Requester Library Reference

The requester library (also known as the HTTP fetcher) brings full HTTP client capabilities into EasyBite. With just a few calls you can:

• Connect to a base URL and keep a shared HTTP client
• Perform GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, HEAD, OPTIONS requests
• Customize timeouts, headers, query parameters, request bodies
• Manage cookies in a simple in‑memory jar
• Parse JSON or retrieve plain text responses

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Importing

import requester

// or select specific functions
from requester import connect, get, post, request, getjson

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Available Functions

Function	Parameters	Description
connect(base_url)	base_url (String)	Create and store a shared HTTP client, set the default base URL.
settimeout([client,] s)	client (HTTPClient, optional), s (Number seconds)	Update the request timeout. If no client passed, updates the last one.
request([client,] method, [url], [body], [options])	method (String), url (String, optional), body (String, optional), options (Dictionary, optional)	Make a generic HTTP request. Options can include "headers" or "params" dictionaries.
get([client,] [url], [options])	like request with method="GET"	Convenience for GET requests.
post([client,] [url], body, [options])	like request with method="POST"	Convenience for POST.
put([client,] [url], body, [options])	like above	Convenience for PUT.
delete([client,] [url], [options])	like above	Convenience for DELETE.
head([client,] [url], [options])	like above	Convenience for HEAD.
patch([client,] [url], body, [options])	like above	Convenience for PATCH.
options([client,] [url], [options])	like above	Convenience for OPTIONS.
getresponse([client,] [url_or_response])	client (optional), url_or_response (String or existing response Dict)	Return a full response dictionary with keys "status", "headers", "body".
getjson([client,] [url_or_response], [options])	as getresponse, but parses "body" as JSON and returns a Value tree.	Fetch and parse JSON in one call.
gettext([client,] [url_or_response], [options])	as getresponse but returns the "body" string.	Fetch plain text.
setcookie(name, value)	name, value (Strings)	Store a cookie in the global jar.
getcookies()	—	Return a dictionary of all stored cookies.
clearcookies()	—	Remove all cookies from the jar.
close([client])	client (optional)	Drop the given or last HTTP client.

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Detailed Explanation

1. Connecting
   Use requester.connect("https://api.example.com") to create a long‑lived HTTP client and set a default base URL. Subsequent calls to get, post, or the generic request will resolve relative paths against this base—no need to repeat the domain.

2. Timeouts
   By default, the client uses a standard timeout. Call requester.settimeout(10) (seconds) or requester.settimeout(client, 30) to adjust it globally or per‑client.

3. Making Requests

   • Generic:

     set resp to requester.request("POST", "/users", "{\"name\":\"Alice\"}", {"headers": {"Content-Type":"application/json"}})

     The generic request takes:

     • method (e.g. "GET", "PUT")
     • URL (absolute or relative)
     • optional body string
     • optional options dict with "headers" and/or "params" (for query string on GET)

   • Convenience:

     set r1 to requester.get("/items", {"params": {"page":"2"}})
     set r2 to requester.post("/login", "{\"user\":\"bob\"}", {"headers": {"Accept":"application/json"}})

4. Inspecting Responses
   All requests return a dictionary with:

   • "status" → HTTP status code (Number)
   • "headers" → a dictionary of header‑name → header‑value (String)
   • "body" → response body (String)

   Example:

   set resp to requester.getresponse("https://httpbin.org/get")
   show(resp["status"])        // e.g. 200
   show(resp["headers"]["Content-Type"])
   show(resp["body"])          // raw JSON text

5. Parsing JSON
   To immediately parse JSON into EasyBite values:

   set data to requester.getjson("https://api.example.com/data")
   // `data` is now a nested structure of dictionaries, arrays, numbers, and strings
   show(data["items"][0]["name"])

6. Cookies
   Manage cookies automatically with:

   set _ to requester.setcookie("session", "abc123")
   set all to requester.getcookies()
   show(all)
   set _ to requester.clearcookies()

7. Closing
   When you’re done, drop the client to free resources:

   set _ to requester.close()

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Examples

import requester

// 1. Connect and GET
set client to requester.connect("https://httpbin.org")
set resp to requester.get(client, "/get", {"params": {"foo":"bar"}})
show(resp["status"])            // 200
show(resp["body"])              // JSON text

// 2. Parse JSON
set json to requester.getjson(client, "/get")
show(json["args"]["foo"])       // "bar"

// 3. POST with headers
set resp2 to requester.post(client, "/post", "{\"x\":1}", {"headers":{"Content-Type":"application/json"}})
show(resp2["status"])
show(resp2["body"])

// 4. Timeout example
set _ to requester.settimeout(client, 5)
// will error if server takes >5s

// 5. Cookies
set _ to requester.setcookie("token","xyz")
set ck to requester.getcookies()
show(ck["token"])               // "xyz"
set _ to requester.clearcookies()

// 6. Close when done
set _ to requester.close(client)

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Conclusion

The requester module makes HTTP in EasyBite:

• Simple to import (import requester),
• Flexible (generic request plus convenience methods),
• Powerful (timeout, headers, query params, cookies, JSON parsing).

Combine these calls with EasyBite’s control flow (repeat while … end repeat) to build scripts, API clients, or even small web‑crawlers entirely in EasyBite.