The httplib Module

The httplib module, shown in Example 7-26, provides an HTTP client interface.

Example 7-26. Using the httplib Module

File: httplib-example-1.py import httplib USER_AGENT = "httplib-example-1.py" class Error: # indicates an HTTP error def _ _init_ _(self, url, errcode, errmsg, headers): self.url = url self.errcode = errcode self.errmsg = errmsg self.headers = headers def _ _repr_ _(self): return ( "" % (self.url, self.errcode, self.errmsg) ) class Server: def _ _init_ _(self, host): self.host = host def fetch(self, path): http = httplib.HTTP(self.host) # write header http.putrequest("GET", path) http.putheader("User-Agent", USER_AGENT) http.putheader("Host", self.host) http.putheader("Accept", "*/*") http.endheaders() # get response errcode, errmsg, headers = http.getreply() if errcode != 200: raise Error(errcode, errmsg, headers) file = http.getfile() return file.read() if _ _name_ _ == "_ _main_ _": server = Server("www.pythonware.com") print server.fetch("/index.htm")

Note that the HTTP client provided httplib blocks while waiting for the server to respond. For an asynchronous solution, which among other things allows you to issue multiple requests in parallel, see the examples for the asyncore module.

7.12.1 Posting Data to an HTTP Server

The httplib module also allows you to send other HTTP commands, such as POST, as shown in Example 7-27.

Example 7-27. Using the httplib Module to Post Data

File: httplib-example-2.py import httplib USER_AGENT = "httplib-example-2.py" def post(host, path, data, type=None): http = httplib.HTTP(host) # write header http.putrequest("PUT", path) http.putheader("User-Agent", USER_AGENT) http.putheader("Host", host) if type: http.putheader("Content-Type", type) http.putheader("Content-Length", str(len(size))) http.endheaders() # write body http.send(data) # get response errcode, errmsg, headers = http.getreply() if errcode != 200: raise Error(errcode, errmsg, headers) file = http.getfile() return file.read() if _ _name_ _ == "_ _main_ _": post("www.spam.egg", "/bacon.htm", "a piece of data", "text/plain")