CFHTTP: Imitating a Browser

[lurisia]

I want to send a cfhttp request whose header contains the following fields AND
ONLY the following fields:

Host
User-Agent
Keep-Alive (value=300)
Connection (value=keep-alive)
Accept
Accept-Language
Accept-Encoding
Accept-Charset

My problem is that I can't tell if my cfhttpparams are working. Eg,

<cfhttpparam type = "cgi" name="connection" value="keep-alive">
<cfhttpparam type = "cgi" name="xxxxxxxxxxxx" value="whatever">

will both be sent in the header if I put them in the cfhttp tag. But the fact
that "xxxxxxxxxx" is sent makes me wonder if the connection header is even
correct. That is, it might be that for the browser to recognize the
"connection" header I need to write something like this:

<cfhttpparam type = "cgi" name="connection_type" value="keep-alive">

or something else like that. Anyway, does anyone know what all the correct
cfhttpparam tags would be for the headers I listed above?

Also, coldfusion seems to automatically add a header call TE, whose value is
"trailers, deflate, gzip, compress". What does this do and can I get rid of it?

TIA,
lurisia

[Neculai Macarie]

> I want to send a cfhttp request whose header contains the following fields
AND

> ONLY the following fields:
>
> Host
> User-Agent
> Keep-Alive (value=300)
> Connection (value=keep-alive)
> Accept
> Accept-Language
> Accept-Encoding
> Accept-Charset
>
> My problem is that I can't tell if my cfhttpparams are working. Eg,

Request a page from your own server. In the CGI scope the variables prefixed
with HTTP_ are headers sent by client.

> <cfhttpparam type = "cgi" name="connection" value="keep-alive">
> <cfhttpparam type = "cgi" name="xxxxxxxxxxxx" value="whatever">
>
> will both be sent in the header if I put them in the cfhttp tag. But the

fact

> that "xxxxxxxxxx" is sent makes me wonder if the connection header is even
> correct.

Connection is "correct". There is a set of headers that are standardized,
but each app can add her own headers. An application can for example extend
the HTTP protocol to use it's own X-Command header.

That is, it might be that for the browser to recognize the

> "connection" header I need to write something like this:

I think you meant the server...

> <cfhttpparam type = "cgi" name="connection_type" value="keep-alive">
>
> or something else like that. Anyway, does anyone know what all the

correct

> cfhttpparam tags would be for the headers I listed above?

The header names are correct in your list.

> Also, coldfusion seems to automatically add a header call TE, whose value

is

> "trailers, deflate, gzip, compress". What does this do and can I get rid

of it?

It's used to signal the the client can accept compressed content. Sorry,
don't know how to remove it.

--
<mack />

[lurisia]

Thanks Mack... A few points I'm still confused about:

Request a page from your own server.

To test, I have one test page that makes a cfhttp call to another test page,
which in turn uses GetHttpRequestData to get all the header info, and then
writes it to file. I can then look in the file to see what header info was
sent by <cfhttp>. But like I said, any random header variable I make up will
also appear in the dump. What did you mean by "request a page from your own
server"? Is there a better way for me to test?

In the CGI scope the variables prefixed with HTTP_ are headers sent by client.

But when I use <cfhttp>, the coldfusion server *is* the client, isn't it? So
are you saying that I should add "HTTP_ to the name parameters of my
<cfhttpparam> tags? But then you also said "connection" was correct, so I was
confused....

Thanks for any more info,
lurisia

[Neculai Macarie]

> Thanks Mack... A few points I'm still confused about:

>
> Request a page from your own server.
>
> To test, I have one test page that makes a cfhttp call to another test

page,

> which in turn uses GetHttpRequestData to get all the header info, and then
> writes it to file. I can then look in the file to see what header info

was

> sent by <cfhttp>. But like I said, any random header variable I make up

will

> also appear in the dump. What did you mean by "request a page from your

own

> server"? Is there a better way for me to test?

That is the expected result... I'm not sure what your expectations are
here...

> In the CGI scope the variables prefixed with HTTP_ are headers sent by

client.

>
> But when I use <cfhttp>, the coldfusion server *is* the client, isn't it?

So

> are you saying that I should add "HTTP_ to the name parameters of my
> <cfhttpparam> tags? But then you also said "connection" was correct, so I

was

> confused....

The name of the header is correct. What I'm saying is that if you send a
header called X-Command:
<cfhttpparam type = "cgi" name="X-Command" value="testing testing">

on the receiving page you'll have HTTP_X_COMMAND equal "testing testing"

HTH,
--
<mack />