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HTTP on Soletta flows

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Bruno Dilly edited this page Mar 29, 2016 · 8 revisions

These nodes implement the client and server side of the protocols HTTP and HTTPS. It allows one to make any kind of request, i. e. set custom headers, data, method and so on. Also, it's possible to serve the basic types such as booleans, strings, integers and floats. Also there is node to deal with OAuth authentication process.

Soletta has plenty of utility nodes dealing with HTTP in both sides, client and server:

HTTP Client

All the client nodes have in common two options, url (optionally it can be set using an input port) and machine_id that is an unique identifier of the device.

Basic types

The basic type client nodes are meant to interface with their respective server counterparts only. Each of them is capable of either GETing or POSTing the respective types they treat. Naturally, the get method will produce output on their OUT ports with the value coming from the respective server node. We have four types of basic type client nodes:

  • http-client/int
  • http-client/float
  • http-client/boolean
  • http-client/string

It makes a request, both methods GET and POST are possible, for an url and parse the response to its type. These nodes were designed to be used with the http-server basic types http-server.

server(http-server/int:path=/irange)
keyboard(keyboard/int) OUT -> POST irange(http-client/int:url="http://127.0.0.1:8080/irange")
keyboard2(keyboard/boolean:binary_code=98,toggle=true) -> GET drange(http-client/float:url="http://127.0.0.1:8080/drange")
irange OUT -> IN console(console)
drange OUT -> IN console

The following example:

_(constant/int:value=1) OUT -> POST irange(http-client/int:url="http://127.0.0.1:8080/irange")

can easily be mapped to curl:

curl --data="value=1" http://127.0.0.1:8080/irange

Generic

This category of client nodes makes it possible to do generic GET requests without try to parse the response's contents. Using these nodes the one will be able to enforce the content-type and with the properly node get the converted output.

  • http-client/get-string
  • http-client/get-blob
  • http-client/get-json

If one wants to get the entire contents of a web page, the http-client/get-string does the job:

get_string(http-client/get-string:url="http://www.google.com") OUT -> IN StringResponse(console)

but if the idea is to transfer binary data, then one can use http-client/get-blob

BlobPath(app/argv:index=1)
_(constant/string:value="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solettaproject/soletta/master/doc/node-types-html/images/button_back.png") OUT -> URL get_blob(http-client/get-blob)
get_blob OUT -> IN Writer(file/writer:permissions=777)
BlobPath OUT -> PATH Writer
_(constant/empty) OUT -> GET get_blob

Finally, if it's more convenient to have output as json, the http-client/get-json should be used. The response of this node is deliveried as a json-object or as json-array.

Complex

Now, if more granularity and power are necessary, http-client/request node and its helpers certainly should be used. With this family of nodes, one will be able to set all aspects from a request, and get/split all properties of a response such as, timeout, method, query parameters, content type, user/password, cookies, and so on. This family of low level HTTP requests is made up by the following nodes:

  • http-client/request
  • http-client/get-url
  • http-client/get-response-code
  • http-client/get-content-type
  • http-client/get-content
  • http-client/get-headers
  • http-client/get-cookies

Here's an example of their usage:

HttpHead(http-client/request:url="https://github.com/solettaproject/soletta", method="HEAD") ERROR -> IN Error(console)

Start(constant/empty) OUT -> TRIGGER HttpHead

HttpHead OUT -> IN HTTP_Packet(console)

HttpHead OUT -> IN _(http-client/get-response-code) OUT -> IN ResponseCode(console)
HttpHead OUT -> IN _(http-client/get-content-type) OUT -> IN ContentType(console)
HttpHead OUT -> IN _(http-client/get-url) OUT -> IN Url(console)
HttpHead OUT -> IN _(http-client/get-content) OUT -> IN Content(console)
HttpHead OUT -> IN _(http-client/get-headers:key="Date") OUT -> IN HeaderDate(console)
HttpHead OUT -> IN _(http-client/get-cookies:key="A cookie") OUT -> IN SetCookie(console)

HTTP Server

The server node family allows one to serve Soletta's basic types to the counterpart client nodes. The most common use of these simple, direct nodes would be serve the states of sensors via HTTP. Their values/states can naturally be changed by packets in the IN port or through a POST. There's also a node to serve static files.

All nodes bind to all host's interfaces in the port specified in the options. If no port is given the node uses the default port set on build. The server nodes are the following:

  • http-server/int
  • http-server/string
  • http-server/boolean
  • http-server/float
  • http-server/static

The following example shows how to expose a resource, like a led, using a HTTP server. In this example the led can be controlled through a button or HTTP. In order to make the sample simpler, the GTK led node is used, instead of a real GPIO one.

switch(gtk/toggle) OUT -> IN boolean(http-server/boolean:path=/boolean,value=false)
constant(constant/boolean:value=false) OUT -> IN led(gtk/led:rgb=255|0|0)
boolean OUT -> IN led

To get the led state is easy using a HTTP request curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/boolean, where 127.0.0.1 must be replaced with the machine's ip in case of a request from other host.

Now, if one wants to serve static files, like any ordinary HTTP server, the http-server/static should be used. In this node one must give the directory where the static files are (path parameter) and the namespace where this files will be accessible from (namespace parameter). Also it's possible to set if the files will be served as soon as the node is instantiated or not. One can stop to serve the files at anytime just sending a packet in the ENABLED port.

# Reads key 'a' (code 97) from keyboard (stdin) to enable/disable.

keyboard(keyboard/boolean:binary_code=97,toggle=true) OUT -> ENABLED static(http-server/static:path="/tmp/www/",namespace="/static",start=false)

OAuth

The OAuth node simplifies the oauth authentication process. It makes easy for one to get the access tokens from web services that uses this kind of authentication.

  • oauth/v1

The following example can be used to authenticate one on twitter:

oauth(oauth/v1:request_token_url="https://api.twitter.com/oauth/request_token",consumer_key="<consumer_token>",namespace="/twitter",consumer_key_secret="<consumer_private>",authorize_token_url="https://api.twitter.com/oauth/authorize",access_token_url="https://api.twitter.com/oauth/access_token")
oauth TOKEN -> IN console(console)

just replacing consumer_key and consumer_key_secret with the proper twitter application values. In the example above, one should access the link http://the_host_ip_here:8080/twitter/oauth_start to start the authentication process. Then one will be redirected to twitter(http://twitter.com) to authorize the application and at the end of the process the tokens will be sent to the TOKEN port.

The authentication will always start at http://<the_host_ip_here>:8080/<namespace>/oauth_start, where <namespace> is given in the namespace option.

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