What C++ library should I use to implement a HTTP client?

Question

I'm looking for a C++ library that implements or enables the implementation of a HTTP client. It should handle cookies as well.

What would you propose?

duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/342918/simple-asynchronous-multi-threaded-http-request-library-for-c — lothar, May 04 '09 at 23:20
imho no, that is ANOTHER question (asyncronous library, threading) — dfa, May 04 '09 at 23:22
Have a look at this nice list : https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/links/libs — Vraj Pandya, Dec 16 '19 at 04:09
simple http client https://github.com/pedro-vicente/lib_netsockets/blob/master/examples/http_client.cc — Pedro Vicente, Sep 16 '20 at 05:50

score 36 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 30 '18 at 12:52

36

Curl++: is an option, particularly if you want things in more of a C++ style.

cpp-netlib: very good and simple to use, available on ubuntu

sudo apt-get install libcppnetlib-dev

example:

using namespace boost::network;
using namespace boost::network::http;

client::request request_("http://127.0.0.1:8000/");
request_ << header("Connection", "close");
client client_;
client::response response_ = client_.get(request_);
std::string body_ = body(response_);

edited Jan 30 '18 at 12:52

KindDragon

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answered May 04 '09 at 23:21

bdonlan

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What does the ending underscore convention indicate? – rbanffy Feb 28 '18 at 10:29
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@rbanffy sometimes it's used for private members but more often just to avoid name collisions (especially with keywords) – Xeverous Feb 22 '19 at 21:26
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`Unable to locate package libcppnetlib-dev` on Ubuntu 18.04 – PC. Jun 23 '19 at 15:27

da_m_n · Answer 2 · 2009-07-31T17:58:08.037

18

Take a look at Poco Libraries.

I started using them as they are portable and it's a joy to work with. Simple and clean - though I haven't dived in anything fancy for the moment.

edited Jul 31 '09 at 17:58

answered Jul 31 '09 at 12:13

da_m_n

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Poco is a very nice library that in my opinion deserves more publicity than it seems to get – jcoder Jul 31 '09 at 12:21
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Poco seems obsolete since C++11 came out, with its own non-standard shared pointers, and not taking advantage of "new" C++ features that would make for a better API. – gatopeich May 27 '20 at 11:37
Poco HTTP client is synchronous – Sasha Itin Oct 05 '20 at 14:14

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered May 04 '09 at 23:21

15

curl
libwww

answered May 04 '09 at 23:21

dfa

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score 12 · Answer 4 · answered May 04 '09 at 23:21

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C++ (STL) does not have a HTTP or network library by default, you will have to do with something else.

libcurl should do what you want. cURL++ is the same libcurl wrapped in a shiny C++ wrapper.

answered May 04 '09 at 23:21

The Unknown

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Link to cURL++ appears dead – mathematician1975 Apr 22 '21 at 12:43

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered May 05 '09 at 05:44

3

You can try WinInet

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa385331(VS.85).aspx

In contrast to WinHTTP, it's more client-side oriented.

answered May 05 '09 at 05:44

Eugene

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Thanks for your suggestion. Take a look at my comment on WinHTTP answer on this question as it applies here as well. "// This call will fail on the first pass, because // no buffer is allocated. if(!HttpQueryInfo(hHttp,HTTP_QUERY_RAW_HEADERS_CRLF, (LPVOID)lpOutBuffer,&dwSize,NULL))" "For ease of use, WinINet abstracts these protocols into a high-level interface." High-level interface? Maybe it was high-level interface 20 years ago... – Piotr Dobrogost May 05 '09 at 07:55
You can also look at URL monikers: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms774965(VS.85).aspx, it relies on WinInet(as I think), but provides COM like interface. – Eugene May 05 '09 at 09:58
@Piotr: trust me, if you think WinHTTP is bad, you will absolutely *HATE* WinInet... It is an astonishingly unfriendly API, even if you're used to working with C libraries. And the worst part of it may be the WinInet constants and errors that "bleed through" to higher-level libraries such as MSXML... The big advantage of WinInet is that if a user has already configured proxy settings for their account (via the administrator options or the IE / Internet Options control panel) then WinInet will pick those up automatically; other libraries may need explicit configuration. Windows-only though... – Shog9 Jan 27 '10 at 19:05
and wininet could popup gui's reqiuring user to do something – TakeMeAsAGuest Mar 29 '19 at 20:32

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered May 05 '09 at 02:05

If it's for windows, take a look at Windows HTTP Services (WinHTTP)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384273(VS.85).aspx

Microsoft Windows HTTP Services (WinHTTP) provides developers with an HTTP client application programming interface (API) to send requests through the HTTP protocol to other HTTP servers.

WinHTTP offers both a C/C++ application programming interface (API) and a Component Object Model (COM) automation component suitable for use in Active Server Pages (ASP) based applications.

For Cookies http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa383261(VS.85).aspx

Thanks for your suggestion. It's plain C without any of C++ there. I'd really like to make use of Bjarne's hard work (http://research.att.com/~bs). It should be forbidden for a couple of years now to use C in application programming :) — Piotr Dobrogost, May 05 '09 at 07:45

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 27 '12 at 09:53

2

All alternative library are available here, if you need complex http APIs, try curl, if just wanna get a file, try http-tiny

http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/competitors.html

answered Mar 27 '12 at 09:53

Neil Han

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 04 '09 at 23:33

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On Windows you can drive IE using IWebBrowser2 interface.

answered May 04 '09 at 23:33

Eugene Yokota

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Valid, but a **really** slow solution for those with high performance requirements. – Kiril May 08 '12 at 20:56

What C++ library should I use to implement a HTTP client?

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