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http(n)			     Tcl Bundled Packages		       http(n)

______________________________________________________________________________

NAME
       http - Client-side implementation of the HTTP/1.1 protocol

SYNOPSIS
       package require http ?2.7?

       ::http::config ?options?

       ::http::geturl url ?options?

       ::http::formatQuery key value ?key value ...?

       ::http::reset token ?why?

       ::http::wait token

       ::http::status token

       ::http::size token

       ::http::code token

       ::http::ncode token

       ::http::meta token

       ::http::data token

       ::http::error token

       ::http::cleanup token

       ::http::register proto port command

       ::http::unregister proto
_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION
       The  http  package  provides  the client side of the HTTP/1.1 protocol.
       The package implements the GET, POST, and HEAD operations of  HTTP/1.1.
       It  allows configuration of a proxy host to get through firewalls.  The
       package is compatible with the Safesock security policy, so it  can  be
       used  by	 untrusted applets to do URL fetching from a restricted set of
       hosts. This package can be extended to support additional  HTTP	trans‐
       port  protocols,	 such  as HTTPS, by providing a custom socket command,
       via ::http::register.

       The ::http::geturl procedure does  a  HTTP  transaction.	  Its  options
       determine  whether  a GET, POST, or HEAD transaction is performed.  The
       return value of ::http::geturl is a token  for  the  transaction.   The
       value  is  also	the name of an array in the ::http namespace that con‐
       tains state information about the transaction.  The  elements  of  this
       array are described in the STATE ARRAY section.

       If the -command option is specified, then the HTTP operation is done in
       the background.	::http::geturl returns	immediately  after  generating
       the  HTTP request and the callback is invoked when the transaction com‐
       pletes.	For this to work, the Tcl event loop must be  active.	In  Tk
       applications this is always true.  For pure-Tcl applications, the call‐
       er can use ::http::wait after calling ::http::geturl to start the event
       loop.

COMMANDS
       ::http::config ?options?
	      The  ::http::config command is used to set and query the name of
	      the proxy server and port, and the User-Agent name used  in  the
	      HTTP  requests.	If  no options are specified, then the current
	      configuration is returned.  If a single argument	is  specified,
	      then  it	should	be  one of the flags described below.  In this
	      case the current value of that setting is returned.   Otherwise,
	      the  options should be a set of flags and values that define the
	      configuration:

	      -accept mimetypes
		     The Accept header of the request.	The  default  is  */*,
		     which  means  that	 all  types of documents are accepted.
		     Otherwise you can supply a comma-separated list  of  mime
		     type patterns that you are willing to receive.  For exam‐
		     ple, “image/gif, image/jpeg, text/*”.

	      -proxyhost hostname
		     The name of the proxy host, if any.  If this value is the
		     empty string, the URL host is contacted directly.

	      -proxyport number
		     The proxy port number.

	      -proxyfilter command
		     The   command   is	  a   callback	that  is  made	during
		     ::http::geturl to determine if a proxy is required for  a
		     given  host.  One argument, a host name, is added to com‐
		     mand when it is invoked.  If a  proxy  is	required,  the
		     callback  should return a two-element list containing the
		     proxy server and proxy port.  Otherwise the filter should
		     return  an	 empty	list.	The default filter returns the
		     values of the -proxyhost and -proxyport settings if  they
		     are non-empty.

	      -urlencoding encoding
		     The  encoding  used  for  creating the x-url-encoded URLs
		     with ::http::formatQuery.	The default is utf-8, as spec‐
		     ified  by	RFC 2718.  Prior to http 2.5 this was unspeci‐
		     fied, and that behavior can be returned by specifying the
		     empty  string  ({}), although iso8859-1 is recommended to
		     restore similar behavior but without the  ::http::format‐
		     Query  throwing  an  error processing non-latin-1 charac‐
		     ters.

	      -useragent string
		     The value of the User-Agent header in the	HTTP  request.
		     The default is “Tcl http client package 2.7”.

       ::http::geturl url ?options?
	      The ::http::geturl command is the main procedure in the package.
	      The -query option causes a  POST	operation  and	the  -validate
	      option  causes  a	 HEAD operation; otherwise, a GET operation is
	      performed.  The ::http::geturl command  returns  a  token	 value
	      that  can be used to get information about the transaction.  See
	      the  STATE  ARRAY	 and  ERRORS   section	 for   details.	   The
	      ::http::geturl  command  blocks  until  the operation completes,
	      unless the -command option specifies a callback that is  invoked
	      when  the HTTP transaction completes.  ::http::geturl takes sev‐
	      eral options:

	      -binary boolean
		     Specifies whether to force interpreting the URL  data  as
		     binary.   Normally	 this  is  auto-detected (anything not
		     beginning with a  text  content  type  or	whose  content
		     encoding is gzip or compress is considered binary data).

	      -blocksize size
		     The  block	 size used when reading the URL.  At most size
		     bytes are read at once.  After each block, a call to  the
		     -progress callback is made (if that option is specified).

	      -channel name
		     Copy  the	URL contents to channel name instead of saving
		     it in state(body).

	      -command callback
		     Invoke callback after  the	 HTTP  transaction  completes.
		     This  option causes ::http::geturl to return immediately.
		     The callback gets an  additional  argument	 that  is  the
		     token  returned  from  ::http::geturl.  This token is the
		     name of an array that is described	 in  the  STATE	 ARRAY
		     section.  Here is a template for the callback:
			    proc httpCallback {token} {
				upvar #0 $token state
				# Access state as a Tcl array
			    }

	      -handler callback
		     Invoke  callback  whenever	 HTTP  data  is	 available; if
		     present, nothing else will be done with  the  HTTP	 data.
		     This  procedure gets two additional arguments: the socket
		     for  the  HTTP  data  and	 the   token   returned	  from
		     ::http::geturl.   The token is the name of a global array
		     that is described in the STATE ARRAY section.  The proce‐
		     dure  is expected to return the number of bytes read from
		     the socket.  Here is a template for the callback:
			    proc httpHandlerCallback {socket token} {
				upvar #0 $token state
				# Access socket, and state as a Tcl array
				# For example...
				...
				set data [read $socket 1000]
				set nbytes [string length $data]
				...
				return $nbytes
			    }

	      -headers keyvaluelist
		     This option is used to add	 extra	headers	 to  the  HTTP
		     request.	The  keyvaluelist argument must be a list with
		     an even number of elements that  alternate	 between  keys
		     and  values.   The	 keys become header field names.  New‐
		     lines are stripped from the values so the	header	cannot
		     be corrupted.  For example, if keyvaluelist is Pragma no-
		     cache then the following header is included in  the  HTTP
		     request:
		     Pragma: no-cache

	      -keepalive boolean
		     If	 true, attempt to keep the connection open for servic‐
		     ing multiple requests.  Default is 0.

	      -method type
		     Force the HTTP request  method  to	 type.	::http::geturl
		     will  auto-select	GET,  POST  or	HEAD  based  on	 other
		     options, but this option enables  choices	like  PUT  and
		     DELETE for webdav support.

	      -myaddr address
		     Pass  an  specific local address to the underlying socket
		     call in case multiple interfaces are available.

	      -progress callback
		     The callback is made after each transfer of data from the
		     URL.   The	 callback gets three additional arguments: the
		     token from ::http::geturl, the expected total size of the
		     contents  from the Content-Length meta-data, and the cur‐
		     rent number of bytes transferred so  far.	 The  expected
		     total  size  may be unknown, in which case zero is passed
		     to the callback.  Here is a  template  for	 the  progress
		     callback:
			    proc httpProgress {token total current} {
				upvar #0 $token state
			    }

	      -protocol version
		     Select  the  HTTP protocol version to use. This should be
		     1.0 or 1.1 (the default). Should only  be	necessary  for
		     servers  that  do	not  understand	 or otherwise complain
		     about HTTP/1.1.

	      -query query
		     This flag causes ::http::geturl to do a POST request that
		     passes  the  query to the server. The query must be an x-
		     url-encoding formatted  query.   The  ::http::formatQuery
		     procedure can be used to do the formatting.

	      -queryblocksize size
		     The  block	 size used when posting query data to the URL.
		     At most size bytes	 are  written  at  once.   After  each
		     block,  a call to the -queryprogress callback is made (if
		     that option is specified).

	      -querychannel channelID
		     This flag causes ::http::geturl to do a POST request that
		     passes the data contained in channelID to the server. The
		     data contained in channelID  must	be  an	x-url-encoding
		     formatted	query  unless  the -type option below is used.
		     If a Content-Length  header  is  not  specified  via  the
		     -headers  options,	 ::http::geturl	 attempts to determine
		     the size of the post data in order to create that header.
		     If	 it  is	 unable	 to  determine the size, it returns an
		     error.

	      -queryprogress callback
		     The callback is made after each transfer of data  to  the
		     URL  (i.e.	 POST)	and  acts  exactly  like the -progress
		     option (the callback format is the same).

	      -strict boolean
		     Whether  to  enforce  RFC	3986  URL  validation  on  the
		     request.  Default is 1.

	      -timeout milliseconds
		     If	 milliseconds is non-zero, then ::http::geturl sets up
		     a timeout to occur after the  specified  number  of  mil‐
		     liseconds.	  A timeout results in a call to ::http::reset
		     and to the -command callback, if specified.   The	return
		     value  of	::http::status	is timeout after a timeout has
		     occurred.

	      -type mime-type
		     Use mime-type as the Content-Type value, instead  of  the
		     default  value (application/x-www-form-urlencoded) during
		     a POST operation.

	      -validate boolean
		     If boolean is non-zero, then ::http::geturl does an  HTTP
		     HEAD  request.   This  request  returns  meta information
		     about the URL, but the contents are  not  returned.   The
		     meta  information	is available in the state(meta)	 vari‐
		     able after the transaction.  See the STATE ARRAY  section
		     for details.

       ::http::formatQuery key value ?key value ...?
	      This  procedure  does x-url-encoding of query data.  It takes an
	      even number of arguments that are the keys  and  values  of  the
	      query.  It encodes the keys and values, and generates one string
	      that has the proper & and = separators.  The result is  suitable
	      for the -query value passed to ::http::geturl.

       ::http::reset token ?why?
	      This command resets the HTTP transaction identified by token, if
	      any.  This sets the state(status) value to why,  which  defaults
	      to reset, and then calls the registered -command callback.

       ::http::wait token
	      This  is	a  convenience procedure that blocks and waits for the
	      transaction to  complete.	  This	only  works  in	 trusted  code
	      because  it  uses	 vwait.	  Also,	 it is not useful for the case
	      where ::http::geturl  is	called	without	 the  -command	option
	      because  in  this	 case  the ::http::geturl call does not return
	      until the HTTP transaction is complete, and thus there is	 noth‐
	      ing to wait for.

       ::http::data token
	      This  is	a  convenience procedure that returns the body element
	      (i.e., the URL data) of the state array.

       ::http::error token
	      This is a convenience procedure that returns the	error  element
	      of the state array.

       ::http::status token
	      This  is a convenience procedure that returns the status element
	      of the state array.

       ::http::code token
	      This is a convenience procedure that returns the http element of
	      the state array.

       ::http::ncode token
	      This  is	a  convenience procedure that returns just the numeric
	      return code (200, 404, etc.) from the http element of the	 state
	      array.

       ::http::size token
	      This  is	a  convenience	procedure that returns the currentsize
	      element of the state array, which represents the number of bytes
	      received from the URL in the ::http::geturl call.

       ::http::meta token
	      This is a convenience procedure that returns the meta element of
	      the state array which contains the HTTP  response	 headers.  See
	      below for an explanation of this element.

       ::http::cleanup token
	      This  procedure  cleans up the state associated with the connec‐
	      tion identified by token.	 After this call, the procedures  like
	      ::http::data  cannot be used to get information about the opera‐
	      tion.  It is strongly recommended that you  call	this  function
	      after you are done with a given HTTP request.  Not doing so will
	      result in	 memory	 not  being  freed,  and  if  your  app	 calls
	      ::http::geturl  enough times, the memory leak could cause a per‐
	      formance hit...or worse.

       ::http::register proto port command
	      This procedure allows one to provide custom HTTP transport types
	      such  as	HTTPS,	by registering a prefix, the default port, and
	      the command to execute to create the Tcl channel. E.g.:
		     package require http
		     package require tls

		     ::http::register https 443 ::tls::socket

		     set token [::http::geturl https://my.secure.site/]

       ::http::unregister proto
	      This procedure unregisters a protocol handler  that  was	previ‐
	      ously registered via ::http::register.

ERRORS
       The  ::http::geturl procedure will raise errors in the following cases:
       invalid command line options, an invalid URL, a URL on  a  non-existent
       host,  or  a  URL at a bad port on an existing host.  These errors mean
       that it cannot even start the network transaction.  It will also	 raise
       an  error  if  it  gets an I/O error while writing out the HTTP request
       header.	For synchronous ::http::geturl calls (where  -command  is  not
       specified),  it will raise an error if it gets an I/O error while read‐
       ing the HTTP reply headers or data.  Because  ::http::geturl  does  not
       return  a  token	 in  these cases, it does all the required cleanup and
       there is no issue of your app having to call ::http::cleanup.

       For asynchronous ::http::geturl calls, all of the  above	 error	situa‐
       tions  apply,  except that if there is any error while reading the HTTP
       reply headers or data, no exception is thrown.  This is	because	 after
       writing	the  HTTP headers, ::http::geturl returns, and the rest of the
       HTTP transaction occurs in the background.  The	command	 callback  can
       check  if  any error occurred during the read by calling ::http::status
       to check the status and if its error, calling ::http::error to get  the
       error message.

       Alternatively,  if the main program flow reaches a point where it needs
       to know the result of  the  asynchronous	 HTTP  request,	 it  can  call
       ::http::wait  and  then	check  status  and error, just as the callback
       does.

       In any case, you must still call ::http::cleanup to  delete  the	 state
       array when you are done.

       There  are other possible results of the HTTP transaction determined by
       examining the status from ::http::status.  These are described below.

       ok     If the HTTP transaction completes entirely, then status will  be
	      ok.   However,  you should still check the ::http::code value to
	      get the HTTP status.  The ::http::ncode procedure provides  just
	      the numeric error (e.g., 200, 404 or 500) while the ::http::code
	      procedure returns a value like “HTTP 404 File not found”.

       eof    If the server closes the socket without replying, then no	 error
	      is raised, but the status of the transaction will be eof.

       error  The  error message will also be stored in the error status array
	      element, accessible via ::http::error.

       Another error possibility is that ::http::geturl is unable to write all
       the post query data to the server before the server responds and closes
       the socket.  The error message is saved in the posterror	 status	 array
       element	and then  ::http::geturl attempts to complete the transaction.
       If it can read the server's response it will end up with an ok  status,
       otherwise it will have an eof status.

STATE ARRAY
       The ::http::geturl procedure returns a token that can be used to get to
       the state of the HTTP transaction in the form of a Tcl array.  Use this
       construct to create an easy-to-use array variable:
	      upvar #0 $token state
       Once  the  data	associated with the URL is no longer needed, the state
       array should be unset to free up storage.  The  ::http::cleanup	proce‐
       dure is provided for that purpose.  The following elements of the array
       are supported:

	      body   The contents of the URL.	This  will  be	empty  if  the
		     -channel  option  has  been  specified.   This  value  is
		     returned by the ::http::data command.

	      charset
		     The value of the charset attribute from the  Content-Type
		     meta-data value.  If none was specified, this defaults to
		     the   RFC	 standard   iso8859-1,	 or   the   value   of
		     $::http::defaultCharset.	Incoming  text	data  will  be
		     automatically converted from this charset to utf-8.

	      coding A copy of the Content-Encoding meta-data value.

	      currentsize
		     The current number of bytes fetched from the  URL.	  This
		     value is returned by the ::http::size command.

	      error  If	 defined,  this is the error string seen when the HTTP
		     transaction was aborted.

	      http   The HTTP status reply from the  server.   This  value  is
		     returned by the ::http::code command.  The format of this
		     value is:
			    HTTP/1.1 code string
		     The code is a three-digit	number	defined	 in  the  HTTP
		     standard.	 A  code of 200 is OK.	Codes beginning with 4
		     or 5 indicate errors.  Codes beginning with 3  are	 redi‐
		     rection  errors.	In  this  case	the Location meta-data
		     specifies a new URL that contains the requested  informa‐
		     tion.

	      meta   The  HTTP	protocol  returns meta-data that describes the
		     URL contents.  The meta element of the state array	 is  a
		     list of the keys and values of the meta-data.  This is in
		     a format useful for initializing an array that just  con‐
		     tains the meta-data:
			    array set meta $state(meta)
		     Some of the meta-data keys are listed below, but the HTTP
		     standard defines more, and servers are free to add	 their
		     own.

		     Content-Type
			    The	 type  of  the URL contents.  Examples include
			    text/html, image/gif,  application/postscript  and
			    application/x-tcl.

		     Content-Length
			    The	 advertised  size of the contents.  The actual
			    size obtained by ::http::geturl  is	 available  as
			    state(size).

		     Location
			    An alternate URL that contains the requested data.

	      posterror
		     The  error,  if any, that occurred while writing the post
		     query data to the server.

	      status Either ok, for successful	completion,  reset  for	 user-
		     reset,  timeout if a timeout occurred before the transac‐
		     tion could complete, or error  for	 an  error  condition.
		     During the transaction this value is the empty string.

	      totalsize
		     A copy of the Content-Length meta-data value.

	      type   A copy of the Content-Type meta-data value.

	      url    The requested URL.

EXAMPLE
	      # Copy a URL to a file and print meta-data
	      proc httpcopy { url file {chunk 4096} } {
		 set out [open $file w]
		 set token [::http::geturl $url -channel $out \
			-progress httpCopyProgress -blocksize $chunk]
		 close $out

		 # This ends the line started by httpCopyProgress
		 puts stderr ""

		 upvar #0 $token state
		 set max 0
		 foreach {name value} $state(meta) {
		    if {[string length $name] > $max} {
		       set max [string length $name]
		    }
		    if {[regexp -nocase ^location$ $name]} {
		       # Handle URL redirects
		       puts stderr "Location:$value"
		       return [httpcopy [string trim $value] $file $chunk]
		    }
		 }
		 incr max
		 foreach {name value} $state(meta) {
		    puts [format "%-*s %s" $max $name: $value]
		 }

		 return $token
	      }
	      proc httpCopyProgress {args} {
		 puts -nonewline stderr .
		 flush stderr
	      }

SEE ALSO
       safe(n), socket(n), safesock(n)

KEYWORDS
       security policy, socket

http				      2.7			       http(n)
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