# HttpClient class

A client that receives content, such as web pages, from a server using the HTTP protocol.

HttpClient contains a number of methods to send an HttpClientRequest to an Http server and receive an HttpClientResponse back. For example, you can use the get, getUrl, post, and postUrl methods for GET and POST requests, respectively.

## Making a simple GET request: an example

A `getUrl` request is a two-step process, triggered by two Futures. When the first future completes with a HttpClientRequest, the underlying network connection has been established, but no data has been sent. In the callback function for the first future, the HTTP headers and body can be set on the request. Either the first write to the request object or a call to close sends the request to the server.

When the HTTP response is received from the server, the second future, which is returned by close, completes with an HttpClientResponse object. This object provides access to the headers and body of the response. The body is available as a stream implemented by HttpClientResponse. If a body is present, it must be read. Otherwise, it leads to resource leaks. Consider using HttpClientResponse.drain if the body is unused.

    HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
    client.getUrl(Uri.parse("http://www.example.com/"))
        .then((HttpClientRequest request) {
          // Optionally set up headers...
          // Optionally write to the request object...
          // Then call close.
          ...
          return request.close();
        })
        .then((HttpClientResponse response) {
          // Process the response.
          ...
        });

The future for HttpClientRequest is created by methods such as getUrl and open.

## HTTPS connections

An HttpClient can make HTTPS requests, connecting to a server using the TLS (SSL) secure networking protocol. Calling getUrl with an https: scheme will work automatically, if the server's certificate is signed by a root CA (certificate authority) on the default list of well-known trusted CAs, compiled by Mozilla.

To add a custom trusted certificate authority, or to send a client certificate to servers that request one, pass a SecurityContext object as the optional `context` argument to the `HttpClient` constructor. The desired security options can be set on the SecurityContext object.

## Headers

All HttpClient requests set the following header by default:

    Accept-Encoding: gzip

This allows the HTTP server to use gzip compression for the body if possible. If this behavior is not desired set the `Accept-Encoding` header to something else. To turn off gzip compression of the response, clear this header:

     request.headers.removeAll(HttpHeaders.acceptEncodingHeader)

## Closing the HttpClient

The HttpClient supports persistent connections and caches network connections to reuse them for multiple requests whenever possible. This means that network connections can be kept open for some time after a request has completed. Use HttpClient.close to force the HttpClient object to shut down and to close the idle network connections.

## Turning proxies on and off

By default the HttpClient uses the proxy configuration available from the environment, see findProxyFromEnvironment. To turn off the use of proxies set the findProxy property to `null`.

    HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
    client.findProxy = null;

## Constructors

HttpClient({SecurityContext context })
  factory

## Properties

authenticate ← Future<bool> Function(Uri, String, String)
  Sets the function to be called when a site is requesting authentication. The URL requested and the security realm from the server are passed in the arguments `url` and `realm`. [...]
  write-only
authenticateProxy ← Future<bool> Function(String, int, String, String)
  Sets the function to be called when a proxy is requesting authentication. Information on the proxy in use and the security realm for the authentication are passed in the arguments `host`, `port` and `realm`. [...]
  write-only
autoUncompress ↔ bool
  Gets and sets whether the body of a response will be automatically uncompressed. [...]
  read / write
badCertificateCallback ← bool Function(X509Certificate, String, int)
  Sets a callback that will decide whether to accept a secure connection with a server certificate that cannot be authenticated by any of our trusted root certificates. [...]
  write-only
connectionTimeout ↔ Duration
  Gets and sets the connection timeout. [...]
  read / write
findProxy ← String Function(Uri)
  Sets the function used to resolve the proxy server to be used for opening a HTTP connection to the specified `url`. If this function is not set, direct connections will always be used. [...]
  write-only
idleTimeout ↔ Duration
  Gets and sets the idle timeout of non-active persistent (keep-alive) connections. [...]
  read / write
maxConnectionsPerHost ↔ int
  Gets and sets the maximum number of live connections, to a single host. [...]
  read / write
userAgent ↔ String
  Gets and sets the default value of the `User-Agent` header for all requests generated by this `HttpClient`. [...]
  read / write
hashCode → int
  The hash code for this object. [...]
  read-only, inherited
runtimeType → Type
  A representation of the runtime type of the object.
  read-only, inherited

## Methods

addCredentials(Uri url, String realm, HttpClientCredentials credentials) → void
  Add credentials to be used for authorizing HTTP requests.
addProxyCredentials(String host, int port, String realm, HttpClientCredentials credentials) → void
  Add credentials to be used for authorizing HTTP proxies.
close({bool force: false }) → void
  Shuts down the HTTP client. [...]
delete(String host, int port, String path) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the DELETE method. [...]
deleteUrl(Uri url) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the DELETE method. [...]
get(String host, int port, String path) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the GET method. [...]
getUrl(Uri url) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the GET method. [...]
head(String host, int port, String path) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the HEAD method. [...]
headUrl(Uri url) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the HEAD method. [...]
open(String method, String host, int port, String path) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection. [...]
openUrl(String method, Uri url) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection. [...]
patch(String host, int port, String path) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the PATCH method. [...]
patchUrl(Uri url) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the PATCH method. [...]
post(String host, int port, String path) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the POST method. [...]
postUrl(Uri url) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the POST method. [...]
put(String host, int port, String path) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the PUT method. [...]
putUrl(Uri url) → Future<HttpClientRequest>
  Opens a HTTP connection using the PUT method. [...]
noSuchMethod(Invocation invocation) → dynamic
  Invoked when a non-existent method or property is accessed. [...]
  inherited
toString() → String
  Returns a string representation of this object.
  inherited

## Operators

operator ==(dynamic other) → bool
  The equality operator. [...]
  inherited

## Static Methods

findProxyFromEnvironment(Uri url, { Map<String, String> environment }) → String
  Function for resolving the proxy server to be used for a HTTP connection from the proxy configuration specified through environment variables. [...]

## Constants

DEFAULT_HTTP_PORT → const int
  @Deprecated("Use defaultHttpPort instead")
  `defaultHttpPort`
DEFAULT_HTTPS_PORT → const int
  @Deprecated("Use defaultHttpsPort instead")
  `defaultHttpsPort`
defaultHttpPort → const int
  `80`
defaultHttpsPort → const int
  `443`