
HTTP Client API
===============

General
-------

:mod:`cpp-netlib` includes and implements a number of HTTP clients that you can
use and embed in your own applications. All of the HTTP client implementations:

  * **Cannot be copied.** This means you may have to store instances of the
    clients in dynamic memory if you intend to use them as function parameters
    or pass them around in smart pointers or by reference.
  * **Assume that requests made are independent of each other.** There currently
    is no cookie or session management system built-in to cpp-netlib's HTTP client
    implementations.

The HTTP clients all share the same API, but the internals are documented in
terms of what is different and what to expect with the different
implementations.

Features
--------

The HTTP client implementation supports requesting secure HTTP (HTTPS) content
only in the following situations:

  * **Client libraries are built with ``BOOST_NETWORK_ENABLE_HTTPS``.** This
    tells the implementation to use HTTPS-specific code to handle HTTPS-based
    content when making connections associated with HTTPS URI's. This requires
    a dependency on OpenSSL_.
  * **The ``BOOST_NETWORK_ENABLE_HTTPS`` macro is set when compiling user
    code.** It is best to define this either at compile-time of all code using
    the library, or before including any of the client headers.

To use the client implementations that support HTTPS URIs, you may explicitly
do the following:

.. code-block:: c++

   #define BOOST_NETWORK_ENABLE_HTTPS
   #include <boost/network/include/http/client.hpp>

This forces HTTPS support to be enabled and forces a dependency on OpenSSL_.
This dependency is imposed by `Boost.Asio`_

.. _OpenSSL: http://www.openssl.org/
.. _`Boost.Asio`: http://www.boost.org/libs/asio

Client Implementation
---------------------

There is a single user-facing template class named ``basic_client`` which takes
three template parameters:

  * **Tag** - which static tag you choose that defines the behavior of the client.

  * **http_version_major** - an unsigned int that defines the HTTP major version
    number, this directly affects the HTTP messages sent by the client.

  * **http_version_minor** - an unsigned int that defines the HTTP minor version
    number.

.. include:: ../in_depth/http_client_tags.rst

In the above table the tags follow a pattern for describing the behavior
introduced by the tags. This pattern is shown below:

    <protocol>_<modifier>_<character-width>_<resolve-strategy>

For example, the tag ``http_default_8bit_tcp_resolve`` indicates the protocol
``http``, a modifier ``default``, a character width of ``8bit``, and a resolve
strategy of ``tcp_resolve``.

The  client is implemented as an `Active Object`_. This means that the client
has and manages its own lifetime thread, and returns values that are
asynchronously filled in. The response object encapsulates futures which get
filled in once the values are available.

.. _`Active Object`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_object

.. note:: The client objects are thread safe, and can be shared across many
   threads. Each request starts a sequence of asynchronous operations dedicated
   to that request. The client does not re-cycle connections and uses a
   one-request-one-connection model.

When a client object is destroyed, it waits for all pending asynchronous
operations to finish. Errors encountered during operations on retrieving data
from the response objects cause exceptions to be thrown -- therefore it is best
that if a client object is constructed, it should outlive the response object
or be outside the try-catch block handling the errors from operations on
responses. In code, usage should look like the following:

.. code-block:: c++

    http::client client;
    try {
      http::client::response response = client.get("http://www.example.com/");
      std::cout << body(response);
    } catch (std::exception& e) {
      // deal with exceptions here
    }

A common mistake is to declare the client inside the try block which invokes
undefined behavior when errors arise from the handling of response objects.
Previous examples cited by the documentation showed the short version of the
code which didn't bother moving the ``http::client`` object outside of the same
``try`` block where the request/response objects are being used.

Member Functions
----------------

In this section we assume that the following typedef is in effect:

.. code-block:: c++

    typedef boost::network::http::basic_client<
        boost::network::http::tags::http_default_8bit_udp_resolve
        , 1
        , 1
        >
        client;

Also, that code using the HTTP client will have use the following header:

.. code-block:: c++

    #include <boost/network/include/http/client.hpp>

Constructors
~~~~~~~~~~~~

The client implementation can be default constructed, or customized at
initialization.

``client()``
    Default constructor.
``explicit client(client::options const &)``
    Constructor taking a ``client_options<Tag>`` object. The following table
    shows the options you can set on a ``client_options<Tag>`` instance.

Client Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. doxygenclass:: boost::network::http::client_options
   :project: cppnetlib
   :members:

To use the above supported named parameters, you'll have code that looks like
the following:

.. code-block:: c++

    using namespace boost::network::http; // parameters are in this namespace
    client::options options;
    options.follow_redirects(true)
           .cache_resolved(true)
           .io_service(boost::make_shared<boost::asio::io_service>())
           .openssl_certificate("/tmp/my-cert")
           .openssl_verify_path("/tmp/ca-certs")
           .timeout(10);
    client client_(options);
    // use client_ as normal from here on out.

HTTP Methods
~~~~~~~~~~~~

The client implementation supports various HTTP methods. The following
constructs assume that a client has been properly constructed named ``client_``
and that there is an appropriately constructed request object named ``request_``
and that there is an appropriately constructed response object named
``response_`` like the following:

.. code-block:: c++

    using namespace boost::network::http;  // parameters are here
    client client_();
    client::request request_("http://cpp-netib.github.com/");
    client::response response_;


.. doxygenclass:: boost::network::http::basic_client
   :project: cppnetlib
   :members:
   :undoc-members:

.. doxygentypedef:: boost::network::http::client
   :project: cppnetlib

Streaming Body Handler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As of v0.9.1 the library now offers a way to support a streaming body callback
function in all HTTP requests that expect a body part (GET, PUT, POST, DELETE).
A convenience macro is also provided to make callback handlers easier to write.
This macro is called ``BOOST_NETWORK_HTTP_BODY_CALLBACK`` which allows users to
write the following code to easily create functions or function objects that
are compatible with the callback function requirements.

An example of how to use the macro is shown below:

.. code-block:: c++

    struct body_handler {
        explicit body_handler(std::string & body)
        : body(body) {}

        BOOST_NETWORK_HTTP_BODY_CALLBACK(operator(), range, error) {
            // in here, range is the Boost.Range iterator_range, and error is
            // the Boost.System error code.
            if (!error)
                body.append(boost::begin(range), boost::end(range));
        }

        std::string & body;
    };

    // somewhere else
    std::string some_string;
    response_ = client_.get(request("http://cpp-netlib.github.com/"),
                            body_handler(some_string));

You can also use if for standalone functions instead if you don't want or need
to create a function object.

.. code-block:: c++

    BOOST_NETWORK_HTTP_BODY_CALLBACK(print_body, range, error) {
        if (!error)
            std::cout << "Received " << boost::distance(range) << "bytes."
                      << std::endl;
        else
            std::cout << "Error: " << error << std::endl;
    }

    // somewhere else
    response_ = client_.get(request("http://cpp-netlib.github.com/"),
                            print_body);

The ``BOOST_NETWORK_HTTP_BODY_CALLBACK`` macro is defined in
``boost/network/protocol/http/client/macros.hpp``.
