Client

HTTP Client

Zend\Http\Client provides an interface for performing Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests. Zend\Http\Client supports all basic features expected from an HTTP client, as well as some more complex features such as HTTP authentication and file uploads. Successful requests (and most unsuccessful ones too) return a Zend\Http\Response object, which provides access to the response's headers and body (see the chapter on Responses for more details).

Quick Start

The class constructor optionally accepts a URL as its first parameter (which can be either a string or a Zend\Uri\Http object), and an array or Traversable object containing configuration options. The send() method is used to submit the request to the remote server, and a Zend\Http\Response object is returned:

use Zend\Http\Client;

$client = new Client(
    'http://example.org',
    [
        'maxredirects' => 0,
        'timeout'      => 30,
    ]
);
$response = $client->send();

Both constructor parameters can be left out, and set later using the setUri() and setOptions() methods:

use Zend\Http\Client;

$client = new Client();
$client->setUri('http://example.org');
$client->setOptions([
    'maxredirects' => 0,
    'timeout'      => 30,
]);
$response = $client->send();

Zend\Http\Client can also dispatch requests using a separately configured request object (see the Request manual for full details of the methods available):

use Zend\Http\Client;
use Zend\Http\Request;

$request = new Request();
$request->setUri('http://example.org');

$client = new Client();

$response = $client->send($request);

URL validation

Zend\Http\Client uses Zend\Uri\Http to validate URLs. See the zend-uri documentation for more information.

Configuration

The constructor and setOptions() method accept an associative array or Traversable instance containing configuration parameters. Setting these parameters is optional, as they all have default values.

The options are also passed to the adapter class upon instantiation, so the same configuration can be used for adapter configuration. See the adapters section for more information on the adapter-specific options available.

Examples

Performing a GET request

GET is the default method used, and requires no special configuration.

use Zend\Http\Client;

$client = new Client('http://example.org');
$response = $client->send();

Using request methods other than GET

The request method can be set using setMethod(). If no method is specified, the method set by the last setMethod() call is used. If setMethod() was never called, the default request method is GET.

use Zend\Http\Client;

$client = new Client('http://example.org');

// Performing a POST request
$client->setMethod('POST');
$response = $client->send();

For convenience, Zend\Http\Request defines all request methods as class constants: Zend\Http\Request::METHOD_GET, Zend\Http\Request::METHOD_POST and so on.

use Zend\Http\Client;
use Zend\Http\Request;

$client = new Client('http://example.org');

// Performing a POST request
$client->setMethod(Request::METHOD_POST);
$response = $client->send();

Setting query parameters

Adding query parameters to an HTTP request can be done either by specifying them as part of the URL, or by using the setParameterGet() method. This method takes the query parameters as an associative array of name/value pairs.

use Zend\Http\Client;
$client = new Client();

// This is equivalent to setting a URL in the Client's constructor:
$client->setUri('http://example.com/index.php?knight=lancelot');

// Adding several parameters with one call
$client->setParameterGet([
    'first_name'  => 'Bender',
    'middle_name' => 'Bending',
    'last_name'   => 'Rodríguez',
    'made_in'     => 'Mexico',
]);

Setting form-encoded body parameters

While query parameters can be sent with every request method, other methods can accept parameters via the request body. In many cases, these are application/x-www-form-urlencoded parameters; zend-http allows you to specify such parameters usingthe setParameterPost() method, which is identical to the setParameterGet() method in structure.

use Zend\Http\Client;

$client = new Client();

// Setting several POST parameters, one of them with several values
$client->setParameterPost([
    'language'  => 'es',
    'country'   => 'ar',
    'selection' => [45, 32, 80],
]);

Note that when sending POST requests (or an request allowing a request body), you can set both query and POST parameters. On the other hand, setting POST parameters on a GET request will not trigger an error, rendering it useless.

Connecting to SSL URLs

If you are trying to connect to an SSL or TLS (https) URL and are using the default (Zend\Http\Client\Adapter\Socket) adapter, you may need to set the sslcapath configuration option in order to allow PHP to validate the SSL certificate:

use Zend\Http\Client;

$client = new Client(
    'https://example.org',
    [
        'sslcapath' => '/etc/ssl/certs',
    ]
);
$response = $client->send();

The exact path to use will vary depending on your operating system. Without this you'll get the exception "Unable to enable crypto on TCP connection" when trying to connect.

Alternatively, you could switch to the curl adapter, which negotiates SSL connections more transparently:

use Zend\Http\Client;

$client = new Client(
    'https://example.org',
    [
        'adapter' => 'Zend\Http\Client\Adapter\Curl',
    ]
);
$response = $client->send();

Complete Example

use Zend\Http\Client;

$client = new Client();
$client->setUri('http://www.example.com');
$client->setMethod('POST');
$client->setParameterPost([
    'foo' => 'bar',
]);

$response = $client->send();

if ($response->isSuccess()) {
    // the POST was successful
}

or the same thing, using a request object:

use Zend\Http\Client;
use Zend\Http\Request;

$request = new Request();
$request->setUri('http://www.example.com');
$request->setMethod('POST');
$request->getPost()->set('foo', 'bar');

$client = new Client();
$response = $client->send($request);

if ($response->isSuccess()) {
    // the POST was successful
}