http-more is a drop-in replacement for Meteor's standard HTTP package, backward-compatible with it, and enhanced to pass through extra options to the backend (@mikeal's request as of Meteor 0.8.0).
It also passes back from request the final URL after following redirects, which will be available in the href field of the result object.
These modifications are very minimal - just 8 lines of code. Unfortuantely, the Meteor team refused to accept a pull request for this type of enhancement, hence the need for a separate package.
All the extra features are available on the server only, because the underlying xhr object doesn't have any of the properties below.
- proxy support
- cookies to avoid getting stuck in redirect loops
- get the final URL after redirects
- pass TLS/SSL options
- customize
maxRedirects - ... and all the other
requestoptions
Ever got an SSL error when doing an HTTP.get() call in Meteor, like UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATURE?
That's because you need to pass a certain TLS option along with the request. No big deal, right, since Meteor's HTTP package uses mikeal's request Npm module?
Wrong. The problem is you can't just pass extra options to request, because Meteor is opinionated and wants to
provide a consistent interface between client and server, so adding lots of server-only options doesn't seem look a good idea
...despite the fact that the server and client are essentially different, e.g. the client doesn't support redirects, or can run into CORS restrictions etc. Read more on the debate at Meteor issue #1703.
This is where http-more comes in. It lets you pass through to the underlying HTTP backend (or frontend) any options you want.
Currently, the backend is mikeal's request module, so you can pass, for example, {rejectUnauthorized: false} to avoid that LEAF_SIGNATURE error, or {jar: true} to enable a session cookie jar.
meteor remove httpmeteor add dandv:http-more
After cloning this repo, run ./build.sh to check out the latest Meteor and apply the patch. To run the tests, rename the cloned repo directory to http-more, and run in it meteor test-packages ..
http-more_tests.js includes:
- a test against a site that as of March 2014, generates that
UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATUREerror. - a test against an NYTimes RSS feed that needs a cookie jar to redirect properly -
requestissue #865
More tests, against other request options, are very welcome.
The repo includes meteor/meteor as a submodule, then patches only 7 lines in httpcall_server.js. There's another one-line patch in httpcall_tests.js due to repackaging the files. That's it.
Hopefully the Meteor team will fold this patch into the core, even as an undocumented option.
Author: Dan Dascalescu (@dandv)
Development initially sponsored by StockBase, LLC.
The MIT License (MIT)
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