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HTTPClient Object

Last updated 2/04/2024

To create an instance of the HTTPClient object, you call the httpClient() function provided by the Five object to instantiate an instance of the HTTPClient object. This provides many ways to interact with existing web content using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or the built-in headless web browser. HTTP is designed to enable communications between clients and servers working as a request-response protocol between a client and server for fetching resources such as HTML documents.

For example, a client (browser) sends a HTTP request to the server, the server then responds to the client with the response that contains status information about the request.

Five provides two modes to interact with an external API.

  • RAW - This is straight text or JSON from the server.
  • BROWSER - This is a full headless web browser session.

Functions​

The following functions can used on the HTTPClient object.

addData()​

The addData() is a function on the HTTPClient object that adds a key value pair to the body of the POST request, or as URL encoded URL parameters for a GET request when using RAW mode for the get() and post() methods and returns null on success.

Function Signature
addData(name: string, value: string) : FiveError;

get()​

The get() is a function on the HTTPClient object that is used to request data from a specific resource.

Function Signature
get([mode: string,] url: string) : HTTPResponse | BrowserPage;

addHeader()​

The addHeader() is a function on the HTTPClient object that will let the client and the server pass additional information with a HTTP request or response.

Function Signature
addHeader(name: string, value: string) : FiveError;

post()​

The post() is a function on the HTTPClient object that is used to send data to the server to create/update a resource.

Function Signature
post([mode: string,] url: string) : HTTPResponse | BrowserPage;

setBasicAuthentication ()​

The setBasicAuthentication() is a function on the HTTPClient object that sets the basic authentication header for the request.

Function Signature
setBasicAuthentication(user: string, password: string) : FiveError;

setContent()​

The setContent() is a function on the HTTPClient object to set the contents of the request body.

Function Signature
setContent(contents: string) : FiveError;

setContentType()​

The setContentType() is a function on the HTTPClient object that is used to indicate the original media type of the contents.

Function Signature
setContentType(mimeType: string) : FiveError;