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CFHTTPMessage Reference

Derived from	CFType
Framework	CoreServices
Declared in	CFHTTPAuthentication.h CFHTTPMessage.h
Companion guides	Getting Started with Networking CFNetwork Programming Guide

Overview

The CFHTTPMessage opaque type represents an HTTP message.

Functions by Task

Creating a Message

Modifying a message

Getting information from a message

Message authentication

Getting the CFHTTPMessage type identifier

Functions

CFHTTPMessageAddAuthentication

Adds authentication information to a request.

Boolean CFHTTPMessageAddAuthentication (
   CFHTTPMessageRef request,
   CFHTTPMessageRef authenticationFailureResponse,
   CFStringRef username,
   CFStringRef password,
   CFStringRef authenticationScheme,
   Boolean forProxy
);

Parameters

request: The message to which to add authentication information.
authenticationFailureResponse: The response message that contains authentication failure information.
username: The username to add to the request.
password: The password to add to the request.
authenticationScheme: The authentication scheme to use (kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeBasic, kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeNegotiate, kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeNTLM, or kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeDigest), or pass NULL to use the strongest supported authentication scheme provided in the authenticationFailureResponse parameter.
forProxy: A flag indicating whether the authentication data that is being added is for a proxy’s use (TRUE) or for a remote server’s use (FALSE). If the error code provided by the authenticationFailureResponse parameter is 407, set forProxy to TRUE. If the error code is 401, set forProxy to FALSE.

Return Value

TRUE if the authentication information was successfully added, otherwise FALSE.

Discussion

This function adds the authentication information specified by the username, password, authenticationScheme, and forProxy parameters to the specified request message. The message referred to by the authenticationFailureResponse parameter typically contains a 401 or a 407 error code.

This function is best suited for sending a single request to the server. If you need to send multiple requests, use CFHTTPMessageApplyCredentials.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageAppendBytes

Appends data to a CFHTTPMessage object.

Boolean CFHTTPMessageAppendBytes (
   CFHTTPMessageRef message,
   const UInt8 *newBytes,
   CFIndex numBytes
);

Parameters

message: The message to modify.
newBytes: A reference to the data to append.
numBytes: The length of the data pointed to by newBytes.

Return Value

TRUE if the data was successfully appended, otherwise FALSE.

Discussion

This function appends the data specified by newBytes to the specified message object which was created by calling CFHTTPMessageCreateEmpty. The data is an incoming serialized HTTP request or response received from a client or a server. While appending the data, this function deserializes it, removes any HTTP-based formatting that the message may contain, and stores the message in the message object. You can then call CFHTTPMessageCopyVersion, CFHTTPMessageCopyBody, CFHTTPMessageCopyHeaderFieldValue, and CFHTTPMessageCopyAllHeaderFields to get the message’s HTTP version, the message’s body, a specific header field, and all of the message’s headers, respectively.

If the message is a request, you can also call CFHTTPMessageCopyRequestURL and CFHTTPMessageCopyRequestMethod to get the message’s request URL and request method, respectively.

If the message is a response, you can also call CFHTTPMessageGetResponseStatusCode and CFHTTPMessageCopyResponseStatusLine to get the message’s status code and status line, respectively.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageApplyCredentialDictionary

Use a dictionary containing authentication credentials to perform the authentication method specified by a CFHTTPAuthentication object.

Boolean CFHTTPMessageApplyCredentialDictionary (
   CFHTTPMessageRef request,
   CFHTTPAuthenticationRef auth,
   CFDictionaryRef dict,
   CFStreamError *error
);

Parameters

request: The request for which the authentication method is to be performed.
auth: A CFHTTPAuthentication object specifying the authentication method to perform.
dict: A dictionary containing authentication credentials to be applied to the request. For information on the keys in this dictionary, see CFHTTPAuthenticationRef.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains a CFStreamError object that describes the error and the error’s domain. Pass NULL if you don’t want to receive error information.

Return Value

TRUE if the authentication was successful, otherwise, FALSE.

Discussion

This function performs the authentication method specified by auth on behalf of the request specified by request using the credentials contained in the dictionary specified by dict. The dictionary must contain values for the kCFHTTPAuthenticationUsername and kCFHTTPAuthenticationPassword keys. If CFHTTPAuthenticationRequiresAccountDomain returns TRUE for auth, the dictionary must also contain a value for the kCFHTTPAuthenticationAccountDomain key.

Special Considerations

This function is thread safe as long as another thread does not alter the same CFHTTPAuthentication object at the same time.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.4 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPAuthentication.h

CFHTTPMessageApplyCredentials

Performs the authentication method specified by a CFHTTPAuthentication object.

Boolean CFHTTPMessageApplyCredentials (
   CFHTTPMessageRef request,
   CFHTTPAuthenticationRef auth,
   CFStringRef username,
   CFStringRef password,
   CFStreamError *error
);

Parameters

request: Request for which the authentication method is to be performed.
auth: A CFHTTPAuthentication object specifying the authentication method to perform.
username: Username for performing the authentication.
password: Password for performing the authentication.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains a CFStreamError object that describes the error and the error’s domain. Pass NULL if you don’t want to receive error information.

Return Value

TRUE if the authentication was successful, otherwise, FALSE.

Discussion

This function performs the authentication method specified by auth on behalf of the request specified by request using the credentials specified by username and password. If, in addition to a username and password, you also need to specify an account domain, call CFHTTPMessageApplyCredentialDictionary instead of this function.

This function is appropriate for performing several authentication requests. If you only need to make a single authentication request, consider using CFHTTPMessageAddAuthentication instead.

Special Considerations

This function is thread safe as long as another thread does not alter the same CFHTTPMessage object at the same time.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.4 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPAuthentication.h

CFHTTPMessageCopyAllHeaderFields

Gets all header fields from a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFDictionaryRef CFHTTPMessageCopyAllHeaderFields (
   CFHTTPMessageRef message
);

Parameters

message: The message to examine.

Return Value

A CFDictionary object containing keys and values that are CFString objects, where the key is the header fieldname and the dictionary value is the header field’s value. Returns NULL if the header fields could not be copied. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCopyBody

Gets the body from a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFDataRef CFHTTPMessageCopyBody (
   CFHTTPMessageRef message
);

Parameters

message: The message to examine.

Return Value

A CFData object or NULL if there was a problem creating the object or if the there is no message body. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCopyHeaderFieldValue

Gets the value of a header field from a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFStringRef CFHTTPMessageCopyHeaderFieldValue (
   CFHTTPMessageRef message,
   CFStringRef headerField
);

Parameters

message: The message to examine.
headerField: The header field to copy.

Return Value

A CFString object containing a copy of the field specified by headerField, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object of if the specified header does not exist. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCopyRequestMethod

Gets the request method from a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFStringRef CFHTTPMessageCopyRequestMethod (
   CFHTTPMessageRef request
);

Parameters

request: The message to examine. This must be a request message.

Return Value

A CFString object containing a copy of the message’s request method, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCopyRequestURL

Gets the URL from a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFURLRef CFHTTPMessageCopyRequestURL (
   CFHTTPMessageRef request
);

Parameters

request: The message to examine. This must be a request message.

Return Value

A CFURLRef object containing the URL or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCopyResponseStatusLine

Gets the status line from a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFStringRef CFHTTPMessageCopyResponseStatusLine (
   CFHTTPMessageRef response
);

Parameters

response: The message to examine. This must be a response message.

Return Value

A string containing the message’s status line, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. The status line includes the message’s protocol version and a success or error code. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCopySerializedMessage

Serializes a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFDataRef CFHTTPMessageCopySerializedMessage (
   CFHTTPMessageRef request
);

Parameters

request: The message to serialize.

Return Value

A CFData object containing the serialized message, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Discussion

This function returns a copy of a CFHTTPMessage object in serialized format that is ready for transmission.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCopyVersion

Gets the HTTP version from a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFStringRef CFHTTPMessageCopyVersion (
   CFHTTPMessageRef message
);

Parameters

message: The message to examine.

Return Value

A CFString object or NULL, if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCreateCopy

Gets a copy of a CFHTTPMessage object.

CFHTTPMessageRef CFHTTPMessageCreateCopy (
   CFAllocatorRef alloc,
   CFHTTPMessageRef message
);

Parameters

allocator: The allocator to use to allocate memory for the new object. Pass NULL or kCFAllocatorDefault to use the current default allocator.
message: The message to copy.

Return Value

A CFHTTPMessage object, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Discussion

This function returns a copy of a CFHTTPMessage object that you can modify, for example, by calling CFHTTPMessageCopyHeaderFieldValue or by callingCFHTTPMessageSetBody. Then serialize the message by callingCFHTTPMessageCopySerializedMessage and send the serialized message to a client or a server.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCreateEmpty

Creates and returns a new, empty CFHTTPMessage object.

CFHTTPMessageRef CFHTTPMessageCreateEmpty (
   CFAllocatorRef alloc,
   Boolean isRequest
);

Parameters

allocator: The allocator to use to allocate memory for the new object. Pass NULL or kCFAllocatorDefault to use the current default allocator.
isRequest: A flag that determines whether to create an empty message request or an empty message response. Pass TRUE to create an empty request message; pass FALSE to create an empty response message.

Return Value

A new CFHTTPMessage object or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Discussion

Call CFHTTPMessageAppendBytes to store an incoming, serialized HTTP request or response message in the empty message object.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCreateRequest

Creates and returns a CFHTTPMessage object for an HTTP request.

CFHTTPMessageRef CFHTTPMessageCreateRequest (
   CFAllocatorRef alloc,
   CFStringRef requestMethod,
   CFURLRef url,
   CFStringRef httpVersion
);

Parameters

allocator: The allocator to use to allocate memory for the new object. Pass NULL or kCFAllocatorDefault to use the current default allocator.
requestMethod: The request method for the request. Use any of the request methods allowed by the HTTP version specified by httpVersion.
url: The URL to which the request will be sent.
httpVersion: The HTTP version for this message. Pass kCFHTTPVersion1_0 or kCFHTTPVersion1_1.

Return Value

A new CFHTTPMessage object, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Discussion

This function returns a CFHTTPMessage object that you can use to build an HTTP request. Continue building the request by callingCFHTTPMessageSetBody to set the message’s body. Call CFHTTPMessageCopyHeaderFieldValue to set the message’s headers.

If you are using a CFReadStream object to send the message, call CFReadStreamCreateForHTTPRequest to create a read stream for the request. If you are not using CFReadStream, call CFHTTPMessageCopySerializedMessage to make the message ready for transmission by serializing it.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageCreateResponse

Creates and returns a CFHTTPMessage object for an HTTP response.

CFHTTPMessageRef CFHTTPMessageCreateResponse (
   CFAllocatorRef alloc,
   CFIndex statusCode,
   CFStringRef statusDescription,
   CFStringRef httpVersion
);

Parameters

allocator: The allocator to use to allocate memory for the new object. Pass NULL or kCFAllocatorDefault to use the current default allocator.
statusCode: The status code for this message response. The status code can be any of the status codes defined in section 6.1.1 of RFC 2616.
statusDescription: The description that corresponds to the status code. Pass NULL to use the standard description for the given status code, as found in RFC 2616.
httpVersion: The HTTP version for this message response. Pass kCFHTTPVersion1_0 or kCFHTTPVersion1_1.

Return Value

A new CFHTTPMessage object, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Discussion

This function returns a CFHTTPMessage object that you can use to build an HTTP response. Continue building the response by callingCFHTTPMessageSetBody to set the message’s body. Call CFHTTPMessageSetHeaderFieldValue to set the message’s headers. Then call CFHTTPMessageCopySerializedMessage to make the message ready for transmission by serializing it.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageGetResponseStatusCode

Gets the status code from a CFHTTPMessage object representing an HTTP response.

CFIndex CFHTTPMessageGetResponseStatusCode (
   CFHTTPMessageRef response
);

Parameters

response: The message to examine. This must be a response message.
function result: The status code as defined by RFC 2616, section 6.1.1.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageGetTypeID

Returns the Core Foundation type identifier for the CFHTTPMessage opaque type.

CFTypeID CFHTTPMessageGetTypeID ();

Return Value

The Core Foundation type identifier for the CFHTTPMessage opaque type.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageIsHeaderComplete

Determines whether a message header is complete.

Boolean CFHTTPMessageIsHeaderComplete (
   CFHTTPMessageRef message
);

Parameters

message: The message to verify.
function result: TRUE if the message header is complete, otherwise FALSE.

Discussion

After calling CFHTTPMessageAppendBytes, call this function to see if the message header is complete.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageIsRequest

Returns a boolean indicating whether the CFHTTPMessage is a request or a response.

extern Boolean CFHTTPMessageIsRequest(CFHTTPMessageRef message);

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageSetBody

Sets the body of a CFHTTPMessage object.

void CFHTTPMessageSetBody (
   CFHTTPMessageRef message,
   CFDataRef bodyData
);

Parameters

message: The message to modify.
bodyData: The data that is to be set as the body of the message.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

CFHTTPMessageSetHeaderFieldValue

Sets the value of a header field in an HTTP message.

void CFHTTPMessageSetHeaderFieldValue (
   CFHTTPMessageRef message,
   CFStringRef headerField,
   CFStringRef value
);

Parameters

message: The message to modify.
headerField: The header field to set.
value: The value to set.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

Data Types

CFHTTPMessageRef

An opaque reference representing an HTTP message.

typedef struct __CFHTTPMessage *CFHTTPMessageRef;

Availability

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Declared In

CFHTTPMessage.h

Constants

CFHTTP Version Constants

Sets the HTTP version in a CFHTTPMessage request or response object.

const CFStringRef kCFHTTPVersion1_0;
const CFStringRef kCFHTTPVersion1_1;

Constants

kCFHTTPVersion1_0

Specifies HTTP version 1.0.

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

kCFHTTPVersion1_1

Specifies HTTP version 1.1.

Available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.

Discussion

The HTTP version constants are used when you call CFHTTPMessageCreateRequest and CFHTTPMessageCreateResponse to create a request or response message.

Declared In

CFNetwork/CFHTTPMessage.h

Authentication Schemes

Constants used to specify the desired authentication scheme for a request.

extern const CFStringRef kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeBasic;
extern const CFStringRef kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeDigest;
extern const CFStringRef kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeNTLM;
extern const CFStringRef kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeNegotiate;

Constants

kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeBasic

Request the HTTP basic authentication scheme.

Available in Mac OS X version 10.2 and later.

Declared in CFHTTPMessage.h.

kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeDigest

Request the HTTP digest authentication scheme.

Available in Mac OS X version 10.2 and later.

Declared in CFHTTPMessage.h.

kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeNTLM

Request the HTTP NTLM authentication scheme.

Available in Mac OS X version 10.5 and later.

Declared in CFHTTPMessage.h.

kCFHTTPAuthenticationSchemeNegotiate

Request an automatically negotiated authentication scheme.

Available in Mac OS X version 10.5 and later.

Declared in CFHTTPMessage.h.

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