How to: Connect to HTTP servers (C++ REST SDK)
With the C++ REST SDK (codename "Casablanca"), you can more easily connect to HTTP servers from your C++ app. This page shows three examples. The first shows a basic way to create an HTTP GET request and receive the response. The second example is similar to the first, but builds an HTTP request that uses custom header values. The third example shows how to use HTTP PUT to upload a file to a server.
A more complete example that shows #include and using statements follows these examples.
Warning
This topic contains information for the C++ REST SDK 1.0 (codename "Casablanca"). If you are using a later version from the Codeplex Casablanca web page, then use the local documentation at http://casablanca.codeplex.com/documentation.
To create an HTTP GET request and receive the response
Here’s how to use the web::http::client::http_client class to create an HTTP GET request. The web::http::client::http_response class represents the server’s response. For a similar example that processes the HTTP response as JSON data, see How to: Work with JSON Data.
// Creates an HTTP request and prints the length of the response stream.
pplx::task<void> HTTPStreamingAsync()
{
http_client client(L"https://www.fourthcoffee.com");
// Make the request and asynchronously process the response.
return client.request(methods::GET).then([](http_response response)
{
// Print the status code.
std::wostringstream ss;
ss << L"Server returned returned status code " << response.status_code() << L'.' << std::endl;
std::wcout << ss.str();
// TODO: Perform actions here reading from the response stream.
auto bodyStream = response.body();
// In this example, we print the length of the response to the console.
ss.str(std::wstring());
ss << L"Content length is " << response.headers().content_length() << L" bytes." << std::endl;
std::wcout << ss.str();
});
/* Sample output:
Server returned returned status code 200.
Content length is 63803 bytes.
*/
}
To create an HTTP GET request that uses custom header values
This example is similar to the previous one, but uses the web::http::client::http_request class to manually build up the request headers.
// Builds an HTTP request that uses custom header values.
pplx::task<void> HTTPRequestCustomHeadersAsync()
{
http_client client(L"https://www.fourthcoffee.com");
// Manually build up an HTTP request with header and request URI.
http_request request(methods::GET);
request.headers().add(L"MyHeaderField", L"MyHeaderValue");
request.set_request_uri(L"requestpath");
return client.request(request).then([](http_response response)
{
// Print the status code.
std::wostringstream ss;
ss << L"Server returned returned status code " << response.status_code() << L"." << std::endl;
std::wcout << ss.str();
});
/* Sample output:
Server returned returned status code 200.
*/
}
To use HTTP PUT to upload a file to a server
This example is similar to the first one, but uses the concurrency::streams::file_stream class to asynchronously read a file from disk. The concurrency::streams::basic_istream object holds the file contents. This example uses the web::http::methods::PUT to specify the operation as an HTTP PUT operation. For more examples that use streams, see How to: Work with Asynchronous Streams.
// Upload a file to an HTTP server.
pplx::task<void> UploadFileToHttpServerAsync()
{
using concurrency::streams::file_stream;
using concurrency::streams::basic_istream;
// To run this example, you must have a file named myfile.txt in the current folder.
// Alternatively, you can use the following code to create a stream from a text string.
// std::string s("abcdefg");
// auto ss = concurrency::streams::stringstream::open_istream(s);
// Open stream to file.
return file_stream<unsigned char>::open_istream(L"myfile.txt").then([](pplx::task<basic_istream<unsigned char>> previousTask)
{
try
{
auto fileStream = previousTask.get();
// Make HTTP request with the file stream as the body.
http_client client(L"https://www.fourthcoffee.com");
return client.request(methods::PUT, L"myfile", fileStream).then([fileStream](pplx::task<http_response> previousTask)
{
fileStream.close();
std::wostringstream ss;
try
{
auto response = previousTask.get();
ss << L"Server returned returned status code " << response.status_code() << L"." << std::endl;
}
catch (const http_exception& e)
{
ss << e.what() << std::endl;
}
std::wcout << ss.str();
});
}
catch (const std::system_error& e)
{
std::wostringstream ss;
ss << e.what() << std::endl;
std::wcout << ss.str();
// Return an empty task.
return pplx::task_from_result();
}
});
/* Sample output:
The request must be resent
*/
}
Complete example
Here’s the complete example.
// basic-http-client.cpp
#include <http_client.h>
#include <filestream.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
using namespace web::http;
using namespace web::http::client;
// Creates an HTTP request and prints the length of the response stream.
pplx::task<void> HTTPStreamingAsync()
{
http_client client(L"https://www.fourthcoffee.com");
// Make the request and asynchronously process the response.
return client.request(methods::GET).then([](http_response response)
{
// Print the status code.
std::wostringstream ss;
ss << L"Server returned returned status code " << response.status_code() << L'.' << std::endl;
std::wcout << ss.str();
// TODO: Perform actions here reading from the response stream.
auto bodyStream = response.body();
// In this example, we print the length of the response to the console.
ss.str(std::wstring());
ss << L"Content length is " << response.headers().content_length() << L" bytes." << std::endl;
std::wcout << ss.str();
});
/* Sample output:
Server returned returned status code 200.
Content length is 63803 bytes.
*/
}
// Builds an HTTP request that uses custom header values.
pplx::task<void> HTTPRequestCustomHeadersAsync()
{
http_client client(L"https://www.fourthcoffee.com");
// Manually build up an HTTP request with header and request URI.
http_request request(methods::GET);
request.headers().add(L"MyHeaderField", L"MyHeaderValue");
request.set_request_uri(L"requestpath");
return client.request(request).then([](http_response response)
{
// Print the status code.
std::wostringstream ss;
ss << L"Server returned returned status code " << response.status_code() << L"." << std::endl;
std::wcout << ss.str();
});
/* Sample output:
Server returned returned status code 200.
*/
}
// Upload a file to an HTTP server.
pplx::task<void> UploadFileToHttpServerAsync()
{
using concurrency::streams::file_stream;
using concurrency::streams::basic_istream;
// To run this example, you must have a file named myfile.txt in the current folder.
// Alternatively, you can use the following code to create a stream from a text string.
// std::string s("abcdefg");
// auto ss = concurrency::streams::stringstream::open_istream(s);
// Open stream to file.
return file_stream<unsigned char>::open_istream(L"myfile.txt").then([](pplx::task<basic_istream<unsigned char>> previousTask)
{
try
{
auto fileStream = previousTask.get();
// Make HTTP request with the file stream as the body.
http_client client(L"https://www.fourthcoffee.com");
return client.request(methods::PUT, L"myfile", fileStream).then([fileStream](pplx::task<http_response> previousTask)
{
fileStream.close();
std::wostringstream ss;
try
{
auto response = previousTask.get();
ss << L"Server returned returned status code " << response.status_code() << L"." << std::endl;
}
catch (const http_exception& e)
{
ss << e.what() << std::endl;
}
std::wcout << ss.str();
});
}
catch (const std::system_error& e)
{
std::wostringstream ss;
ss << e.what() << std::endl;
std::wcout << ss.str();
// Return an empty task.
return pplx::task_from_result();
}
});
/* Sample output:
The request must be resent
*/
}
int wmain()
{
// This example uses the task::wait method to ensure that async operations complete before the app exits.
// In most apps, you typically don�t wait for async operations to complete.
std::wcout << L"Calling HTTPStreamingAsync..." << std::endl;
HTTPStreamingAsync().wait();
std::wcout << L"Calling HTTPRequestCustomHeadersAsync..." << std::endl;
HTTPRequestCustomHeadersAsync().wait();
std::wcout << L"Calling UploadFileToHttpServerAsync..." << std::endl;
UploadFileToHttpServerAsync().wait();
}