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A Simple Windows HTTP Wrapper Using C++

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4.26/5 (17 votes)
31 Jul 2008LGPL32 min read 190.5K   9.2K   51   16
Gets the content of a web page into a project without the WinHttp APIs mixed in my source code using a WinHttp wrapper.

Introduction

Recently I needed to get the content of a web page into a project and I didn't want to have WinHttp APIs mixed in my source code so I created a simple WinHttp wrapper named WinHttpClient.

WinHttpClient takes a URL as a parameter, sends the HTTP request and gets the response. The method that sends the HTTP request is a synchronous method so it should NOT be called in the UI thread. WinHttpClient is thread safe which means it can be used in many threads at one time.

Using the Code

Using WinHttpClient is pretty simple. The class diagram is as follows.

For example, the code snap to get the content of http://www.codeproject.com/ is as follows.

C++
WinHttpClient client(L"http://www.codeproject.com/");
client.SendHttpRequest();
wstring httpResponseHeader = client.GetHttpResponseHeader();
wstring httpResponse = client.GetHttpResponse();

Additional

There are several things that may interest you.

  1. The method SendHttpRequest is a synchronous method and it will retry several times until it succeeds which causes this method to take a long time to finish. So do not use this in a UI thread. It is recommended to create some worker threads and use WinHttpClient in them since WinHttpClient is a thread safe class.
  2. You can parse and enumerate the URLs in the string returned by the method GetHttpResponse and get the contents of the them and do it over and over again. Then you will get the contents of a whole website.
  3. URLs with default index pages can be handled well. Fox example:
    • http://www.codeproject.com/
    • http://www.codeproject.com/Zones/IBM/
    • http://www.codeproject.com/info/submit.aspx
  4. I don’t really know how the HTTP verb affects the result. So a user can select use the GET or POST verb to send the HTTP request through the parameter of SendHttpRequest. The default verb is GET.

Points of Interest

When using MultiByteToWideChar to convert to the wide characters, deleting the buffer I created to hold the output wide leads to a crash if I set the last character to 0. It is strange and I didn't figure it out.

Finally

This is my first time writing a technical article. I hope I explained everything clearly.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPLv3)


Written By
Software Developer Philips
China China
Cheng Shi is a software developer in China. He is interested in COM, ATL, Direct3D, etc. He is now working for Philips.

Cheng Shi loves Formula1 and watchs every Grand Prix. He is dreaming to be a racing car driver. Hope his dream can come true.

Comments and Discussions

 
Questionitd doesn't works with windows xp somehow Pin
sandeepcyber28-Oct-17 1:12
sandeepcyber28-Oct-17 1:12 
QuestionAbout put , delete Pin
liaoyuandeyehuo28-Aug-13 0:06
liaoyuandeyehuo28-Aug-13 0:06 
Generalthanks Pin
qhgongzi23-Apr-11 23:17
qhgongzi23-Apr-11 23:17 
GeneralWrong order in the command-line arguments Pin
jcdmelo13-Jul-10 17:16
jcdmelo13-Jul-10 17:16 
GeneralRe: Wrong order in the command-line arguments Pin
shicheng13-Jul-10 19:05
shicheng13-Jul-10 19:05 
GeneralRe: Wrong order in the command-line arguments Pin
jcdmelo14-Jul-10 3:12
jcdmelo14-Jul-10 3:12 
GeneralRe: Wrong order in the command-line arguments Pin
shicheng14-Jul-10 4:25
shicheng14-Jul-10 4:25 
GeneralFollowing the KISS principle (Was "Re: Wrong order in the command-line arguments") Pin
jcdmelo14-Jul-10 5:45
jcdmelo14-Jul-10 5:45 
GeneralThe udpated version of WinHttpClient Pin
shicheng20-Mar-10 18:17
shicheng20-Mar-10 18:17 
GeneralDon't expose local symbols Pin
bling17-Mar-10 6:50
bling17-Mar-10 6:50 
GeneralRe: Don't expose local symbols Pin
shicheng17-Mar-10 16:54
shicheng17-Mar-10 16:54 
QuestionCan I use this under the LGPL V3 Pin
Colin Critch15-Feb-10 2:49
Colin Critch15-Feb-10 2:49 
AnswerRe: Can I use this under the LGPL V3 Pin
shicheng17-Mar-10 16:51
shicheng17-Mar-10 16:51 
GeneralRe: Can I use this under the LGPL V3 Pin
Colin Critch26-Mar-10 2:00
Colin Critch26-Mar-10 2:00 
GeneralRe: Can I use this under the LGPL V3 Pin
shicheng27-Mar-10 1:22
shicheng27-Mar-10 1:22 
GeneralMy vote of 2 Pin
.Shoaib8-Dec-09 22:00
.Shoaib8-Dec-09 22:00 

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