cURL

Lesson Objectives

1. Describe what cURL is
2. Describe when we might use cURL
3. Use cURL to test a GET request
4. Use cURL to test a POST request
5. Pass parameters to the server using cURL

Describe what cURL is

• Is a command line tool that acts like a browser
• You can use it to make requests to a website

• All it does is take the response and writes it to the terminal

  • no formatting

Describe when we might use cURL

• You want to create a route and test that it works

  • with a GET request, you can just type the route into the URL bar in the browser and see if it works

• In order to test routes like POST:

  • you can't just make the request in the browser by entering the path in the URL bar like you would with a GET request

    • doing that always makes a GET request

  • the only way to test a POST request in the browser is via forms

    • you have to write a bunch of code that will lead you up to the point where the POST request is made:

      1. create a /new route
      2. create a new.ejs file with forms
      3. have the forms point to the correct POST route
      4. go to the /new route in the browser
      5. fill out the form
      6. click submit
• With cURL, we can make a POST request directly to the server without needing to go through all the set up

Use cURL to test a GET request

Within the terminal execute the following:

curl https://generalassemb.ly

Use cURL to test a POST request

Set up the following route handler in our app:

app.post('/products', (req, res)=>{
    console.log('Create route accessed!');
    res.send('This route works');
});

To make a POST request, we'll need to add some arguments to the terminal command

curl -X POST localhost:3000/products

The -X POST argument tells curl to make a POST request to the server

Pass parameters to the server using cURL

Using the above command, the body of the request will be empty

app.post('/products', (req, res)=>{
    console.log('Create route accessed!');
    console.log('Req.body is: ', req.body);
    res.send(req.body);
});

If we want to send in data we need to do so like this:

curl -X POST -d name="bling" localhost:3000/products

or

curl -X POST -d name="bling" -d price="cash money" localhost:3000/products

For each new key/value pair, add a new -d property="value" argument

curl -X POST -d name="kiwi" -d color="green" -d readyToEat="on" localhost:3000/fruits

References

• The cURL Project