Release Name: 0.1.1

Notes:
SimpleHttp - a simplified wrapper around Net::Http

SimpleHttp aims to reduce the complexity of Net::Http while providing the most commonly used (by me) http functionality.

INSTALLATION

    * Using gem

            gem install simple_http

    * Using +setup.rb+

            ruby setup.rb config
            ruby setup.rb install

    * tarball and zip packages are available from RubyForge

FEATURES / USAGE

    * Require the lib:

            require 'simple_http'

    * No fuss one line GET and POST requests:

            str = SimpleHttp.get "http://www.example.com"
            str = SimpleHttp.get "www.example.com"

    * Can use URI or String url interchangibly

            str = SimpleHttp.get URI.parse "http://www.example.com/"

    * Transparent Proxy Handling. Uses the ‘http_proxy’ environment variable if set, also provides a set_proxy method.

            http = SimpleHttp.new "http://www.example.com"
            http.set_proxy "http://proxy.example.com:8000"
            http.post "query" => "example_query"

    * POST sends ruby Hashes as ‘application/x-www-form/urlencoded’ per default, but can send any data.

            http = SimpleHttp.new "http://www.example.com/image_upload"
            http.post imageData, "img/png"

    * Automatically handles SSL

            str = SimpleHttp.get "https://secure.example.com"

    * Easy HTTP Basic Authentication

            str = SimpleHttp.get URI.parse("http://usr:pwd@www.example.com")
            #or
            http = SimpleHttp.new "http://www.example.com"
            http.basic_authentication "user", "password"
            http.post "query" => "example_query"

    * Access headers of the request or response

            http = SimpleHttp.new "www.example.com"
            http.request_headers["X-Custom-Header"]="useful header"
            http.get
            puts "server set cookie: #{http.response_headers['set-cookie']}"

    * Automatically follows Http Redirects.

The get and post methods return a String containing the body of the request if the request was successful (HTTP 200). In case of a redirect, the redirect is followed and the ultimate response is returned. Per Default, up to three redirects are followed, this behaviour can be modified by setting follow_num_redirects.

In case of any other type of response, an exception is raised.

The default behaviour can be modified by registering handlers using the register_response_handler method. E.g. if you‘d like to retrieve the Date header instead of the body for successful transactions:

        http = SimpleHttp.new ...
        http.register_response_handler(Net::HTTPSuccess) {|req,res,http|
                res['date']
        }

Or you‘d like to print the Location and then raise an exception in case of a redirect:

        http = SimpleHttp.new ...
        http.register_response_handler(Net::HTTPRedirect) {|req,res,http|
                puts res['location']
                raise "REDIRECT not allowed!"
        }




Changes:
Fri Feb 9 12:23:20 CET 2007

    * easier access to response headers
    * pass through headers during redirects
    * more tests and documentation
    * included `setup.rb`