From: Tim Becker <a2800276@...>
Date: 2007-02-09T00:25:28+09:00
Subject: [ANN] SimpleHTTP initial release

I just got through putting together a little wrapper around Net:Http
because I keep forgetting how to handle stuff like proxies, ssl, basic
auth and redirects with it. Thought it might be useful to others as
well. Enjoy,
   -Tim Becker (tim@kuriositaet.de)



SimpleHttp - a simplified wrapper around Net::Http

SimpleHttp aims to reduce the complexity of Net::Http while providing
the most commonly used (by me) http functionality.

FEATURES / USAGE

    * No fuss one line GET and POST requests:

            str = SimpleHttp.get "http://www.example.com"
            str = SimpleHttp.get "www.example.com"

    * Can use URI or String url interchangibly

            str = SimpleHttp.get URI.parse "http://www.example.com/"

    * Transparent Proxy Handling. Uses the 'http_proxy' environment
variable if set, also provides a set_proxy method.

            http = SimpleHttp.new "http://www.example.com"
            http.set_proxy "http://proxy.example.com:8000"
            http.post "query" => "example_query"

    * POST sends ruby Hashes as 'application/x-www-form/urlencoded'
per default, but can send any data.

            http = SimpleHttp.new "http://www.example.com/image_upload"
            http.post imageData, "img/png"

    * Automatically handles SSL

            str = SimpleHttp.get "https://secure.example.com"

    * Easy HTTP Basic Authentication

            str = SimpleHttp.get URI.parse("http://usr:pwd@www.example.com")
            #or
            http = SimpleHttp.new "http://www.example.com"
            http.basic_authentication "user", "password"
            http.post "query" => "example_query"

    * Access headers of the request or response

            http = SimpleHttp.new "www.example.com"
            http.request_header["X-Custom-Header"]="useful header"

    * Automatically follows Http Redirects.

The get and post methods return a String containing the body of the
request if the request was successful (HTTP 200). In case of a
redirect, the redirect is followed and the ultimate response is
returned. Per Default, up to three redirects are followed, this
behaviour can be modified by setting follow_num_redirects.

In case of any other type of response, an exception is raised.

The default behaviour can be modified by registering handlers using
the register_response_handler method. E.g. if you'd like to retrieve
the Date header instead of the body for successful transactions:

        http = SimpleHttp.new ...
        http.register_response_handler(Net::HTTPSuccess) {|req,res,http|
                res['date']
        }

Or you'd like to print the Location and then raise an exception in
case of a redirect:

        http = SimpleHttp.new ...
        http.register_response_handler(Net::HTTPRedirect) {|req,res,http|
                puts res['location']
                raise "REDIRECT not allowed!"
        }


http://simplehttp.rubyforge.org/
http://rubyforge.org/projects/simplehttp/
gem install simplehttp