Http Client Factory

This library is aimed at improving the development experience for REST-like calls in NodeJS. It builds off the Node http library. It's inspired by the System.Net.Http.HttpClientFactory library in .NET.

Basic Usage

var HttpClientFactory = require("http-client-factory")
 
//Issues a GET request to http://www.tempuri.org/my/endpoint?some=value&search=text
var promise = HttpClientFactory.getClient()
    .get("http://www.tempuri.org/my/endpoint", { some: "value", search: "text"})
  
promise.then(function (response) {
    //Do something with the response
})
.catch(function (error) {
    //Do something with the error
})

API

HttpClientFactory

• .getClient(AgentOptions)
• Returns HttpClient
• AgentOptions is from http library
• If AgentOptions is null, default settings are used (recommended)

HttpClient

• .addHeader(headerKey, headerValue)
• Adds a header to the request with the given key and value
• .setAuthorization(scheme, parameter)
• Sets the Authorization header to scheme parameter
• Returns HttpClient
• .setBasicAuth(username, password)
• Sets the Authorization header to use basic authentication with the given credentials
• Returns HttpClient
• .addHandler(HttpClientHandler)
• Adds an HttpClientHandler to run on requests and responses
• Request handlers are run in the order they're added. The first handler added will run first
• Response handlers are run in the reverse order. The last handler added will run first
• Returns HttpClient
• .get(url, RequestBody)
• Returns Promise
• .post(url, RequestBody)
• Returns Promise
• .put(url, RequestBody)
• Returns Promise
• .delete(url, RequestBody)
• Returns Promise
• .send(HttpRequest, RequestBody)
• Sends a raw request
• Returns Promise

HttpClientHandler

• onRequest: function (HttpRequest, body)
• Reads or modifies request and/or body as needed
• Leave undefined if not needed
• onResponse: function (HttpResponse)
• Reads or modifies response if needed
• Leave undefined if not needed

RequestBody

• Normal JSON object
• For .get(), .delete(), .head(), and .options() requests, this will be converted into query string parameters
• For .put(), .post(), and .patch() requests, this will be sent as JSON content

Reading the Response

The response is a typical HTTP response as defined by the http library, with the addition of a body property which contains the response content (in string form).

Handlers

Setting authorization headers

var handler = {
    onRequest: function (req) {
        req.headers.authorization = "sampleAuthScheme authValue";
    }   
}
 
//Issues a POST request to the URL 
//with the authorization header set to "sampleAuthScheme authValue"
//and a JSON payload  of { "postdata": "goes here" }
HttpClientFactory.getClient()
    .addHandler(handler)
    .post("http://www.tempuri.org/my/endpoint", { postdata: "goes here" })

As of v0.2.0, this can be accomplished by calling client.setAuthorization("sampleAuthScheme", "authValue")

Logging request/response data

var traceLogHandler = {
    onRequest: function (req, body) {
        var logger = require("myTraceLogger")
        logger.logRequest(req.href, req.headers, body)
    },
    onResponse: function (response) {
        var logger = require("myTraceLogger")
        logger.logResponse(response.headers, response.body)
    } 
}
 
//Logs both request and response data to myTraceLogger
HttpClientFactory.getClient()
    .addHandler(traceLogHandler)
    .post("http://www.tempuri.org/my/endpoint", { postdata: "goes here" })

Promises

httpClientFactory uses the bluebird library for promises