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
 * Fetch images and other types of content
 * ...

Contents
--------

This plugin contains four classes: `sfWebBrowser`, `sfCurlAdapter`, `sfFopenAdapter`, 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:

    [php]
    $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.

    [php]
    // 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

    [php]
    $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 associative array.

    [php]
    $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.

    [php]
    $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:

    [php]
    $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.

    [php]
    $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, and uses the following selection order by default:

 * `sfCurlAdapter`: Uses [Curl](http://php.net/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. 

 * `sfFopenAdapter`: Uses [`fopen()`](http://php.net/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.

 * `sfSocketsAdapter`: Uses [`fsockopen()`](http://php.net/fsockopen) to fetch pages.

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

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

Currenly, `sfCurlAdapter` offers slightly more functionality than the other adapters. Namely, it supports multipart file uploads and cookies, which means you can login to a site as well as upload files via forms.

    [php]
    // upload files via a form
    $b = new sfWebBrowser();
    $b->post($url_of_form, array(
      'file_field' => '/path/to/my/local/file.jpg'
    ));
    // login to a website
    $b = new sfWebBrowser(array(), 'sfCurlAdapter', array('cookies' => true));
    $b->post($url_of_login_form, array(
      'user_field' => $username,
      'pass_field' => $password
    ));

Full examples are available in the unit tests.

Error Handling
--------------

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

    [php]
    $b = new sfWebBrowser();
    try
    {
      if (!$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 [escaping](http://www.symfony-project.com/book/trunk/07-Inside-the-View-Layer#Output%20Escaping) when outputting it to a template.

    [php]
    // 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

        > php symfony plugin:install sfWebBrowserPlugin  # for symfony 1.1 and 1.2
        > php symfony plugin-install http://plugins.symfony-project.com/sfWebBrowserPlugin    # for symfony 1.0

* Clear the cache to enable the autoloading to find the new class

        > symfony cc

Known limitations
-----------------

Cookies, caching, and file uploads are not yet supported in any of the packages (some of this functionality is available with `sfCurlAdapter`, see above).

Changelog
---------

### Trunk

### 2009-05-12 | 1.1.2 Stable

  * francois: Fixed sfCurlAdapter destructor
  * francois: Fixed sf1.2 compatibility issue for custom exception
  * francois: Fixed a few limit case bugs and made the tests pass
  
### 2009-04-22 | 1.1.1 Stable

  * francois: Fixed README syntax for parameters array
  * bmeynell: Fixed custom options in `sfCurlAdapter`
  
### 2008-09-23 | 1.1.0 Stable

  * francois: Translated README to Markdown
  * francois: Added support for custom options in `sfCurlAdapter`
  * francois: Added suppot for Timeout with `sfCurlAdapter` (based on a patch by adoanhuu)
  * blacksun: Allow for SSL certificate verification
  * francois: Added a test to check exceptions thrown by `getResponseXML`
  * bmeynell: added multipart file upload support to `sfCurlAdapter`
  * bmeynell: fixed regex in getResponseBody() which was returning an empty body
  * bmeynell: `sfCurlAdapter`: Added new options: 'cookies', 'cookies_dir', 'cookies_file', 'verbose', 'verbose_log'
  * bmeynell: `sfCurlAdapter`: Increased speed by Moving some initialization from call() to the constructer
  * tristan:  Easier management of invalid XML responses
  * francois: Fixed a bug in `sfFopenAdapter` error handler
  * bmeynell: Added chunked transfer encoding support to `sfSocketsAdapter`
  * bmeynell: Added support for 301 redirects in `sfSocketsAdapter`

### 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
