= sfWebBrowser plugin =
The `sfWebBrowserPlugin` proposes an HTTP client capable of making web requests. The interface is similar to that of `sfTestBrowser`.
=== Possible uses ===
* Querying a Web service
* Monitoring a Website
* Mashup of content from several websites
* Aggregation of RSS feeds
* Proxy to another server
* Cross-domain AJAX interactions
* API to foreign websites
* ...
== Contents ==
This plugin contains four classes: `sfWebBrowser`, `sfFopenAdapter`, `sfCurlAdapter`, and `sfSocketsAdapter`. Unit tests are available in the SVN repository, to be placed in a symfony application's `test/` directory.
== Features ==
The `sfWebBrowser` class makes web requests based on a URI:
{{{
$b = new sfWebBrowser();
$b->get('http://www.example.com/');
$res = $b->getResponseText();
}}}
The usual methods of the `sfTestBrowser` also work there, with the fluid interface.
{{{
// Inline
$b->get('http://www.example.com/')->get('http://www.google.com/')->back()->reload();
// More readable
$b->get('http://www.example.com/')
->get('http://www.google.com/')
->back()
->reload();
}}}
The browser accepts absolute and relative URIs
{{{
$b->get('http://www.example.com/test.html');
$b->get('test.html');
}}}
The `get()` method accepts parameters either as a query string, or as an array.
{{{
$b->get('http://www.example.com/test.php?foo=bar');
$b->get('http://www.example.com/test.php', array('foo', 'bar'));
}}}
POST, PUT and DELETE requests are also supported.
{{{
$b->post('http://www.example.com/test.php', array('foo', 'bar'));
$b->put('http://www.example.com/test.php', array('foo', 'bar'));
$b->delete('http://www.example.com/test.php', array('foo', 'bar'));
}}}
You can access the response in various formats, at your convenience:
{{{
$myString = $b->getResponseText();
$myString = $b->getResponseBody(); // drop the <head> part
$myDomDocument = $b->getResponseDom();
$myDomCssSelector = $b->getResponseDomCssSelector();
$mySimpleXml = $b->getResponseXml();
}}}
You can also interact with the response with the `setFields()` and `click()` methods.
{{{
$b->get('http://www.example.com/login')
->setField('user', 'foobar')
->setField('password', 'barbaz')
->click('submit');
}}}
The browser supports HTTP and HTTPS requests, proxies, redirects, and timeouts.
Gzip and deflate content-encoded response bodies are also supported, provided that you have the [http://php.net/zlib zlib extention] enabled.
== Adapters ==
The browser can use various adapters to perform the requests:
* `sfFopenAdapter` (default): Uses [http://php.net/fopen `fopen()`] to fetch pages. `fopen()` can take an URL as a parameter provided that PHP is compiled with sockets support, and `allow_url_fopen` is defined to `true` in `php.ini`. This is the case in most PHP distributions, so the default adapter should work in almost every platform. On the other hand, the compatibility has a cost: this adapter is slow.
* `sfCurlAdapter`: Uses [http://php.net/curl Curl] to fetch pages. This adapter is a lot faster than `sfFopenAdapter`, however PHP must be compiled with the `with-curl` option, and the `curl` extension must be enabled in `php.ini` (which is rarely the case by default) for it to work.
* `sfSocketsAdapter`: Uses [http://php.net/fsockopen `fsockopen()`] to fetch pages.
You can specify an adapter when you create a new browser object, as follows:
{{{
// use default adapter, i.e. sfFopenAdapter
$b = new sfWebBrowser(array());
// use sfCurlAdapter
$b = new sfWebBrowser(array(), 'sfCurlAdapter');
}}}
== Usage ==
`sfWebBrowser` distiguishes to types of error: adapter errors and response errors. Thus, `sfWebBrowser` calls should be run this way :
{{{
$b = new sfWebBrowser();
try
{
if (!$b->get($url)->responseIsError())
{
// Successful response (eg. 200, 201, etc)
}
else
{
// Error response (eg. 404, 500, etc)
}
}
catch (Exception $e)
{
// Adapter error (eg. Host not found)
}
}}}
Besides, you should always remember that the response contents may contain incorrect code. Consider it as 'tainted', and therefore always use the [http://www.symfony-project.com/book/trunk/07-Inside-the-View-Layer#Output%20Escaping escaping] when outputting it to a template.
{{{
// In the action
$this->title = (string) $b->getResponseXml()->body->h1
// In the template
<?php echo $title // dangerous ?>
<?php echo $sf_data->get('title') // correct ?>
}}}
== Installation ==
* Install the plugin
{{{
$ symfony plugin-install http://plugins.symfony-project.com/sfWebBrowserPlugin
}}}
* Clear the cache to enable the autoloading to find the new class
{{{
$ symfony cc
}}}
== Known limitations ==
If `allow_url_fopen` is not defined to `true` and if the curl extension cannot be activated in the `php.ini` file, the browser can't fetch pages. Workaround (todo): use a sockets adapter.
Cookies are not handled yet.
Caching is not supported yet.
== Changelog ==
=== trunk ===
=== 2007-03-27 | 1.0.1 stable ===
* bmeynell: Fixed a bug with `sfCurlAdapter` causing 'Bad Request' error responses
* francois: Fixed a bug with `get()` when `arg_separator.output` is not set to '&' in `php.ini` (patch from river.bright)
* francois: Fixed a bug with `get()` when query string is already present in the url (based on a patch from Jeff Merlet)
* francois: Fixed auto-adapter decision in `sfWebBrowser::__construct()`
=== 2007-03-08 | 1.0.0 stable ===
* francois: Added auto-adapter decision in `sfWebBrowser::__construct()`
* francois: Changed tested URLs a bit to avoid redirection issues with google
* bmeynell: Added `sfSocketsAdapter`
* bmeynell: `sfCurlAdapter`: more detailed error messages & leaner request setup
=== 2007-02-22 | 0.9.6 Beta ===
* bmeynell, tristan: Allowed for requests with any method in `sfCurlAdapter`
* tristan: Added `sfWebBrowser::responseIsError()`
* tristan: Added `sfWebBrowser::getResponseMessage()`
* tristan: Refactored error management in `sfFopenAdapter`
=== 2007-02-21 | 0.9.5 Beta ===
* bmeynell: Fixed bug with relative uri's attempting to use a port other than 80 (sfWebBrowser, 132 - 146)
* bmeynell: Fixed small bug not printing hostname on exception (sfFopenAdapter, 61-62)
* bmeynell: Created sfCurlAdapter and passes all unit tests
* bmeynell: Removed '$changeStack = true' from call() prototype in sfCurlAdapter, sfFopenAdapter, and moved changestack check to sfWebBrowser
* bmeynell: Added $askeet_url to sfWebBrowserTest
* bmeynell: Added easy toggling between adapters in sfWebBrowserTest
* tristan: Added put() and delete() public methods
* tristan: Added unit tests to validate request HTTP method
=== 2007-02-16 | 0.9.4 Beta ===
* francois: Refactored the browser to make it multi-adapter
* francois: '''BC break''' constructor signature changed : `new sfWebBrowser(array $headers, string $adapter_class, array $adapter_options)`
* francois: Fixed notice when trying to retrieve inexistent header
* francois: Fixed header case normalization
* francois: Transformed setResponseXXX() methods to public
* francois: Fixed caps in `initializeRequestHeaders()`
* francois: Fixed unit test #40
=== 2007-02-16 | 0.9.3 Beta ===
* tristan: Added support for gzip and deflate.
* tristan: Possibility to pass default request headers to sfWebBrowser's constructor
* tristan: "Accept-Encoding" header is automatically set depending on PHP capabilities
* tristan: Fixed problems with request and response headers case
* tristan: Renamed "browser options" to "adapter options" (http://www.symfony-project.com/forum/index.php/m/21635/)
* tristan: '''BC break''' constructor signature changed : `new sfWebBrowser(array $headers, array $adapter_options)`
* tristan: Unit tested POST requests
* tristan: Changed way httpd headers are stored internally
* tristan: Fixed small bug in `getResponseBody()`
* francois: Fixed unit test for malformed headers
=== 2007-02-09 | 0.9.2 Beta ===
* francois: Fixed notice with `getResponseXML()`
=== 2007-02-08 | 0.9.1 Beta ===
* francois: Fixed notice with some headers
* francois: Added license and copyright
=== 2007-02-08 | 0.9.0 Beta ===
* francois: Initial release
