Make a HTTP Client

In some cases, you may need to make multiple requests to the same server. In such cases, it is more efficient to create an HTTP client and reuse it for multiple requests. The HttpClient struct provides a way to create an HTTP client that can be reused for multiple requests.

The HTTP Client holds a connection pool to reuse the connections, so it is more efficient than creating a new connection for each request.

And the client also provides a way to set more complex options like enable_redirect, user_agent for us to control the behavior of the client. See: HttpClient.new for more details.

Create a HTTP client

use std.net.http.client.{HttpClient, Request};
use std.net.http.OK;

fn main() throws {
    let client = HttpClient.new(
        max_redirect_count: 5, 
        user_agent: "navi-client",
    );
    let req = try Request.get("https://httpbin.org/get");
    let res = try client.request(req);

    if (res.status() != OK) {
        try println("Failed to fetch repo", res.text());
        return;
    }

    try println(res.text());
}

In the above example:

1. We create an HTTP client using the HttpClient.new function.
2. We set the max_redirect_count to 5, and user_agent to navi-client.
   • The max_redirect_count is the maximum number of redirects to follow.
   • The user_agent is the User-Agent header to send with the request.
3. We create a Request object using the Request.get method and set the URL of the GitHub API.
4. Then we send the request using the HttpClient.request method.