README.md

Android Components > Concept > Fetch

The concept-fetch component contains interfaces for defining an abstract HTTP client for fetching resources.

The primary use of this component is to hide the actual implementation of the HTTP client from components required to make HTTP requests. This allows apps to configure a single app-wide used client without the components enforcing a particular dependency.

The API and name of the component is inspired by the Web Fetch API.

Usage

Setting up the dependency

Use Gradle to download the library from maven.mozilla.org (Setup repository):

implementation "org.mozilla.components:concept-fetch:{latest-version}"

Performing requests

Get a URL

val request = Request(url)
val response = client.fetch(request)
val body = response.string()

A Response may hold references to other resources (e.g. streams). Therefore it's important to always close the Response object or its Body. This can be done by either consuming the content of the Body with one of the available methods or by using Kotlin's extension methods for using Closeable implementations (e.g. use()):

client.fetch(Request(url)).use { response ->
    val body = response.body.string()
}

Post to a URL

val request = Request(
   url = "...",
   method = Request.Method.POST,
   body = Request.Body.fromStream(stream))
   
client.fetch(request).use { response ->
   if (response.success) {
       // ...
   }
}

Github API example

val request = Request(
   url = "https://api.github.com/repos/mozilla-mobile/android-components/issues",
   headers = MutableHeaders(
       "User-Agent" to "AwesomeBrowser/1.0",
       "Accept" to "application/json; q=0.5",
       "Accept" to "application/vnd.github.v3+json"))

client.fetch(request).use { response ->
    val server = response.headers.get('Server')
    val result = response.body.string()
}

Posting a file

val file = File("README.md")

val request = Request(
   url = "https://api.github.com/markdown/raw",
   headers = MutableHeaders(
       "Content-Type", "text/x-markdown; charset=utf-8"
   ),
   body = Request.Body.fromFile(file))
   
client.fetch(request).use { response ->
   if (request.success) {
      // Upload was successful!
   }
}
   

Asynchronous requests

Client implementations are synchronous. For asynchronous requests it's recommended to wrap a client in a Coroutine with a scope the calling code is in control of:

val deferredResponse = async { client.fetch(request) }
val body = deferredResponse.await().body.string()

Interceptors

Interceptors are a powerful mechanism to monitor, modify, retry, redirect or record requests as well as responses going through a Client. Interceptors can be used with any concept-fetch implementation.

The withInterceptors() extension method can be used to create a wrapped Client that will use the provided interceptors for requests.

val response = HttpURLConnectionClient()
  .withInterceptors(LoggingInterceptor(), RetryInterceptor())
  .fetch(request)

The following example implements a simple Interceptor that logs requests and how long they took:

class LoggingInterceptor(
    private val logger: Logger = Logger("Client")
): Interceptor {
    override fun intercept(chain: Interceptor.Chain): Response {
        logger.info("Request to ${chain.request.url}")

        val startTime = System.currentTimeMillis()

        val response = chain.proceed(chain.request)

        val took = System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime
        logger.info("[${response.status}] took $took ms")

        return response
    }
}

And the following example is a naive implementation of an interceptor that retries requests:

class NaiveRetryInterceptor(
    private val maxRetries: Int = 3
) : Interceptor {
    override fun intercept(chain: Interceptor.Chain): Response {
        val response = chain.proceed(chain.request)
        if (response.isSuccess) {
            return response
        }

        return retry(chain) ?: response
    }

    fun retry(chain: Interceptor.Chain): Response? {
        var lastResponse: Response? = null
        var retries = 0

        while (retries < maxRetries) {
            lastResponse = chain.proceed(chain.request)
            if (lastResponse.isSuccess) {
                return lastResponse
            }
            retries++
        }

        return lastResponse
    }
}

License

This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/