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Http Referer

Clemens Zagler edited this page Feb 29, 2024 · 3 revisions

Why a Http Referer should be passed

The Open Data Hub has an advanced logging system.
When anonymous Calls are done we need a resource to assign the calls.
Passing a HTTP Header "Referer" helps us create statistics and trace (potentially your) problems. As a thank you, requests passing a referer may have more favorable rate limiting restrictions, where they apply.

What should be passed

Normally, the HTTP Header "Referer" is the URL of the webpage where the call starts (set by the browser).
Often Frameworks set it automatically, and it may happen that frameworks set a wrong or useless Referer (a.e. localhost).
In this case the HTTP Header should be overridden manually.

Alternative to HTTP header

If technical limitations don't allow setting HTTP headers (e.g. missing library feature, certain web browsers), a URL query parameter referer can be passed instead (e.g. &referer=yourveryuniqueidentifier).
The API will then give this parameter precedence over the header, but functionally treat it the same in all other regards. The value should be a unique identifier following the same semantics as the HTTP header.

Again, you should always try setting the HTTP header. Only if that can not be done, should you use the query parameter.

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