= sfWebBrowser plugin =

The `sfWebBrowserPlugin` proposes an HTTP client capable of making web requests. The interface is similar to that of `sfTestBrowser`.

=== Possible uses ===

 * Querying a Web service 
 * Monitoring a Website
 * Mashup of content from several websites
 * Aggregation of RSS feeds
 * Proxy to another server
 * Cross-domain AJAX interactions
 * API to foreign websites
 * ...

== Contents ==

This plugin contains four classes: `sfWebBrowser`, `sfFopenAdapter`, `sfCurlAdapter`, and `sfSocketsAdapter`. Unit tests are available in the SVN repository, to be placed in a symfony application's `test/` directory.

== Features ==

The `sfWebBrowser` class makes web requests based on a URI:
{{{
$b = new sfWebBrowser();
$b->get('http://www.example.com/');
$res = $b->getResponseText();
}}}

The usual methods of the `sfTestBrowser` also work there, with the fluid interface. 
{{{
// Inline
$b->get('http://www.example.com/')->get('http://www.google.com/')->back()->reload();
// More readable
$b->get('http://www.example.com/')
  ->get('http://www.google.com/')
  ->back()
  ->reload();
}}}

The browser accepts absolute and relative URIs
{{{
$b->get('http://www.example.com/test.html');
$b->get('test.html');
}}}

The `get()` method accepts parameters either as a query string, or as an array.
{{{
$b->get('http://www.example.com/test.php?foo=bar');
$b->get('http://www.example.com/test.php', array('foo', 'bar'));
}}}

POST, PUT and DELETE requests are also supported.
{{{
$b->post('http://www.example.com/test.php', array('foo', 'bar'));
$b->put('http://www.example.com/test.php', array('foo', 'bar'));
$b->delete('http://www.example.com/test.php', array('foo', 'bar'));
}}}

You can access the response in various formats, at your convenience:
{{{
$myString         = $b->getResponseText();
$myString         = $b->getResponseBody(); // drop the <head> part
$myDomDocument    = $b->getResponseDom();
$myDomCssSelector = $b->getResponseDomCssSelector();
$mySimpleXml      = $b->getResponseXml();
}}}

You can also interact with the response with the `setFields()` and `click()` methods.

{{{
$b->get('http://www.example.com/login')
  ->setField('user', 'foobar')
  ->setField('password', 'barbaz')
  ->click('submit');
}}}

The browser supports HTTP and HTTPS requests, proxies, redirects, and timeouts.

Gzip and deflate content-encoded response bodies are also supported, provided that you have the [http://php.net/zlib zlib extention] enabled.

== Adapters ==

The browser can use various adapters to perform the requests:
 
 * `sfFopenAdapter` (default): Uses [http://php.net/fopen `fopen()`] to fetch pages. `fopen()` can take an URL as a parameter provided that PHP is compiled with sockets support, and `allow_url_fopen` is defined to `true` in `php.ini`. This is the case in most PHP distributions, so the default adapter should work in almost every platform. On the other hand, the compatibility has a cost: this adapter is slow.
 
 * `sfCurlAdapter`: Uses [http://php.net/curl Curl] to fetch pages. This adapter is a lot faster than `sfFopenAdapter`, however PHP must be compiled with the `with-curl` option, and the `curl` extension must be enabled in `php.ini` (which is rarely the case by default) for it to work. 
 
 * `sfSocketsAdapter`: Uses [http://php.net/fsockopen `fsockopen()`] to fetch pages.

You can specify an adapter when you create a new browser object, as follows:

{{{
// use default adapter, i.e. sfFopenAdapter
$b = new sfWebBrowser(array());
// use sfCurlAdapter
$b = new sfWebBrowser(array(), 'sfCurlAdapter');
}}}

== Usage ==

`sfWebBrowser` distiguishes to types of error: adapter errors and response errors. Thus, `sfWebBrowser` calls should be run this way :

{{{
$b = new sfWebBrowser();
try
{
  if (!$b->get($url)->responseIsError())
  {
    // Successful response (eg. 200, 201, etc)
  }
  else
  {
    // Error response (eg. 404, 500, etc)
  }
}
catch (Exception $e)
{
  // Adapter error (eg. Host not found)
}
}}}

Besides, you should always remember that the response contents may contain incorrect code. Consider it as 'tainted', and therefore always use the [http://www.symfony-project.com/book/trunk/07-Inside-the-View-Layer#Output%20Escaping escaping] when outputting it to a template.

{{{
// In the action
$this->title = (string) $b->getResponseXml()->body->h1

// In the template
<?php echo $title // dangerous ?>
<?php echo $sf_data->get('title') // correct ?>
}}}

== Installation ==

  * Install the plugin
{{{
$ symfony plugin-install http://plugins.symfony-project.com/sfWebBrowserPlugin
}}}

  * Clear the cache to enable the autoloading to find the new class
{{{
$ symfony cc
}}}

== Known limitations ==

If `allow_url_fopen` is not defined to `true` and if the curl extension cannot be activated in the `php.ini` file, the browser can't fetch pages. Workaround (todo): use a sockets adapter.

Cookies are not handled yet.

Caching is not supported yet.

== Changelog ==

=== trunk ===

=== 2007-03-27 | 1.0.1 stable ===

  * bmeynell: Fixed a bug with `sfCurlAdapter` causing 'Bad Request' error responses
  * francois: Fixed a bug with `get()` when `arg_separator.output` is not set to '&' in `php.ini` (patch from river.bright)
  * francois: Fixed a bug with `get()` when query string is already present in the url (based on a patch from Jeff Merlet)
  * francois: Fixed auto-adapter decision in `sfWebBrowser::__construct()`
  
=== 2007-03-08 | 1.0.0 stable ===

  * francois: Added auto-adapter decision in `sfWebBrowser::__construct()`
  * francois: Changed tested URLs a bit to avoid redirection issues with google
  * bmeynell: Added `sfSocketsAdapter`
  * bmeynell: `sfCurlAdapter`: more detailed error messages & leaner request setup

=== 2007-02-22 | 0.9.6 Beta ===

 * bmeynell, tristan: Allowed for requests with any method in `sfCurlAdapter`
 * tristan: Added `sfWebBrowser::responseIsError()`
 * tristan: Added `sfWebBrowser::getResponseMessage()`
 * tristan: Refactored error management in `sfFopenAdapter`

=== 2007-02-21 | 0.9.5 Beta ===

 * bmeynell: Fixed bug with relative uri's attempting to use a port other than 80 (sfWebBrowser, 132 - 146)
 * bmeynell: Fixed small bug not printing hostname on exception (sfFopenAdapter, 61-62)
 * bmeynell: Created sfCurlAdapter and passes all unit tests
 * bmeynell: Removed '$changeStack = true' from call() prototype in sfCurlAdapter, sfFopenAdapter, and moved changestack check to sfWebBrowser
 * bmeynell: Added $askeet_url to sfWebBrowserTest
 * bmeynell: Added easy toggling between adapters in sfWebBrowserTest
 * tristan: Added put() and delete() public methods
 * tristan: Added unit tests to validate request HTTP method

=== 2007-02-16 | 0.9.4 Beta ===

 * francois: Refactored the browser to make it multi-adapter
 * francois: '''BC break''' constructor signature changed : `new sfWebBrowser(array $headers, string $adapter_class, array $adapter_options)` 
 * francois: Fixed notice when trying to retrieve inexistent header
 * francois: Fixed header case normalization
 * francois: Transformed setResponseXXX() methods to public
 * francois: Fixed caps in `initializeRequestHeaders()`
 * francois: Fixed unit test #40

=== 2007-02-16 | 0.9.3 Beta ===

 * tristan: Added support for gzip and deflate.
 * tristan: Possibility to pass default request headers to sfWebBrowser's constructor
 * tristan: "Accept-Encoding" header is automatically set depending on PHP capabilities
 * tristan: Fixed problems with request and response headers case 
 * tristan: Renamed "browser options" to "adapter options" (http://www.symfony-project.com/forum/index.php/m/21635/)
 * tristan: '''BC break''' constructor signature changed : `new sfWebBrowser(array $headers, array $adapter_options)`
 * tristan: Unit tested POST requests  
 * tristan: Changed way httpd headers are stored internally
 * tristan: Fixed small bug in `getResponseBody()`
 * francois: Fixed unit test for malformed headers
 
=== 2007-02-09 | 0.9.2 Beta ===

 * francois: Fixed notice with `getResponseXML()`
 
=== 2007-02-08 | 0.9.1 Beta ===

 * francois: Fixed notice with some headers
 * francois: Added license and copyright
 
=== 2007-02-08 | 0.9.0 Beta === 

 * francois: Initial release
