httparty

Makes http fun again!

Table of contents

• Parsing JSON
• Working with SSL

Parsing JSON

If the response Content Type is application/json, HTTParty will parse the response and return Ruby objects such as a hash or array. The default behavior for parsing JSON will return keys as strings. This can be supressed with the format option. To get hash keys as symbols:

response = HTTParty.get('http://example.com', format: :plain)
JSON.parse response, symbolize_names: true

Posting JSON

When using Content Type application/json with POST, PUT or PATCH requests, the body should be a string of valid JSON:

# With written JSON
HTTParty.post('http://example.com', body: "{\"foo\":\"bar\"}", headers: { 'Content-Type' => 'application/json' })

# Using JSON.generate
HTTParty.post('http://example.com', body: JSON.generate({ foo: 'bar' }), headers: { 'Content-Type' => 'application/json' })

# Using object.to_json
HTTParty.post('http://example.com', body: { foo: 'bar' }.to_json, headers: { 'Content-Type' => 'application/json' })

Working with SSL

You can use this guide to work with SSL certificates.

Using pem option

# Use this example if you are using a pem file

class Client
  include HTTParty

  base_uri "https://example.com"
  pem File.read("#{File.expand_path('.')}/path/to/certs/cert.pem"), "123456"
end

Using pkcs12 option

# Use this example if you are using a pkcs12 file

class Client
  include HTTParty

  base_uri "https://example.com"
  pkcs12 File.read("#{File.expand_path('.')}/path/to/certs/cert.p12"), "123456"
end

Using ssl_ca_file option

# Use this example if you are using a pkcs12 file

class Client
  include HTTParty

  base_uri "https://example.com"
  ssl_ca_file "#{File.expand_path('.')}/path/to/certs/cert.pem"
end

Using ssl_ca_path option

# Use this example if you are using a pkcs12 file

class Client
  include HTTParty

  base_uri "https://example.com"
  ssl_ca_path '/path/to/certs'
end

You can also include all of these options with the call:

class Client
  include HTTParty

  base_uri "https://example.com"

  def self.fetch
    get("/resources", pem: File.read("#{File.expand_path('.')}/path/to/certs/cert.pem"), pem_password: "123456")
  end
end

Avoid SSL verification

In some cases you may want to skip SSL verification, because the entity that issued the certificate is not a valid one, but you still want to work with it. You can achieve this through:

# Skips SSL certificate verification

class Client
  include HTTParty

  base_uri "https://example.com"
  pem File.read("#{File.expand_path('.')}/path/to/certs/cert.pem"), "123456"

  def self.fetch
    get("/resources", verify: false)
    # You can also use something like:
    # get("resources", verify_peer: false)
  end
end

HTTP Compression

The Accept-Encoding request header and Content-Encoding response header are used to control compression (gzip, etc.) over the wire. Refer to RFC-2616 for details. (For clarity: these headers are not used for character encoding i.e. utf-8 which is specified in the Accept and Content-Type headers.)

Unless you have specific requirements otherwise, we recommend to not set set the Accept-Encoding header on HTTParty requests. In this case, Net::HTTP will set a sensible default compression scheme and automatically decompress the response.

If you explicitly set Accept-Encoding, there be dragons:

• If the HTTP response Content-Encoding received on the wire is gzip or deflate, Net::HTTP will automatically decompress it, and will omit Content-Encoding from your HTTParty::Response headers.

• For the following encodings, HTTParty will automatically decompress them if you include the required gem into your project. Similar to above, if decompression succeeds, Content-Encoding will be omitted from your HTTParty::Response headers. Warning: Support for these encodings is experimental and not fully battle-tested.

  Content-Encoding	Required Gem
  br (Brotli)	brotli
  compress (LZW)	ruby-lzws
  zstd (Zstandard)	zstd-ruby

• For other encodings, HTTParty::Response#body will return the raw uncompressed byte string, and you'll need to inspect the Content-Encoding response header and decompress it yourself. In this case, HTTParty::Response#parsed_response will be nil.

• Lastly, you may use the skip_decompression option to disable all automatic decompression and always get HTTParty::Response#body in its raw form along with the Content-Encoding header.

# Accept-Encoding=gzip,deflate can be safely assumed to be auto-decompressed

res = HTTParty.get('https://example.com/test.json', headers: { 'Accept-Encoding' => 'gzip,deflate,identity' })
JSON.parse(res.body) # safe


# Accept-Encoding=br,compress requires third-party gems

require 'brotli'
require 'lzws'
require 'zstd-ruby'
res = HTTParty.get('https://example.com/test.json', headers: { 'Accept-Encoding' => 'br,compress,zstd' })
JSON.parse(res.body)


# Accept-Encoding=* may return unhandled Content-Encoding

res = HTTParty.get('https://example.com/test.json', headers: { 'Accept-Encoding' => '*' })
encoding = res.headers['Content-Encoding']
if encoding
JSON.parse(your_decompression_handling(res.body, encoding))
else
# Content-Encoding not present implies decompressed
JSON.parse(res.body)
end


# Gimme the raw data!

res = HTTParty.get('https://example.com/test.json', skip_decompression: true)
encoding = res.headers['Content-Encoding']
JSON.parse(your_decompression_handling(res.body, encoding))