Haskell Network.Browser HTTPS Connection

Question

Is there a way to make https calls with the Network.Browser package. I'm not seeing it in the documentation on Hackage.
If there isn't a way to do it with browse is there another way to fetch https pages?

My current test code is

import Network.HTTP
import Network.URI (parseURI)
import Network.HTTP.Proxy
import Data.Maybe (fromJust)
import Control.Applicative ((<$>))
import Network.Browser

retrieveUrl :: String -> IO String
retrieveUrl url = do
  rsp <- browse $ request (Request (fromJust uri) POST [] "Body")
  return $ snd (rspBody <$> rsp)
  where uri = parseURI url

I've been running nc -l -p 8000 and watching the output. I see that it doesn't encrypt it when I do retrieveUrl https://localhost:8000

Also when I try a real https site I get:

Network.Browser.request: Error raised ErrorClosed
*** Exception: user error (Network.Browser.request: Error raised ErrorClosed)

Edit: Network.Curl solution (For doing a SOAP call)

import Network.Curl (curlGetString)
import Network.Curl.Opts

soapHeader s = CurlHttpHeaders ["Content-Type: text/xml", "SOAPAction: " ++ s]
proxy        = CurlProxy "proxy.foo.org"
envelope     = "myRequestEnvelope.xml"

headers  = readFile envelope >>= (\x -> return [ soapHeader "myAction"
                                               , proxy
                                               , CurlPost True
                                               , CurlPostFields [x]]) 

main = headers >>= curlGetString "https://service.endpoint"

You should not have accepted that answer; since SO is for the benefit of everyone - having an open question would have stimulated more answers (or even development). — Andriy Drozdyuk, Apr 03 '12 at 02:33
@drozzy still worth answering even if an answer has been excepted. http-conduit is a newer package and seems to be a more convenient answer to the problem. — Davorak, Nov 20 '12 at 02:32

score 12 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

An alternative and perhaps more "haskelly" solution as Travis Brown put it with http-conduit:

To just fetch https pages:

import Network.HTTP.Conduit
import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as L

main = simpleHttp "https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge" >>= L.putStr

The below shows how to pass urlencode parameters.

{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}

import Network.HTTP.Conduit
import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as L

main = do
  initReq <- parseUrl "https://www.googleapis.com/urlshortener/v1/url"
  let req' = initReq { secure = True } -- Turn on https
  let req = (flip urlEncodedBody) req' $
             [ ("longUrl", "http://www.google.com/")
--             ,
             ]
  response <- withManager $ httpLbs req
  L.putStr $ responseBody response

You can also set the method, content-type, and request body manually. The api is the same as in http-enumerator a good example is: https://stackoverflow.com/a/5614946

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 21 '10 at 14:56

8

I've wondered about this in the past and have always ended up just using the libcurl bindings. It would be nice to have a more Haskelly solution, but Network.Curl is very convenient.

answered Oct 21 '10 at 14:56

Travis Brown

138,631
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Yeah, I ended up going with Network.Curl based on your suggestion, thanks for the help. – devrand Oct 21 '10 at 17:18
@AlexKahn I believe that's correct (still, in 2013). There's a little mention in one of the modules I just noticed – jberryman Jan 07 '13 at 19:40

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered May 23 '11 at 13:50

3

If all you want to do is fetch a page, Network.HTTP.Wget is the most simple way. Exhibit a:

import Network.HTTP.Wget

main = putStrLn =<< wget "https://www.google.com" [] []

answered May 23 '11 at 13:50

Eli

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Haskell Network.Browser HTTPS Connection

3 Answers3