an http interface that doesn’t suck.

if you’re like me, your finger seize at the thought of using net/http. it’s practically inconceivable that we have this beast while python has urllib/urllib2- and even c++ and java have equally better interfaces for doing client-side http work.

the days of teeth-gnashing are over.

httprb is what ruby (and rubyists) always wanted out of net/http: a ruby interface for communicating with the HTTP world. example:

get 'www.google.com'
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>

woah. wait. what about all this Net::HTTP.start(…) {http.get(…)} nonsense? throw it out the window- this is Ruby, after all.

ok, so the simple case looks good. what about headers, parameters, and all the rest of the HTTP world?

have no fear, check this out:

post 'www.example.com/login' do
  parameter "username", "tom"
  parameter "password", "password"
end
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>

getting better, eh? so relax, wipe the incredulity off your face- i know you’ve been waiting years for net/http to get better. the wait is over.

NOW AVAILABLE! just run:

gem install httprb

this is sinatra-inspired (clearly). choose your verb, add a url, and watch the sparks fly.

simple get request:

get 'www.google.com'
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>

you want the response object? you mean you actually want the body? no worries, you’re covered:

res = get 'www.google.com'
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>
res.body
...

let’s do a little header work:

res = get 'www.example.com'
  header "x-some-key", "some value"
  header "x-some-other-key", "some other value"
end
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>

moving on to a post with parameters…

res = post 'www.example.com'
  parameter "some_key", "some value"
  parameter "some_other_key", "some other value"
end
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>

wait, you use Sinatra too? no worries, i won’t leave you high and dry. when a namespace collision is detected (i.e. you’ve required ‘sinatra’), HTTPrb automatically redefines its methods to carry the prefix, “client_”. example:

require 'sinatra'
require 'httprb'
res = client_head 'www.google.com'

if you don’t like the “client_” prefix, feel free to change it. the definition is pulled from the environment variable named, ‘HTTPRB_COLLISION_PREFIX’. yet another example:

...
ENV['HTTPRB_COLLISION_PREFIX'] = 'the_right_'
res = the_right_get 'www.google.com'

how do you know when collisions occur, you ask? HTTPrb kindly notifies you:

require 'sinatra'
require 'httprb'
get 'www.google.com'
# => WARNING: Namespace collision detected
# => HTTPrb::get has been renamed to client_get
# => To disable this message, set HTTPRB_IGNORE_COLLISIONS to false
# => ArgumentError: tried to create Proc object without a block
...

tom metge <tom@accident-prone.com>

he’s an awesome guy.

the source (and anything else):

* http://github.com/tommetge/httprb

* http://rdoc.info/github/tommetge/httprb/master/frames