From: Engine Yard <maruthymukund@...>
Date: 2009-07-30T14:50:03+09:00
Subject: Re: Posting an XML document to a protected API

The parameters in Net::HTTP::start(address, port = nil, p_addr = nil, 
p_port = nil, p_user = nil, p_pass = nil) {|+http+| ...} are:

address = SERVER_ADDRESS
PORT = SERVER_PORT
P_ADDR = PROXY_SERVER_ADDRESS
P_PORT = PROXY_SERVER_PORT
P_USER = PROXY_USER
P_PASS = PROXY_USER_PASSWORD


I am not really sure about what a proxy server and a proxy user are, but 
here is what happened in my case.

The URL that my backend expected was of the format:
http://1234@21.222.122.12:80/selection/books/andy-grove.xml?session_key=32klfd3n
where '1234' was the API_KEY that was used to authenticate the calling 
application.

If you look at it from a more general perspective this is similar to
http:user_name:password@DOMAIN_NAME/PATH_TO_RESOURCE/RESPONSE_FORMAT?QUERY_PARAMS

Now I just had to substitute the user_name field with the API_KEY which 
I was unable to do using: Net::HTTP::start(address, port = nil, p_addr = 
nil, p_port = nil, p_user = nil, p_pass = nil) {|+http+| ...}

since the user and password here refer to the proxy user and the proxy 
password.

But I found a simpler solution to this problem:

1. Set the 'Authorization' request header to 'Basic' and specify the 
base64 encoded 'API_KEY + :' as the username value and leave the 
password field empty.

This will basically form a url of the form:
http://encode64(API_KEY 
+':')@SERVER_IP_ADDRESS/PATH_TO_RESOURCE/BLAH_BLAH_BLAH

To set the authorization header you can use:
a) Net::HTTP.Post.basic_auth(username, password)
b) Net::HTTP.Post.add_field('Authorization', 'Basic username:password) 
(NOT EXACTLY SURE IF THE SYNTAX IS RIGHT)

Here is the link to ruby's documentation: 
http://ruby-doc.org/stdlib/libdoc/net/http/rdoc/index.html




pharrington wrote:
> On Jul 27, 8:17�pm, Maruthy Mentireddi <maruthymuk...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> ********************************************************************
>> HERE</contact_groups>"
>> http.request(request)}
>>
>> Ruby gives a"getaddrinfo: nodename nor servname provided, or not known"
>> error.
>>
>> What is the right way to make this post to the Backend. Any response in
>> this regard will be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> --
>> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> 
> Since there doesn't seem to be alot of ri documentation about
> Net::HTTP::Post and I'm too lazy to look at the source,
> Net::HTTP.start looks like its invoked like this:
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Net::HTTP::start
>      Net::HTTP::start(address, port = nil, p_addr = nil, p_port = nil,
>      p_user = nil, p_pass = nil) {|+http+| ...}
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>      creates a new Net::HTTP object and opens its TCP connection and
>      HTTP session. If the optional block is given, the newly created
>      Net::HTTP object is passed to it and closed when the block
>      finishes. In this case, the return value of this method is the
>      return value of the block. If no block is given, the return value
>      of this method is the newly created Net::HTTP object itself, and
>      the caller is responsible for closing it upon completion.
> 
> 
> so instead of loading the apikey and port and all into a single
> string, have you tried using the parameters to the Net::HTTP.start
> method as such?
> 
> Eitherway, you might just be better of using curb for anything HTTP
> related.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.