(C) Dan Webb (dan@danwebb.net/@danwrong) 2011, Licensed under the MIT-LICENSE
An HTTP client library for node.js. Hides most of the complexity of creating and using http.Client.
See Version History for changes
npm install restler
npm test
Basic method to make a request of any type. The function returns a RestRequest object that emits events:
complete: function(result, response)
- emitted when the request has finished whether it was successful or not. Gets passed the response result and the response object as arguments. If some error has occurred, result
is always instance of Error
, otherwise it contains response data.success: function(data, response)
- emitted when the request was successful. Gets passed the response data and the response object as arguments.fail: function(data, response)
- emitted when the request was successful, but 4XX or 5XX status code returned. Gets passed the response data and the response object as arguments.error: function(err, response)
- emitted when some errors have occurred (eg. connection aborted, parse, encoding, decoding failed or some other unhandled errors). Gets passed the Error
object and the response object (when available) as arguments.abort: function()
- emitted when request.abort()
is called.timeout: function(ms)
- when a request takes more than the timeout option eg: {timeout:5000}, the request will be aborted. error and abort events will not be called, instead timeout will be emitted.2XX
, 3XX
, 4XX
, 5XX: function(data, response)
- emitted for all requests with response codes in the range (eg. 2XX
emitted for 200, 201, 203).actual response code: function(data, response)
- emitted for every single response code (eg. 404, 201, etc).abort([error])
Cancels request. abort
event is emitted. request.aborted
is set to true
. If non-falsy error
is passed, then error
will be additionally emitted (with error
passed as a param and error.type
is set to "abort"
). Otherwise only complete
event will raise.retry([timeout])
Re-sends request after timeout
ms. Pending request is aborted.aborted
Determines if request was aborted.Create a GET request.
Create a POST request.
Create a PUT request.
Create a DELETE request.
Create a HEAD request.
Create a PATCH request.
Send json data
via GET method.
Send json data
via POST method.
Send json data
via PUT method.
Send json data
via PATCH method.
You can give any of these to the parsers option to specify how the response data is deserialized.
In case of malformed content, parsers emit error
event. Original data returned by server is stored in response.raw
.
Checks the content-type and then uses parsers.xml, parsers.json or parsers.yaml. If the content type isn't recognised it just returns the data untouched.
All of these attempt to turn the response into a JavaScript object. In order to use the YAML and XML parsers you must have yaml and/or xml2js installed.
method
Request method, can be get, post, put, delete. Defaults to "get"
.query
Query string variables as a javascript object, will override the querystring in the URL. Defaults to empty.data
The data to be added to the body of the request. Can be a string or any object.
Note that if you want your request body to be JSON with the Content-Type: application/json
, you need to
JSON.stringify
your object first. Otherwise, it will be sent as application/x-www-form-urlencoded
and encoded accordingly.
Also you can use json()
and postJson()
methods.parser
A function that will be called on the returned data. Use any of predefined restler.parsers
. See parsers section below. Defaults to restler.parsers.auto
.xml2js
Options for xml2jsencoding
The encoding of the request body. Defaults to "utf8"
.decoding
The encoding of the response body. For a list of supported values see Buffers. Additionally accepts "buffer"
- returns response as Buffer
. Defaults to "utf8"
.headers
A hash of HTTP headers to be sent. Defaults to { 'Accept': '*/*', 'User-Agent': 'Restler for node.js' }
.username
Basic auth username. Defaults to empty.password
Basic auth password. Defaults to empty.accessToken
OAuth Bearer Token. Defaults to empty.multipart
If set the data passed will be formatted as multipart/form-encoded
. See multipart example below. Defaults to false
.client
A http.Client instance if you want to reuse or implement some kind of connection pooling. Defaults to empty.followRedirects
If set will recursively follow redirects. Defaults to true
.timeout
If set, will emit the timeout event when the response does not return within the said value (in ms)rejectUnauthorized
If true, the server certificate is verified against the list of supplied CAs. An 'error' event is emitted if verification fails. Verification happens at the connection level, before the HTTP request is sent. Default true.agent
HTTP Agent instance to use. If not defined globalAgent will be used. If false opts out of connection pooling with an Agent, defaults request to Connection: close.var rest = require('./restler');
rest.get('http://google.com').on('complete', function(result) {
if (result instanceof Error) {
console.log('Error:', result.message);
this.retry(5000); // try again after 5 sec
} else {
console.log(result);
}
});
rest.get('http://twaud.io/api/v1/users/danwrong.json').on('complete', function(data) {
console.log(data[0].message); // auto convert to object
});
rest.get('http://twaud.io/api/v1/users/danwrong.xml').on('complete', function(data) {
console.log(data[0].sounds[0].sound[0].message); // auto convert to object
});
rest.get('http://someslowdomain.com',{timeout: 10000}).on('timeout', function(ms){
console.log('did not return within '+ms+' ms');
}).on('complete',function(data,response){
console.log('did not time out');
});
rest.post('http://user:pass@service.com/action', {
data: { id: 334 },
}).on('complete', function(data, response) {
if (response.statusCode == 201) {
// you can get at the raw response like this...
}
});
// multipart request sending a 321567 byte long file using https
rest.post('https://twaud.io/api/v1/upload.json', {
multipart: true,
username: 'danwrong',
password: 'wouldntyouliketoknow',
data: {
'sound[message]': 'hello from restler!',
'sound[file]': rest.file('doug-e-fresh_the-show.mp3', null, 321567, null, 'audio/mpeg')
}
}).on('complete', function(data) {
console.log(data.audio_url);
});
// create a service constructor for very easy API wrappers a la HTTParty...
Twitter = rest.service(function(u, p) {
this.defaults.username = u;
this.defaults.password = p;
}, {
baseURL: 'http://twitter.com'
}, {
update: function(message) {
return this.post('/statuses/update.json', { data: { status: message } });
}
});
var client = new Twitter('danwrong', 'password');
client.update('Tweeting using a Restler service thingy').on('complete', function(data) {
console.log(data);
});
// post JSON
var jsonData = { id: 334 };
rest.postJson('http://example.com/action', jsonData).on('complete', function(data, response) {
// handle response
});
// put JSON
var jsonData = { id: 334 };
rest.putJson('http://example.com/action', jsonData).on('complete', function(data, response) {
// handle response
});