path: root/docs/en/gun/2.1/guide/http.asciidoc

[[http]]
== HTTP

This chapter describes how to use the Gun client for
communicating with an HTTP/1.1 or HTTP/2 server.

=== Streams

Every time a request is initiated,  Gun creates a _stream_.
A _stream reference_ uniquely identifies a set of request and
response and must be used to perform additional operations
with a stream or to identify its messages.

Stream references use the Erlang _reference_ data type and
are therefore unique.

Streams can be canceled at any time. This will stop any further
messages from being sent to the calling process. Depending on
its capabilities, the server will also be instructed to cancel
the request.

Canceling a stream may result in Gun dropping the connection
temporarily, to avoid uploading or downloading data that will
not be used.

.Cancelling a stream
[source,erlang]
----
gun:cancel(ConnPid, StreamRef).
----

=== Sending requests

Gun provides many convenient functions for performing common
operations, like GET, POST or DELETE. It also provides a
general purpose function in case you need other methods.

The availability of these methods on the server can vary
depending on the software used but also on a per-resource
basis.

Gun will automatically set a few headers depending on the
method used. For all methods however it will set the host
header if it has not been provided in the request arguments.

This section focuses on the act of sending a request. The
handling of responses will be explained further on.

==== GET and HEAD

Use `gun:get/2,3,4` to request a resource.

.GET "/organizations/ninenines"
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:get(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines").
----

.GET "/organizations/ninenines" with custom headers
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:get(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines", [
    {<<"accept">>, "application/json"},
    {<<"user-agent">>, "revolver/1.0"}
]).
----

Note that the list of headers has the field name as a binary.
The field value is iodata, which is either a binary or an
iolist.

Use `gun:head/2,3,4` if you don't need the response body.

.HEAD "/organizations/ninenines"
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:head(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines").
----

.HEAD "/organizations/ninenines" with custom headers
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:head(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines", [
    {<<"accept">>, "application/json"},
    {<<"user-agent">>, "revolver/1.0"}
]).
----

It is not possible to send a request body with a GET or HEAD
request.

==== POST, PUT and PATCH

HTTP defines three methods to create or update a resource.

POST is generally used when the resource identifier (URI) isn't known
in advance when creating a resource. POST can also be used to
replace an existing resource, although PUT is more appropriate
in that situation.

PUT creates or replaces a resource identified by the URI.

PATCH provides instructions on how to modify the resource.

Both POST and PUT send the entire resource representation in their
request body. The PATCH method can be used when this is not
desirable. The request body of a PATCH method may be a partial
representation or a list of instructions on how to update the
resource.

The functions `gun:post/4,5`, `gun:put/4,5` and `gun:patch/4,5`
take a body as their fourth argument. These functions do
not require any body-specific header to be set, although
it is always recommended to set the content-type header.
Gun will set the other headers automatically.

In this and the following examples in this section, `gun:post`
can be replaced by `gun:put` or `gun:patch` for performing
a PUT or PATCH request, respectively.

.POST "/organizations/ninenines"
[source,erlang]
----
Body = "{\"msg\": \"Hello world!\"}",
StreamRef = gun:post(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines", [
    {<<"content-type">>, "application/json"}
], Body).
----

The functions `gun:post/3,4`, `gun:put/3,4` and `gun:patch/3,4`
do not take a body in their arguments: the body must be
provided later on using the `gun:data/4` function.

It is recommended to send the content-length header if you
know it in advance, although this is not required. If it
is not set, HTTP/1.1 will use the chunked transfer-encoding,
and HTTP/2 will continue normally as it is chunked by design.

.POST "/organizations/ninenines" with delayed body
[source,erlang]
----
Body = "{\"msg\": \"Hello world!\"}",
StreamRef = gun:post(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines", [
    {<<"content-length">>, integer_to_binary(length(Body))},
    {<<"content-type">>, "application/json"}
]),
gun:data(ConnPid, StreamRef, fin, Body).
----

The atom `fin` indicates this is the last chunk of data to
be sent. You can call the `gun:data/4` function as many
times as needed until you have sent the entire body. The
last call must use `fin` and all the previous calls must
use `nofin`. The last chunk may be empty.

.Streaming the request body
[source,erlang]
----
sendfile(ConnPid, StreamRef, Filepath) ->
    {ok, IoDevice} = file:open(Filepath, [read, binary, raw]),
    do_sendfile(ConnPid, StreamRef, IoDevice).

do_sendfile(ConnPid, StreamRef, IoDevice) ->
    case file:read(IoDevice, 8000) of
        eof ->
            gun:data(ConnPid, StreamRef, fin, <<>>),
            file:close(IoDevice);
        {ok, Bin} ->
            gun:data(ConnPid, StreamRef, nofin, Bin),
            do_sendfile(ConnPid, StreamRef, IoDevice)
    end.
----

==== DELETE

Use `gun:delete/2,3,4` to delete a resource.

.DELETE "/organizations/ninenines"
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:delete(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines").
----

.DELETE "/organizations/ninenines" with custom headers
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:delete(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines", [
    {<<"user-agent">>, "revolver/1.0"}
]).
----

==== OPTIONS

Use `gun:options/2,3` to request information about a resource.

.OPTIONS "/organizations/ninenines"
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:options(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines").
----

.OPTIONS "/organizations/ninenines" with custom headers
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:options(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines", [
    {<<"user-agent">>, "revolver/1.0"}
]).
----

You can also use this function to request information about
the server itself.

.OPTIONS "*"
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:options(ConnPid, "*").
----

==== Requests with an arbitrary method

The functions `gun:headers/4,5` or `gun:request/5,6` can be
used to send requests with a configurable method name. It is
mostly useful when you need a method that Gun does not
understand natively.

.Example of a TRACE request
[source,erlang]
----
gun:request(ConnPid, "TRACE", "/", [
    {<<"max-forwards">>, "30"}
], <<>>).
----

=== Processing responses

All data received from the server is sent to the calling
process as a message. First a `gun_response` message is sent,
followed by zero or more `gun_data` messages. If something goes wrong,
a `gun_error` message is sent instead.

The response message will inform you whether there will be
data messages following. If it contains `fin` there will be
no data messages. If it contains `nofin` then one or more data
messages will follow.

When using HTTP/2 this value is sent with the frame and simply
passed on in the message. When using HTTP/1.1 however Gun must
guess whether data will follow by looking at the response headers.

You can receive messages directly, or you can use the _await_
functions to let Gun receive them for you.

.Receiving a response using receive
[source,erlang]
----
print_body(ConnPid, MRef) ->
    StreamRef = gun:get(ConnPid, "/"),
    receive
        {gun_response, ConnPid, StreamRef, fin, Status, Headers} ->
            no_data;
        {gun_response, ConnPid, StreamRef, nofin, Status, Headers} ->
            receive_data(ConnPid, MRef, StreamRef);
        {'DOWN', MRef, process, ConnPid, Reason} ->
            error_logger:error_msg("Oops!"),
            exit(Reason)
    after 1000 ->
        exit(timeout)
    end.

receive_data(ConnPid, MRef, StreamRef) ->
    receive
        {gun_data, ConnPid, StreamRef, nofin, Data} ->
            io:format("~s~n", [Data]),
            receive_data(ConnPid, MRef, StreamRef);
        {gun_data, ConnPid, StreamRef, fin, Data} ->
            io:format("~s~n", [Data]);
        {'DOWN', MRef, process, ConnPid, Reason} ->
            error_logger:error_msg("Oops!"),
            exit(Reason)
    after 1000 ->
        exit(timeout)
    end.
----

While it may seem verbose, using messages like this has the
advantage of never locking your process, allowing you to
easily debug your code. It also allows you to start more than
one connection and concurrently perform queries on all of them
at the same time.

You can also use Gun in a synchronous manner by using the _await_
functions.

The `gun:await/2,3,4` function will wait until it receives
a response to, a pushed resource related to, or data from
the given stream.

When calling `gun:await/2,3` and not passing a monitor
reference, one is automatically created for you for the
duration of the call.

The `gun:await_body/2,3,4` works similarly, but returns the
body received. Both functions can be combined to receive the
response and its body sequentially.

.Receiving a response using await
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:get(ConnPid, "/"),
case gun:await(ConnPid, StreamRef) of
    {response, fin, Status, Headers} ->
        no_data;
    {response, nofin, Status, Headers} ->
        {ok, Body} = gun:await_body(ConnPid, StreamRef),
        io:format("~s~n", [Body])
end.
----

=== Handling streams pushed by the server

The HTTP/2 protocol allows the server to push more than one
resource for every request. It will start sending those
extra resources before it starts sending the response itself,
so Gun will send you `gun_push` messages before `gun_response`
when that happens.

You can safely choose to ignore `gun_push` messages, or
you can handle them. If you do, you can either receive the
messages directly or use _await_ functions.

The `gun_push` message contains both the new stream reference
and the stream reference of the original request.

.Receiving a pushed response using receive
[source,erlang]
----
receive
    {gun_push, ConnPid, OriginalStreamRef, PushedStreamRef,
            Method, Host, Path, Headers} ->
        enjoy()
end.
----

If you use the `gun:await/2,3,4` function, however, Gun
will use the original reference to identify the message but
will return a tuple that doesn't contain it.

.Receiving a pushed response using await
[source,erlang]
----
{push, PushedStreamRef, Method, URI, Headers}
    = gun:await(ConnPid, OriginalStreamRef).
----

The `PushedStreamRef` variable can then be used with `gun:await/2,3,4`
and `gun:await_body/2,3,4`.

=== Flushing unwanted messages

Gun provides the function `gun:flush/1` to quickly get rid
of unwanted messages sitting in the process mailbox. You
can use it to get rid of all messages related to a connection,
or just the messages related to a stream.

.Flush all messages from a Gun connection
[source,erlang]
----
gun:flush(ConnPid).
----

.Flush all messages from a specific stream
[source,erlang]
----
gun:flush(StreamRef).
----

=== Redirecting responses to a different process

Gun allows you to specify which process will handle responses
to a request via the `reply_to` request option.

.GET "/organizations/ninenines" to a different process
[source,erlang]
----
StreamRef = gun:get(ConnPid, "/organizations/ninenines", [],
    #{reply_to => Pid}).
----