http_open.pl -- HTTP client library
This library defines http_open/3, which opens an URL as a Prolog stream. The functionality of the library can be extended by loading two additional modules that act as plugins:
- library(http/http_ssl_plugin)
- Loading this library causes http_open/3 to handle HTTPS connections.
Relevant options for SSL certificate handling are handed to
ssl_context/3. This plugin is loaded automatically if the scheme
https
is requested using a default SSL context. See the plugin for additional information regarding security. - library(zlib)
- Loading this library supports the
gzip
transfer encoding. This plugin is lazily loaded if a connection is opened that claims this transfer encoding. - library(http/http_cookie)
- Loading this library adds tracking cookies to http_open/3. Returned cookies are collected in the Prolog database and supplied for subsequent requests.
- library(http/http_stream)
- This library adds support for chunked encoding. It is lazily
loaded if the server sends a
Transfer-encoding: chunked
header.
Here is a simple example to fetch a web-page:
?- http_open('http://www.google.com/search?q=prolog', In, []), copy_stream_data(In, user_output), close(In). <!doctype html><head><title>prolog - Google Search</title><script> ...
The example below fetches the modification time of a web-page. Note that
Modified
is ''
(the empty atom) if the web-server does not provide a
time-stamp for the resource. See also parse_time/2.
modified(URL, Stamp) :- http_open(URL, In, [ method(head), header(last_modified, Modified) ]), close(In), Modified \== '', parse_time(Modified, Stamp).
Then next example uses Google search. It exploits library(uri) to manage URIs, library(sgml) to load an HTML document and library(xpath) to navigate the parsed HTML. Note that you may need to adjust the XPath queries if the data returned by Google changes (this example indeed no longer works and currently fails at the first xpath/3 call)
:- use_module(library(http/http_open)). :- use_module(library(xpath)). :- use_module(library(sgml)). :- use_module(library(uri)). google(For, Title, HREF) :- uri_encoded(query_value, For, Encoded), atom_concat('http://www.google.com/search?q=', Encoded, URL), http_open(URL, In, []), call_cleanup( load_html(In, DOM, []), close(In)), xpath(DOM, //h3(@class=r), Result), xpath(Result, //a(@href=HREF0, text), Title), uri_components(HREF0, Components), uri_data(search, Components, Query), uri_query_components(Query, Parts), memberchk(q=HREF, Parts).
An example query is below:
?- google(prolog, Title, HREF). Title = 'SWI-Prolog', HREF = 'http://www.swi-prolog.org/' ; Title = 'Prolog - Wikipedia', HREF = 'https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolog' ; Title = 'Prolog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia', HREF = 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolog' ; Title = 'Pro-Log is logistiek dienstverlener m.b.t. vervoer over water.', HREF = 'http://www.pro-log.nl/' ; Title = 'Learn Prolog Now!', HREF = 'http://www.learnprolognow.org/' ; Title = 'Free Online Version - Learn Prolog ...
- http_open(+URL, -Stream, +Options) is det
- Open the data at the HTTP server as a Prolog stream. URL is
either an atom specifying a URL or a list representing a
broken-down URL as specified below. After this predicate
succeeds the data can be read from Stream. After completion this
stream must be closed using the built-in Prolog predicate
close/1. Options provides additional options:
- authenticate(+Boolean)
- If
false
(defaulttrue
), do not try to automatically authenticate the client if a 401 (Unauthorized) status code is received. - authorization(+Term)
- Send authorization. See also http_set_authorization/2. Supported
schemes:
- basic(+User, +Password)
- HTTP Basic authentication.
- bearer(+Token)
- HTTP Bearer authentication.
- digest(+User, +Password)
- HTTP Digest authentication. This option is only provided if the plugin library(http/http_digest) is also loaded.
- unix_socket(+Path)
- Connect to the given Unix domain socket. In this scenario
the host name and port or ignored. If the server replies
with a redirect message and the host differs from the
original host as normal TCP connection is used to handle
the redirect. This option is inspired by
curl(1)
's option `--unix-socket`. - connection(+Connection)
- Specify the
Connection
header. Default isclose
. The alternative isKeep-alive
. This maintains a pool of available connections as determined by keep_connection/1. Thelibrary(http/websockets)
usesKeep-alive, Upgrade
. Keep-alive connections can be closed explicitly using http_close_keep_alive/1. Keep-alive connections may significantly improve repetitive requests on the same server, especially if the IP route is long, HTTPS is used or the connection uses a proxy. - final_url(-FinalURL)
- Unify FinalURL with the final destination. This differs from the original URL if the returned head of the original indicates an HTTP redirect (codes 301, 302 or 303). Without a redirect, FinalURL is the same as URL if URL is an atom, or a URL constructed from the parts.
- header(Name, -AtomValue)
- If provided, AtomValue is unified with the value of the indicated field in the reply header. Name is matched case-insensitive and the underscore (_) matches the hyphen (-). Multiple of these options may be provided to extract multiple header fields. If the header is not available AtomValue is unified to the empty atom ('').
- headers(-List)
- If provided, List is unified with a list of Name(Value) pairs
corresponding to fields in the reply header. Name and Value
follow the same conventions used by the
header(Name,Value)
option. A pseudo headerstatus_code(Code)
is added to provide the HTTP status as an integer. See alsoraw_headers(-List)
which provides the entire HTTP reply header in unparsed representation. - method(+Method)
- One of
get
(default),head
,delete
,post
,put
orpatch
. Thehead
message can be used in combination with theheader(Name, Value)
option to access information on the resource without actually fetching the resource itself. The returned stream must be closed immediately.If
post(Data)
is provided, the default ispost
. - size(-Size)
- Size is unified with the integer value of
Content-Length
in the reply header. - version(-Version)
- Version is a pair
Major-Minor
, where Major and Minor are integers representing the HTTP version in the reply header. - range(+Range)
- Ask for partial content. Range is a term Unit(From,To),
where From is an integer and To is either an integer or
the atom
end
. HTTP 1.1 only supports Unit =bytes
. E.g., to ask for bytes 1000-1999, use the optionrange(bytes(1000,1999))
- raw_encoding(+Encoding)
- Do not install a decoding filter for Encoding. For example,
using
raw_encoding('applocation/gzip')
the system will not decompress the stream if it is compressed usinggzip
. - raw_headers(-Lines)
- Unify Lines with a list of strings that represents the complete
reply header returned by the server. See also
headers(-List)
. - redirect(+Boolean)
- If
false
(defaulttrue
), do not automatically redirect if a 3XX code is received. Must be combined withstatus_code(Code)
and one of the header options to read the redirect reply. In particular, withoutstatus_code(Code)
a redirect is mapped to an exception. - status_code(-Code)
- If this option is present and Code unifies with the HTTP status code, do not translate errors (4xx, 5xx) into an exception. Instead, http_open/3 behaves as if 2xx (success) is returned, providing the application to read the error document from the returned stream.
- output(-Out)
- Unify the output stream with Out and do not close it. This can be used to upgrade a connection.
- timeout(+Timeout)
- If provided, set a timeout on the stream using set_stream/2.
With this option if no new data arrives within Timeout seconds
the stream raises an exception. Default is to wait forever
(
infinite
). - post(+Data)
- Issue a
POST
request on the HTTP server. Data is handed to http_post_data/3. - proxy(+Host:Port)
- Use an HTTP proxy to connect to the outside world. See also proxy_for_url/3. This option overrules the proxy specification defined by proxy_for_url/3.
- proxy(+Host, +Port)
- Synonym for
proxy(+Host:Port)
. Deprecated. - proxy_authorization(+Authorization)
- Send authorization to the proxy. Otherwise the same as the
authorization
option. - bypass_proxy(+Boolean)
- If
true
, bypass proxy hooks. Default isfalse
. - request_header(Name=Value)
- Additional name-value parts are added in the order of appearance to the HTTP request header. No interpretation is done.
- max_redirect(+Max)
- Sets the maximum length of a redirection chain. This is needed
for some IRIs that redirect indefinitely to other IRIs without
looping (e.g., redirecting to IRIs with a random element in them).
Max must be either a non-negative integer or the atom
infinite
. The default value is10
. - user_agent(+Agent)
- Defines the value of the
User-Agent
field of the HTTP header. Default isSWI-Prolog
.
The hook http:open_options/2 can be used to provide default options based on the broken-down URL. The option
status_code(-Code)
is particularly useful to query REST interfaces that commonly return status codes other than200
that need to be be processed by the client code. - map_method(+MethodID, -Method)[multifile]
- Support additional
METHOD
keywords. Default are the official HTTP methods as defined by the various RFCs. - http:disable_encoding_filter(+ContentType) is semidet[multifile]
- Do not use the
Content-encoding
asTransfer-encoding
encoding for specific values of ContentType. This predicate is multifile and can thus be extended by the user. - http_set_authorization(+URL, +Authorization) is det
- Set user/password to supply with URLs that have URL as prefix.
If Authorization is the atom
-
, possibly defined authorization is cleared. For example:?- http_set_authorization('http://www.example.com/private/', basic('John', 'Secret'))
- iostream:open_hook(+Spec, +Mode, -Stream, -Close, +Options0, -Options) is semidet[multifile]
- Hook implementation that makes open_any/5 support
http
andhttps
URLs forMode == read
. - http_close_keep_alive(+Address) is det
- Close all keep-alive connections matching Address. Address is of
the form Host:Port. In particular,
http_close_keep_alive(_)
closes all currently known keep-alive connections.