HttpSocket¶

Making a request¶

You can use HttpSocket to create most kinds of HTTP requests with the different HTTP methods.

HttpSocket::get($uri, $query, $request)¶

The $query parameter, can either be a query string, or an array of keys and values. The get method makes a simple HTTP GET request returning the results:

App::uses('HttpSocket', 'Network/Http');

$HttpSocket = new HttpSocket();

// string query
$results = $HttpSocket->get('https://www.google.com/search', 'q=cakephp');

// array query
$results = $HttpSocket->get('https://www.google.com/search', array('q' => 'cakephp'));

HttpSocket::post($uri, $data, $request)¶

The post method makes a simple HTTP POST request returning the results.

The parameters for the post method are almost the same as the get method, $uri is the web address where the request is being made; $data is the data to be posted, either as a string, or as an array of keys and values:

App::uses('HttpSocket', 'Network/Http');

$HttpSocket = new HttpSocket();

// string data
$results = $HttpSocket->post(
    'http://example.com/add',
    'name=test&type=user'
);

// array data
$data = array('name' => 'test', 'type' => 'user');
$results = $HttpSocket->post('http://example.com/add', $data);

HttpSocket::put($uri, $data, $request)¶

The put method makes a simple HTTP PUT request returning the results.

The parameters for the put method is the same as the post() method.

HttpSocket::delete($uri, $query, $request)¶

The delete method makes a simple HTTP DELETE request returning the results.

The parameters for the delete method is the same as the get() method. The $query parameter can either be a string or an array of query string arguments for the request.

HttpSocket::patch($uri, $data, $request)¶

The patch method makes a simple HTTP PATCH request returning the results.

The parameters for the patch method is the same as the post() method.

New in version 2.4.

HttpSocket::request($request)¶

The base request method, which is called from all the wrappers (get, post, put, delete). Returns the results of the request.

$request is a keyed array of various options. Here is the format and default settings:

public $request = array(
    'method' => 'GET',
    'uri' => array(
        'scheme' => 'http',
        'host' => null,
        'port' => 80,
        'user' => null,
        'pass' => null,
        'path' => null,
        'query' => null,
        'fragment' => null
    ),
    'auth' => array(
        'method' => 'Basic',
        'user' => null,
        'pass' => null
    ),
    'version' => '1.1',
    'body' => '',
    'line' => null,
    'header' => array(
        'Connection' => 'close',
        'User-Agent' => 'CakePHP'
    ),
    'raw' => null,
    'redirect' => false,
    'cookies' => array()
);

Handling the response¶

Responses from requests made with HttpSocket are instances of HttpResponse. This object gives you a few accessor methods to access the contents of an HTTP response. This class implements the ArrayAccess and __toString(), so you can continue using the $http->response as array and the return of request methods as string:

App::uses('HttpSocket', 'Network/Http');

$http = new HttpSocket();
$response = $http->get('https://cakephp.org');

// Check the body for the presence of a title tag.
$titlePos = strpos($response->body, '<title>');

// Get the status code for the response.
$code = $response->code;

The HttpResponse has the following attributes:

• body returns body of HTTP response (normally the HTML).

• headers returns array with headers.

• cookies returns array with new cookies (cookies from others request are not stored here).

• httpVersion returns string with HTTP version (from first line in response).

• code returns the integer with HTTP code.

• reasonPhrase returns the string with HTTP code response.

• raw returns the unchanged response from server.

The HttpResponse also exposes the following methods:

• body() returns the body

• isOk() returns if code is 200;

• isRedirect() returns if code is 301, 302, 303 or 307 and the Location header is set.

• getHeader() allows you to fetch headers, see the next section.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 04:14:16 GMT
server: CakeHttp Server
content-tyPe: text/html

Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 04:14:16 GMT
server: CakeHttp Server
content-tyPe: text/html

// $response is an instance of HttpResponse
// get the Content-Type header.
$response->getHeader('Content-Type');

// get the date
$response->getHeader('date');

<?php
App::uses('HttpSocket', 'Network/Http');

$HttpSocket = new HttpSocket();
$response = $HttpSocket->get('http://example.com/redirecting_url', array(), array('redirect' => true));

$socket = new HttpSocket(array(
    'ssl_allow_self_signed' => true
));

App::uses('HttpResponse', 'Network/Http');

class YourResponse extends HttpResponse {

    public function parseResponse($message) {
        parent::parseResponse($message);
        // Make what you want
    }
}

App::uses('HttpSocket', 'Network/Http');

$http = new HttpSocket();
$http->responseClass = 'YourResponse';

App::uses('HttpSocket', 'Network/Http');

$http = new HttpSocket();
$f = fopen(TMP . 'bakery.xml', 'w');
$http->setContentResource($f);
$http->get('https://bakery.cakephp.org/comments.rss');
fclose($f);

Using authentication¶

HttpSocket supports a HTTP Basic and Digest authentication methods out of the box. You can also create custom authentication objects to support protocols like OAuth. To use any authentication system you need to configure the HttpSocket instance:

App::uses('HttpSocket', 'Network/Http');

$http = new HttpSocket();
$http->configAuth('Basic', 'user', 'password');

The above would configure the HttpSocket instance to use Basic authentication using user and password as the credentials.

class YourMethodAuthentication {

/**
 * Authentication
 *
 * @param HttpSocket $http
 * @param array $authInfo
 * @return void
 */
    public static function authentication(HttpSocket $http, &$authInfo) {
        // Do something, for example set $http->request['header']['Authentication'] value
    }

}

$http->configAuth('YourMethod', array('config1' => 'value1', 'config2' => 'value2'));
$http->get('http://secure.your-site.com');

class YourMethodAuthentication {

/**
 * Authentication
 *
 * @param HttpSocket $http
 * @param array $authInfo
 * @return void
 */
    public static function authentication(HttpSocket $http, &$authInfo) {
        // Do something, for example set $http->request['header']['Authentication'] value
    }

/**
 * Proxy Authentication
 *
 * @param HttpSocket $http
 * @param array $proxyInfo
 * @return void
 */
    public static function proxyAuthentication(HttpSocket $http, &$proxyInfo) {
        // Do something, for example set $http->request['header']['Proxy-Authentication'] value
    }

}