[cpp-netlib-devel] Comments about the HTTP client interface

[Glyn M. <gly...@gm...>]

Hello,


I have some questions about the way HTTP requests are made using the current
interface, specifically this (taken from the http_1_0_test.cpp):

    using namespace boost::network;
    http::request request("http://www.boost.org/");
    http::client client_;
    http::response response_;
    response_ = client_.get(request);


What exactly is the role of the client here?  I'm a little confused by the
syntax because it reads as though you're trying to make a get request to an
HTTP client.  Would it perhaps be better to rename http::client to
http::connection?

Secondly, why is the domain passed as an argument to the http::request
constructor?  To me, this doesn't feel like the right unit of encapsulation.

Does the following example code make more sense?

    using namespace boost::network;
    http::connection c("http://www.boost.org");
    http::request request1("/users/news/version_1_36_0");
    http::response response1 = c.get(request);
    http::request request2("/cgi-bin/path");
    request2 << body("post_body");
    http::response response2 = c.post(request2);

Two observations about this:
The current implementation creates a new socket for each request that is
made, whereas the above suggestion allows a socket to remain open for
multiple requests.  Additionally, the URI processing is currently done
inside the request constructor.  I think it would be better to re-factor
this into a separate package.

Any thoughts?

Glyn