What Is HTTP::Request?

Perl Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟LWP::UserAgent and Web Site Testing

∟What Is HTTP::Request?

This section describes what is HTTP::Response - a Perl class that represents the HTTP request message to be sent to a Web server.

If you are only using get() and post() methods, then you don't need to know the HTTP::Request class and objects. The get() or post() method will automatically create the HTTP::Request object for you. But if you want to create your own special HTTP request, you need to learn the HTTP::Request class.

What Is HTTP::Request? HTTP::Request, developed by Gisle Aas, is a Perl class that represents the HTTP request message to be sent to a Web server. An HTTP response consists of a request line, some headers, and a content body.

The current version of HTTP::Response is 6.00, which supports the following properties and methods:

new() - Construct a new HTTP::Request object with given request method, server URI, headers, and content body.
parse() - Construct a new request object by parsing the given raw HTTP request string
method() - Get/set the method attribute, which represent the HTTP request method "GET", "HEAD", "PUT" or "POST".
uri() - Get/set the uri attribute, which consists of the protocol name "HTTP", the web server host name and port, the path of the resource location on the server and other parameters.
header() - Get/set header values of the HTTP request message.
content() - Get/set the raw content of the HTTP response message.
as_string() - Return a textual representation of the entire response.

Again, let's use the Perl command line to do a simple test:

herong> perl -e "use LWP::UserAgent;
   print((new LWP::UserAgent())
   ->get('http://herongyang.com')->request()->as_string());"

GET http://herongyang.com
User-Agent: libwww-perl/6.05

It worked!. The HTTP::Request object created by the LWP::UserAgent class was so simple and short.

Here is how the code works:

"use LWP::UserAgent;" statement imports the LWP::UserAgent class into the execution environment.
"(new LWP::UserAgent())" expression creates a LWP::UserAgent object with default settings.
"...->get('http://herongyang.com')" expression asks the the LWP::UserAgent object to create an HTTP::Request object with "GET" as the request method, and "http://herongyang.com" as the request URI. Then the HTTP::Request object is sent to the Web server for processing. Then an HTTP::Response object is created using the returning HTTP response message from the Web server.
"...->request()" expression returns the HTTP::Request object referenced by the HTTP::Response object.
"...->as_string()" expression dumps the HTTP::Request object as a string.

Table of Contents

About This Book

Perl on Linux Systems

ActivePerl on Windows Systems

Data Types: Values and Variables

Expressions, Operations and Simple Statements

User Defined Subroutines

Perl Built-in Debugger

Name Spaces and Perl Module Files

Symbolic (or Soft) References

Hard References - Addresses of Memory Objects

Objects (or References) and Classes (or Packages)

Typeglob and Importing Identifiers from Other Packages

String Built-in Functions and Performance

File Handles and Data Input/Output

Open Files in Binary Mode

Open Directories and Read File Names

File System Functions and Operations

Image and Picture Processing

Using DBM Database Files

Using MySQL Database Server

Socket Communication Over the Internet

XML::Simple Module - XML Parser and Generator

XML Communication Model

SOAP::Lite - SOAP Server-Client Communication Module

Perl Programs as IIS Server CGI Scripts

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

XML-RPC - Remote Procedure Call with XML and HTTP

RPC::XML - Perl Implementation of XML-RPC

Integrating Perl with Apache Web Server

CGI.pm Module for Building Web Pages

►LWP::UserAgent and Web Site Testing

What Is LWP::UserAgent?

What Is HTTP::Response?

►What Is HTTP::Request?

LWP-UserAgent-GET.pl - Sending a GET Request

LWP-UserAgent-GET-Redirect.pl - Following HTTP Redirects

http-equiv="Refresh" Meta Tag not Followed

LWP-UserAgent-POST.pl - Posting Form Data

post() Method not Following Redirect Location

LWP-UserAgent-POST-Redirect.pl - Posting with Redirects

What Is HTTP::Cookies?

LWP-UserAgent-Request.pl - GET, POST and Cookies

LWP-UserAgent-Request.pl - Login to facebook.com

HTTP::Cookies save() not Saving Temporary Cookies

LWP-UserAgent-Request-Cookies.pl - Sending Request with Cookies

Converting Perl Script to Executable Binary

Managing Perl Engine and Modules on macOS

Archived Tutorials

Full Version in PDF/EPUB