NAME

Protocol::HTTP::Request - HTTP request class

SYNOPSIS

    use Protocol::HTTP::Request;

    # construction of new request
    my $req = Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        method       => METHOD_POST,
        uri          => "http://crazypanda.ru/hello/world",
        http_version => 10,
        headers      => {MyHeader => "my value"},
        cookies      => {Lorem => 'ipsum'},
    });

    $req->method();             # => METHOD_POST
    $req->uri();                # => isa 'URI::XS'
    $req->uri->to_string;       # => 'http://crazypanda.ru/hello/world'

    $req->uri('/something');
    $req->uri->to_string;       # => '/something'

    # we accept GZIP-compressed replies
    $req->allow_compression(Protocol::HTTP::Compression::gzip);

    $req->cookie('Location', 'Earth');
    $req->cookie('Location');           # => 'Earth'
    $req->cookies;                      # => is_deeply {Location => 'Earth', 'Lorem' => 'ipsum'}

    # main serialization method
    $req->to_string;        # like qr/GET.*HTTP/1.0.*MyHeader.*my body/sm

    # we are crazy enough to send compressed request
    $req->compress(Protocol::HTTP::Compression::gzip, Protocol::HTTP::Compression::LEVEL_OPTIMAL);
    # now $req->to_string would return a little bit different result

    # uploading as multipart/form-data
    my $req = Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        form => [field1 => 'value1', field2 => ['filename.pdf' => $pdf_content, 'application/pdf']],
    });

    my $req = Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        form => {
            enc_type => ENCODING_MULTIPART,
            fields   => [field1 => 'value1', field2 => 'value2'],
        },
    });

    # populate form from URI
    my $req = Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        uri  => '/path?login=user&pass=secret',
        form => ENCODING_MULTIPART
    });

    # populate URI from form
    my $req = Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        uri  => '/path',
        form => {
            enc_type => ENCODING_MULTIPART,
            fields   => [login => 'user', pass => 'secret'],
        },
    });

DESCRIPTION

This class represents client HTTP request, which is specialization of Protocol::HTTP::Message. An instance of the class can be constructed either direcly via new method to send a new request (clients), or via parsing incoming request with Protocol::HTTP::RequestParser (servers).

If it is acceptable to have a server reply with compressed payload, then allow_compression method should be invoked. It will setup Accept-Encoding header in a request.

When a new request is ready it can be serialized via to_string method into byte octets.

METHODS

All methods of Protocol::HTTP::Message also apply.

new([\%params])

Constructs new request from hashref of properties, i.e. method, uri, allow_compression, headers, body, http_version, chunked, compress, form.

See corresponding methods documentation below and in Protocol::HTTP::Message to find out what these parameters support.

allow_compression should be an array ref if multiple values are passed.

Parameter form allows to post request data as multipart/form-data (default) or as application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

In the simplest form it is just an array of fields and values, i.e.

    Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        form => [key1 => 'value1', key2 => 'value2'],
    });

A form field value can be also be specified as array; this might be needed for file posting to specify filename and content type additionally, i.e.

    Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        fields   => [photo => ['sample.jpg' => $jpeg_content, 'image/jpeg']],
    });

It is possible, however, to explicitly specify the type of encoding.

ENCODING_MULTIPART

ENCODING_URL

For example:

    Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        form => {
            enc_type => ENCODING_MULTIPART,
            fields   => [key1 => 'value1', key2 => 'value2'],
        }
    });

When it is encoded as multipart/form-data, the request will use the right method, e.g. if it is set to GET it will be switched to POST.

Sometimes it can be handy to use pseudo-URI to populate form (posted as multipart/form-data) from uri params, or populate URI from form.

    # GET /path?login=user&pass=secret
    my $req = Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        uri    => '/path',
        method => METHOD_GET,
        form   => {
            enc_type => ENCODING_URL,
            fields   => [login => 'user', pass => 'secret'],
        },
    });

    # POST with multipart/form-data via '/path' URI
    my $req = Protocol::HTTP::Request->new({
        uri  => '/path?login=user&pass=secret',
        form => ENCODING_MULTIPART,
    });

To let the URI population work form should be empty, as in the example above.

method_raw([$method])

Get/set HTTP request method, e.g. GET, POST etc. in the first line of the request

Possible values:

METHOD_GET

METHOD_POST

METHOD_PUT

METHOD_DELETE

METHOD_OPTIONS

METHOD_HEAD

METHOD_TRACE

METHOD_CONNECT

METHOD_UNSPECIFIED

The special value to distinguish the case, when client developer did not specify the desired method

method([$method])

Deduces the used method, i.e. when it is unspecified it will be GET or POST (for multipart/form_data).

The setter-variant works as method_raw setter

uri([$uri])

Set/get uri as URI::XS. $uri argument can be anything that one-argument constructor of URI::XS supports (for example, string).

cookies([\%cookies])

Set/get all cookies at once as a hashref.

    $req->cookies({coo1 => "val1", coo2 => "val2", ... });

Please note, this is request cookies, i.e. set by client-side, and they have different API than response cookies.

cookie($name, [$value])

Set/get single cookie.

allow_compression($compression1, [$compression2, ...])

Sets acceptable compression methods in the responce of the request, i.e. Accept-Encoding header. Order of compression methods might be important.

    $request->allow_compression(Protocol::HTTP::Compression::gzip);

See Protocol::HTTP::Compression for the list of available compressions.

allowed_compression()

Returns the bit mask of desirable compression methods (i.e. specified at Accept-Encoding header).

    if ($request->allowed_compression & Protocol::HTTP::Compression::gzip) {
        ...;
    }

See Protocol::HTTP::Compression for the list of available compressions.

to_string()

Serializes a request into string for sending via network. If the compression was requested (see Protocol::HTTP::Message), then it will be applied here.

method_str()

Returns stringified HTTP request method, e.g. "GET", "POST" etc.

FUNCTIONS

method_str($method)

Returns corresponding string for a constant METHOD_*, i.e. "GET", "POST" etc.

SEE ALSO

Protocol::HTTP

Protocol::HTTP::Message

Protocol::HTTP::Compression

Protocol::HTTP::CookieJar

URI::XS

cpanm Protocol::HTTP

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Protocol::HTTP