used to produce a UrlEncodedFormEntity object. The theUrlEncodedFormEntity can then be set as a request's entity.

Syntax 

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<formEntityBuilder FormEntityBuilder> := Http.urlEncodedFormEntityBuilder()
<formEntity UrlEncodedFormEntity>     := <formEntityBuilder FormEntityBuilder>
                                      .addParameter(<parameter String>...)
                                      .setCharset(<charset String>)
                                      .build()

Returns
The new FormEntityBuilder and its UrlEncodedFormEntity.

Parameters

  • parameter - The parameter(s) added to the FormEntityBuilder

  • setCharset - The form's charset

Example 

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stepdef "print http content"
    entity  := Http.urlEncodedFormEntityBuilder()
                   .addParameter("Name", "Value")
                   .setCharset("UTF-8")
                   .build()
    request  := Http.post("http://httpbin.org/post")
                   .setEntity(entity)
                   .build()
    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(response.getEntity())
end

Multi Part Entity Builder

This method returns a MultipartEntityBuilder. They may be chained with any non-static multipartEntityBuilder methods as described in the Apache documentation.

Syntax 

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<multipartEntity MultipartEntity> := Http.multipartEntityBuilder()

Returns
The MultipartEntity. Using this builder one of the following can be called:

  • build() - Returns an HttpEntity

  • buildEntity() - Returns a MultipartFormEntity

Example 

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stepdef "http multipart"
    multipartEntity := Http.multipartEntityBuilder()
        .addBinaryBody("NAME1", file("/Users/YourName/Desktop/logo.jpg"))
        .addTextBody("NAME2", "TEST2")
        .build()
    request := Http.post("http://yourbrowser.com/post.php")
                .addHeader("my", "header")
                .setEntity(multipartEntity)
                .build()

    response := Http.executeHttpRequest(request)
    println(
        Http
        .getContentString(response)
    )
end

Parsing HTML using XPath

The evaluateXPathToString and evaluateXPathToList functions return HTML elements as strings or lists. Both HTTP parsing Built-in functions provide return values where HTML escape characters are converted. For example, &amplt; is converted to <.

Evaluate XPath to String

The evaluateXPathToString function returns the HTML element located at the XPath as a string.

Synatx 

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<result Any> := Http.evaluateXPathToString(<xpath String>, <html String>)

Returns
The HTML element.

Parameters

  • xpath - The XPath to be evaluated

  • html - The XPath's HTML

Example 

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result := Http.evaluateXPathToString("/html/body/div",
            "<html><body><div>HELLO</div></body></html>")
assert result = "HELLO"

Evaluate XPath to List

The evaluateXPathToList function returns the HTML elements located at the XPath as a list.

Syntax 

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<result List<Any>> := Http.evaluateXPathToList(<xpath String>, <html String>)

Returns
The list of XPath elements.

Parameters

  • xpath - The XPath element

  • html - The XPath's

Example 

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result := Http.evaluateXPathToList("/html/body/div[2]/div", htmlString)

URL Encode

This function creates URL-encoded strings.

Syntax 

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<encodedString String> := Http.urlEncode(<text String>)

Returns
The URL-encoded representation of the text input.

Parameter * input - The text to be encoded

Example 

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encoded := Http.urlEncode(" #Test")
// prints +%23Test
println(encoded)