Raw HTTP

The Raw HTTP action sends a HTTP request to a web server. How the response is treated depends on the method, but in general the status code and the response headers are returned in variables defined as part of the page load options.

Properties

The Raw HTTP action can be configured by its properties:

Location

This property specifies which URL to open. The URL can be specified in several ways using a URL Selector.

Method

Here you specify which method to use:

  • GET is used for performing a GET HTTP request.

  • POST is used for performing a POST HTTP request. For POST requests specify a number of parameters as name/value pairs or give the entire body of the request. If the request is specified with parameters, you must selected whether to use POST (application/x-www-form-urlencoded) or MULTIPART (multipart/form-data) to encode the parameters. If the entire ('raw') body of the request is given, the content type of the request data must be specified.
  • PUT is used for performing PUT HTTP requests. For PUT requests specify a number of parameters as name/value pairs or give the entire body of the request.

    The following settings are common for GET, POST, and PUT requests.

    Parameters

    Here you can specify a number of parameters as name/value pairs. Click '+' to add a new parameter.

    For POST and PUT requests, MULTIPART encoding can be selected to enable file uploads. If a binary variable is selected as the value of a File Upload parameter, the bytes are submitted as-is. If Base 64 encoding is desired, the value of the parameter should be an expression base64Encode(data) where data is the name of the variable containing the binary value. In that case, it is also recommended to specify the value base64 as Content Transfer Encoding - otherwise, this field can normally be left blank.

    Accept

    This is the content types that will be accepted as response. By default, any type of response will be accepted. The accepted content types can be specified in several ways using a Value Selector.

    Encoding

    This is the encoding that will be used to encode special characters in the request.

    Store In

    This is the name of a required variable in which to store the result.

  • HEAD is used for performing a HEAD HTTP request. Since the HEAD request does not return any data as part of its response (only a status code and the response headers) it uses variables defined as part of the page load options to access this. A GET request can be used to simulate a HEAD request. This will result in a GET HTTP request being sent that will be aborted as soon as the header information is received i.e. the entire response will not be loaded.
  • OPTIONS is used for performing an OPTIONS HTTP request. Since the OPTIONS request does not return any data as part of its response (only a status code and the response headers) it uses variables defined as part of the page load options to access this. The response would normally include header fields that indicate optional features implemented by the server and applicable to the requested resource (URL), e.g. Allow: OPTIONS, TRACE, GET, HEAD
Options

The robots options can be overridden with the steps own option. The option that are changed will override the ones from the robots configuration and will be marked with an asterisk in the Options dialog.

Note If additional request headers are needed, this can also be configured under Options.