• NAME
• SUPPORTED PLATFORMS
• INTRODUCTION
• REFERENCE
• General Internet Functions
• FTP Functions
• HTTP Functions
• APPENDIX
• Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions
• Functions Table
• Constants
• VERSION HISTORY
• AUTHOR
• CREDITS
• DISCLAIMER

NAME

Win32::Internet - Access to WININET.DLL functions

SUPPORTED PLATFORMS

• Windows

INTRODUCTION

This extension to Perl implements the Win32 Internet APIs (found in WININET.DLL). They give a complete support for HTTP, FTP and GOPHER connections.

See the Version History and the Functions Table for a list of the currently supported features. You should also get a copy of the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions documentation.

REFERENCE

To use this module, first add the following line at the beginning of your script:

    use Win32::Internet;

Then you have to open an Internet connection with this command:

    $Connection = new Win32::Internet();

This is required to use any of the function of this module. It will create an Internet object in Perl on which you can act upon with the General Internet Functions explained later.

The objects available are:

• Internet connections (the main object, see new)

• URLs (see OpenURL)

• FTP sessions (see FTP)

• HTTP sessions (see HTTP)

• HTTP requests (see OpenRequest)

As in the good Perl tradition, there are in this extension different ways to do the same thing; there are, in fact, different levels of implementation of the Win32 Internet Functions. Some routines use several Win32 API functions to perform a complex task in a single call; they are simpler to use, but of course less powerful.

There are then other functions that implement nothing more and nothing less than the corresponding API function, so you can use all of their power, but with some additional programming steps.

To make an example, there is a function called FetchURL that you can use to fetch the content of any HTTP, FTP or GOPHER URL with this simple commands:

    $INET = new Win32::Internet();
    $file = $INET->FetchURL("http://www.yahoo.com";);

You can have the same result (and this is actually what is done by FetchURL) this way:

    $INET = new Win32::Internet();
    $URL = $INET->OpenURL("http://www.yahoo.com";);
    $file = $URL->ReadFile();
    $URL->Close();

Or, you can open a complete HTTP session:

    $INET = new Win32::Internet();
    $HTTP = $INET->HTTP("www.yahoo.com", "anonymous", "dada@divinf.it");
    ($statuscode, $headers, $file) = $HTTP->Request("/");
    $HTTP->Close();

Finally, you can choose to manage even the HTTP request:

    $INET = new Win32::Internet();
    $HTTP = $INET->HTTP("www.yahoo.com", "anonymous", "dada@divinf.it");
    $HTTP->OpenRequest($REQ, "/");
    $REQ->AddHeader("If-Modified-Since: Saturday, 16-Nov-96 15:58:50 GMT");
    $REQ->SendRequest();
    $statuscode = $REQ->QueryInfo("",HTTP_QUERY_STATUS_CODE);
    $lastmodified = $REQ->QueryInfo("Last-Modified");
    $file = $REQ->ReadEntireFile();
    $REQ->Close();
    $HTTP->Close();

To open and control a complete FTP session, type:

    $Connection->FTP($Session, "ftp://ftp.activeware.com";, "anonymous", "dada\@divinf.it");

This will create an FTP object in Perl to which you can apply the FTP functions provided by the package:

    $Session->Cd("/ntperl/perl5.001m/CurrentBuild");
    $Session->Ascii();
    $Session->Get("110-i86.zip");
    $Session->Close();

For a more complete example, see the TEST.PL file that comes with the package.

General Internet Functions

General Note

All methods assume that you have the line:

    use Win32::Internet;

somewhere before the method calls, and that you have an Internet object called $INET which was created using this call:

    $INET = new Win32::Internet();

See new for more information.

Methods

CanonicalizeURL URL, [flags]

Converts a URL to a canonical format, which includes converting unsafe characters to escape sequences. Returns the canonicalized URL or undef on errors. For the possible values of flags, refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions document. See also CombineURL and OpenURL.

Example:

    $cURL = $INET->CanonicalizeURL($URL);
    $URL = $INET->CanonicalizeURL($cURL, ICU_DECODE);

Close

Close object

Closes an Internet connection. This can be applied to any Win32::Internet object (Internet connections, URLs, FTP sessions, etc.). Note that it is not ``strictly'' required to close the connections you create, since the Win32::Internet objects are automatically closed when the program ends (or when you elsehow destroy such an object).

Example:

    $INET->Close();
    $FTP->Close();
    $INET->Close($FTP); # same as above...

CombineURL baseURL, relativeURL, [flags]

Combines a base and relative URL into a single URL. Returns the (canonicalized) combined URL or undef on errors. For the possible values of flags, refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions document. See also CombineURL and OpenURL.

Example:

    $URL = $INET->CombineURL("http://www.divinf.it/dada/perl/internet";, "..");

ConnectBackoff [value]

Reads or sets the delay value, in milliseconds, to wait between connection retries. If no value parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the delay between retries is set to value. See also ConnectTimeout, ConnectRetries, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->ConnectBackoff(2000);
    $backoff = $HTTP->ConnectBackoff();

ConnectRetries [value]

Reads or sets the number of times a connection is retried before considering it failed. If no value parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the number of retries is set to value. The default value for ConnectRetries is 5. See also ConnectBackoff, ConnectTimeout, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->ConnectRetries(20);
    $retries = $HTTP->ConnectRetries();

ConnectTimeout [value]

Reads or sets the timeout value (in milliseconds) before a connection is considered failed. If no value parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the timeout is set to value. The default value for ConnectTimeout is infinite. See also ConnectBackoff, ConnectRetries, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->ConnectTimeout(10000);
    $timeout = $HTTP->ConnectTimeout();

ControlReceiveTimeout [value]

Reads or sets the timeout value (in milliseconds) to use for non-data (control) receive requests before they are canceled. Currently, this value has meaning only for FTP sessions. If no value parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the timeout is set to value. The default value for ControlReceiveTimeout is infinite. See also ControlSendTimeout, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->ControlReceiveTimeout(10000);
    $timeout = $HTTP->ControlReceiveTimeout();

ControlSendTimeout [value]

Reads or sets the timeout value (in milliseconds) to use for non-data (control) send requests before they are canceled. Currently, this value has meaning only for FTP sessions. If no value parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the timeout is set to value. The default value for ControlSendTimeout is infinite. See also ControlReceiveTimeout, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->ControlSendTimeout(10000);
    $timeout = $HTTP->ControlSendTimeout();

CrackURL URL, [flags]

Splits an URL into its component parts and returns them in an array. Returns undef on errors, otherwise the array will contain the following values: scheme, host, port, username, password, path, extrainfo.

For example, the URL ``http://www.divinf.it/index.html#top'' can be splitted in:

    http, www.divinf.it, 80, anonymous, dada@divinf.it, /index.html, #top

If you don't specify a flags parameter, ICU_ESCAPE will be used by default; for the possible values of flags refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions documentation. See also CreateURL.

Example:

    @parts=$INET->CrackURL("http://www.activeware.com";);
    ($scheme, $host, $port, $user, $pass, $path, $extra) =
         $INET->CrackURL("http://www.divinf.it:80/perl-win32/index.sht#feedback";);

CreateURL scheme, hostname, port, username, password, path, extrainfo, [flags]

CreateURL hashref, [flags]

Creates a URL from its component parts. Returns undef on errors, otherwise the created URL.

If you pass hashref (a reference to an hash array), the following values are taken from the array:

    %hash=(
      "scheme"    => "scheme",
      "hostname"  => "hostname",
      "port"      => port,
      "username"  => "username",
      "password"  => "password",
      "path"      => "path",
      "extrainfo" => "extrainfo",
    );

If you don't specify a flags parameter, ICU_ESCAPE will be used by default; for the other possible values of flags refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions documentation. See also CrackURL.

Example:

    $URL=$I->CreateURL("http", "www.divinf.it", 80, "", "", "/perl-win32/index.sht", "#feedback");
    $URL=$I->CreateURL(\%params);

DataReceiveTimeout [value]

Reads or sets the timeout value (in milliseconds) to use for data receive requests before they are canceled. If no value parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the timeout is set to value. The default value for DataReceiveTimeout is infinite. See also DataSendTimeout, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->DataReceiveTimeout(10000);
    $timeout = $HTTP->DataReceiveTimeout();

DataSendTimeout [value]

Reads or sets the timeout value (in milliseconds) to use for data send requests before they are canceled. If no value parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the timeout is set to value. The default value for DataSendTimeout is infinite. See also DataReceiveTimeout, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->DataSendTimeout(10000);
    $timeout = $HTTP->DataSendTimeout();

Error

Returns the last recorded error in the form of an array or string (depending upon the context) containing the error number and an error description. Can be applied on any Win32::Internet object (FTP sessions, etc.). There are 3 types of error you can encounter; they are recognizable by the error number returned:

• -1
  A ``trivial'' error has occurred in the package. For example, you tried to use a method on the wrong type of object.

• 1 .. 11999
  A generic error has occurred and the Win32::GetLastError error message is returned.

• 12000 and higher
  An Internet error has occurred; the extended Win32 Internet API error message is returned.

See also GetResponse.

Example:

    die $INET->Error(), qq(\n);
    ($ErrNum, $ErrText) = $INET->Error();

FetchURL URL

Fetch the content of an HTTP, FTP or GOPHER URL. Returns the content of the file read (or undef if there was an error and nothing was read). See also OpenURL and ReadFile.

Example:

    $file = $INET->FetchURL("http://www.yahoo.com/";);
    $file = $INET->FetchURL("ftp://www.activeware.com/contrib/internet.zip";);

FTP ftpobject, server, username, password, [port, pasv, context]

FTP ftpobject, hashref

Opens an FTP connection to server logging in with the given username and password.

The parameters and their values are:

• server
  The server to connect to. Default: none.

• username
  The username used to login to the server. Default: anonymous.

• password
  The password used to login to the server. Default: none.

• port
  The port of the FTP service on the server. Default: 21.

• pasv
  If it is a value other than 0, use passive transfer mode. Default is taken from the parent Internet connection object; you can set this value with the Pasv method.

• context
  A number to identify this operation if it is asynchronous. See SetStatusCallback and GetStatusCallback for more info on asynchronous operations. Default: none.

If you pass hashref (a reference to an hash array), the following values are taken from the array:

    %hash=(
      "server"   => "server",
      "username" => "username",
      "password" => "password",
      "port"     => port,
      "pasv"     => pasv,
      "context"  => context,
    );

This method returns undef if the connection failed, a number otherwise. You can then call any of the FTP functions as methods of the newly created ftpobject.

Example:

    $result = $INET->FTP($FTP, "ftp.activeware.com", "anonymous", "dada\@divinf.it");
    # and then for example...
    $FTP->Cd("/ntperl/perl5.001m/CurrentBuild");

    $params{"server"} = "ftp.activeware.com";
    $params{"password"} = "dada\@divinf.it";
    $params{"pasv"} = 0;
    $result = $INET->FTP($FTP,\%params);

GetResponse

Returns the text sent by a remote server in response to the last function executed. It applies on any Win32::Internet object, particularly of course on FTP sessions. See also the Error function.

Example:

    print $INET->GetResponse();
    $INET->FTP($FTP, "ftp.activeware.com", "anonymous", "dada\@divinf.it");
    print $FTP->GetResponse();

GetStatusCallback context

Returns information about the progress of the asynchronous operation identified by context; those informations consist of two values: a status code (one of the INTERNET_STATUS_* Constants) and an additional value depending on the status code; for example, if the status code returned is INTERNET_STATUS_HANDLE_CREATED, the second value will hold the handle just created. For more informations on those values, please refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions documentation. See also SetStatusCallback.

Example:

    ($status, $info) = $INET->GetStatusCallback(1);

HTTP httpobject, server, username, password, [port, flags, context]

HTTP httpobject, hashref

Opens an HTTP connection to server logging in with the given username and password.

The parameters and their values are:

• server
  The server to connect to. Default: none.

• username
  The username used to login to the server. Default: anonymous.

• password
  The password used to login to the server. Default: none.

• port
  The port of the HTTP service on the server. Default: 80.

• flags
  Additional flags affecting the behavior of the function. Default: none.

• context
  A number to identify this operation if it is asynchronous. See SetStatusCallback and GetStatusCallback for more info on asynchronous operations. Default: none.

Refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions documentation for more details on those parameters.

If you pass hashref (a reference to an hash array), the following values are taken from the array:

    %hash=(
      "server"   => "server",
      "username" => "username",
      "password" => "password",
      "port"     => port,
      "flags"    => flags,
      "context"  => context,
    );

This method returns undef if the connection failed, a number otherwise. You can then call any of the HTTP functions as methods of the newly created httpobject.

Example:

    $result = $INET->HTTP($HTTP,"www.activeware.com","anonymous","dada\@divinf.it");
    # and then for example...
    ($statuscode, $headers, $file) = $HTTP->Request("/gifs/camel.gif");

    $params{"server"} = "www.activeware.com";
    $params{"password"} = "dada\@divinf.it";
    $params{"flags"} = INTERNET_FLAG_RELOAD;
    $result = $INET->HTTP($HTTP,\%params);

new Win32::Internet [useragent, opentype, proxy, proxybypass, flags]

new Win32::Internet [hashref]

Creates a new Internet object and initializes the use of the Internet functions; this is required before any of the functions of this package can be used. Returns undef if the connection fails, a number otherwise. The parameters and their values are:

• useragent
  The user agent passed to HTTP requests. See OpenRequest. Default: Perl-Win32::Internet/version.

• opentype
  How to access to the Internet (eg. directly or using a proxy). Default: INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_DIRECT.

• proxy
  Name of the proxy server (or servers) to use. Default: none.

• proxybypass
  Optional list of host names or IP addresses, or both, that are known locally. Default: none.

• flags
  Additional flags affecting the behavior of the function. Default: none.

Refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions documentation for more details on those parameters. If you pass hashref (a reference to an hash array), the following values are taken from the array:

    %hash=(
      "useragent"   => "useragent",
      "opentype"    => "opentype",
      "proxy"       => "proxy",
      "proxybypass" => "proxybypass",
      "flags"       => flags,
    );

Example:

    $INET = new Win32::Internet();
    die qq(Cannot connect to Internet...\n) if ! $INET;

    $INET = new Win32::Internet("Mozilla/3.0", INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_PROXY, "www.microsoft.com", "");

    $params{"flags"} = INTERNET_FLAG_ASYNC;
    $INET = new Win32::Internet(\%params);

OpenURL urlobject, URL

Opens a connection to an HTTP, FTP or GOPHER Uniform Resource Location (URL). Returns undef on errors or a number if the connection was succesful. You can then retrieve the URL content by applying the methods QueryDataAvailable and ReadFile on the newly created urlobject. See also FetchURL.

Example:

    $INET->OpenURL($URL, "http://www.yahoo.com/";);
    $bytes = $URL->QueryDataAvailable();
    $file = $URL->ReadEntireFile();
    $URL->Close();

Password [password]

Reads or sets the password used for an FTP or HTTP connection. If no password parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the password is set to password. See also Username, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->Password("splurfgnagbxam");
    $password = $HTTP->Password();

QueryDataAvailable

Returns the number of bytes of data that are available to be read immediately by a subsequent call to ReadFile (or undef on errors). Can be applied to URL or HTTP request objects. See OpenURL or OpenRequest.

Example:

    $INET->OpenURL($URL, "http://www.yahoo.com/";);
    $bytes = $URL->QueryDataAvailable();

QueryOption option

Queries an Internet option. For the possible values of option, refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions document. See also SetOption.

Example:

    $value = $INET->QueryOption(INTERNET_OPTION_CONNECT_TIMEOUT);
    $value = $HTTP->QueryOption(INTERNET_OPTION_USERNAME);

ReadEntireFile

Reads all the data available from an opened URL or HTTP request object. Returns what have been read or undef on errors. See also OpenURL, OpenRequest and ReadFile.

Example:

    $INET->OpenURL($URL, "http://www.yahoo.com/";);
    $file = $URL->ReadEntireFile();

ReadFile bytes

Reads bytes bytes of data from an opened URL or HTTP request object. Returns what have been read or undef on errors. See also OpenURL, OpenRequest, QueryDataAvailable and ReadEntireFile.

Note: be careful to keep bytes to an acceptable value (eg. don't tell him to swallow megabytes at once...). ReadEntireFile in fact uses QueryDataAvailable and ReadFile in a loop to read no more than 16k at a time.

Example:

    $INET->OpenURL($URL, "http://www.yahoo.com/";);
    $chunk = $URL->ReadFile(16000);

SetOption option, value

Sets an Internet option. For the possible values of option, refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions document. See also QueryOption.

Example:

    $INET->SetOption(INTERNET_OPTION_CONNECT_TIMEOUT,10000);
    $HTTP->SetOption(INTERNET_OPTION_USERNAME,"dada");

SetStatusCallback

Initializes the callback routine used to return data about the progress of an asynchronous operation.

Example:

    $INET->SetStatusCallback();

This is one of the step required to perform asynchronous operations; the complete procedure is:

    # use the INTERNET_FLAG_ASYNC when initializing
    $params{'flags'}=INTERNET_FLAG_ASYNC;
    $INET = new Win32::Internet(\%params);

    # initialize the callback routine
    $INET->SetStatusCallback();

    # specify the context parameter (the last 1 in this case)
    $INET->HTTP($HTTP, "www.yahoo.com", "anonymous", "dada\@divinf.it", 80, 0, 1);

At this point, control returns immediately to Perl and $INET->Error() will return 997, which means an asynchronous I/O operation is pending. Now, you can call

    $HTTP->GetStatusCallback(1);

in a loop to verify what's happening; see also GetStatusCallback.

TimeConvert time

TimeConvert seconds, minute, hours, day, month, year, day_of_week, RFC

The first form takes a HTTP date/time string and returns the date/time converted in the following array: seconds, minute, hours, day, month, year, day_of_week.

The second form does the opposite (or at least it should, because actually seems to be malfunctioning): it takes the values and returns an HTTP date/time string, in the RFC format specified by the RFC parameter (OK, I didn't find yet any accepted value in the range 0..2000, let me know if you have more luck with it).

Example:

    ($sec, $min, $hour, $day, $mday, $year, $wday) =
       $INET->TimeConvert("Sun, 26 Jan 1997 20:01:52 GMT");

    # the opposite DOESN'T WORK! which value should $RFC have???
    $time = $INET->TimeConvert(52, 1, 20, 26, 1, 1997, 0, $RFC);

UserAgent [name]

Reads or sets the user agent used for HTTP requests. If no name parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the user agent is set to name. See also QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $INET->UserAgent("Mozilla/3.0");
    $useragent = $INET->UserAgent();

Username [name]

Reads or sets the username used for an FTP or HTTP connection. If no name parameter is specified, the current value is returned; otherwise, the username is set to name. See also Password, QueryOption and SetOption.

Example:

    $HTTP->Username("dada");
    $username = $HTTP->Username();

Version

Returns the version numbers for the Win32::Internet package and the WININET.DLL version, as an array or string, depending on the context. The string returned will contain ``package_version/DLL_version'', while the array will contain: ``package_version'', ``DLL_version''.

Example:

    $version = $INET->Version(); # should return "0.06/4.70.1215"
    @version = $INET->Version(); # should return ("0.06", "4.70.1215")

FTP Functions

General Note

All methods assume that you have the following lines:

    use Win32::Internet;
    $INET = new Win32::Internet();
    $INET->FTP($FTP, "hostname", "username", "password");

somewhere before the method calls; in other words, we assume that you have an Internet object called $INET and an open FTP session called $FTP.

See new and FTP for more information.

Methods

Ascii

Asc

Sets the ASCII transfer mode for this FTP session. It will be applied to the subsequent Get functions. See also the Binary and Mode function.

Example:

    $FTP->Ascii();

Binary

Bin

Sets the binary transfer mode for this FTP session. It will be applied to the subsequent Get functions. See also the Ascii and Mode function.

Example:

    $FTP->Binary();

Cd path

Cwd path

Chdir path

Changes the current directory on the FTP remote host. Returns path or undef on error.

Example:

    $FTP->Cd("/pub");

Delete file

Del file

Deletes a file on the FTP remote host. Returns undef on error.

Example:

    $FTP->Delete("110-i86.zip");

Get remote, [local, overwrite, flags, context]

Gets the remote FTP file and saves it locally in local. If local is not specified, it will be the same name as remote. Returns undef on error. The parameters and their values are:

• remote
  The name of the remote file on the FTP server. Default: none.

• local
  The name of the local file to create. Default: remote.

• overwrite
  If 0, overwrites local if it exists; with any other value, the function fails if the local file already exists. Default: 0.

• flags
  Additional flags affecting the behavior of the function. Default: none.

• context
  A number to identify this operation if it is asynchronous. See SetStatusCallback and GetStatusCallback for more info on asynchronous operations. Default: none.

Refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions documentation for more details on those parameters.

Example:

    $FTP->Get("110-i86.zip");
    $FTP->Get("/pub/perl/languages/CPAN/00index.html", "CPAN_index.html");

List [pattern, listmode]

Ls [pattern, listmode]

Dir [pattern, listmode]

Returns a list containing the files found in this directory, eventually matching the given pattern (which, if omitted, is considered ``*.*''). The content of the returned list depends on the listmode parameter, which can have the following values:

• listmode=1 (or omitted)
  the list contains the names of the files found. Example:

      @files = $FTP->List();
      @textfiles = $FTP->List("*.txt");
      foreach $file (@textfiles) {
        print "Name: ", $file, "\n";
      }

• listmode=2
  the list contains 7 values for each file, which respectively are:
  • the file name
    
  • the DOS short file name, aka 8.3
    
  • the size
    
  • the attributes
    
  • the creation time
    
  • the last access time
    
  • the last modified time
    

  Example:

      @files = $FTP->List("*.*", 2);
      for($i=0; $i<=$#files; $i+=7) {
        print "Name: ", @files[$i], "\n";
        print "Size: ", @files[$i+2], "\n";
        print "Attr: ", @files[$i+3], "\n";
      }

• listmode=3
  the list contains a reference to an hash array for each found file; each hash contains:
  • name => the file name
    
  • altname => the DOS short file name, aka 8.3
    
  • size => the size
    
  • attr => the attributes
    
  • ctime => the creation time
    
  • atime => the last access time
    
  • mtime => the last modified time
    

  Example:

      @files = $FTP->List("*.*", 3);
      foreach $file (@files) {
        print $file->{'name'}, " ", $file->{'size'}, " ", $file->{'attr'}, "\n";
      }

  Note: all times are reported as strings of the following format: second, hour, minute, day, month, year.

  Example:

      $file->{'mtime'} == "0,10,58,9,12,1996" stands for 09 Dec 1996 at 10:58:00

Mkdir name

Md name

Creates a directory on the FTP remote host. Returns undef on error.

Example:

    $FTP->Mkdir("NextBuild");

Mode [mode]

If called with no arguments, returns the current transfer mode for this FTP session (``asc'' for ASCII or ``bin'' for binary). The mode argument can be ``asc'' or ``bin'', in which case the appropriate transfer mode is selected. See also the Ascii and Binary functions. Returns undef on errors.

Example:

    print "Current mode is: ", $FTP->Mode();
    $FTP->Mode("asc"); # ...  same as $FTP->Ascii();

Pasv [mode]

If called with no arguments, returns 1 if the current FTP session has passive transfer mode enabled, 0 if not.

You can call it with a mode parameter (0/1) only as a method of a Internet object (see new), in which case it will set the default value for the next FTP objects you create (read: set it before, because you can't change this value once you opened the FTP session).

Example:

    print "Pasv is: ", $FTP->Pasv();

    $INET->Pasv(1);
    $INET->FTP($FTP,"ftp.activeware.com", "anonymous", "dada\@divinf.it");
    $FTP->Pasv(0); # this will be ignored...

Put local, [remote, context]

Upload the local file to the FTP server saving it under the name remote, which if if omitted is the same name as local. Returns undef on error.

context is a number to identify this operation if it is asynchronous. See SetStatusCallback and GetStatusCallback for more info on asynchronous operations.

Example:

    $FTP->Put("internet.zip");
    $FTP->Put("d:/users/dada/temp.zip", "/temp/dada.zip");

Pwd

Returns the current directory on the FTP server or undef on errors.

Example:

    $path = $FTP->Pwd();

Rename oldfile, newfile

Ren oldfile, newfile

Renames a file on the FTP remote host. Returns undef on error.

Example:

    $FTP->Rename("110-i86.zip", "68i-011.zip");

Rmdir name

Rd name

Removes a directory on the FTP remote host. Returns undef on error.

Example:

    $FTP->Rmdir("CurrentBuild");

HTTP Functions

General Note

All methods assume that you have the following lines:

    use Win32::Internet;
    $INET = new Win32::Internet();
    $INET->HTTP($HTTP, "hostname", "username", "password");

somewhere before the method calls; in other words, we assume that you have an Internet object called $INET and an open HTTP session called $HTTP.

See new and HTTP for more information.

Methods

AddHeader header, [flags]

Adds HTTP request headers to an HTTP request object created with OpenRequest. For the possible values of flags refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions document.

Example:

    $HTTP->OpenRequest($REQUEST,"/index.html");
    $REQUEST->AddHeader("If-Modified-Since:  Sunday, 17-Nov-96 11:40:03 GMT");
    $REQUEST->AddHeader("Accept: text/html\r\n", HTTP_ADDREQ_FLAG_REPLACE);

OpenRequest requestobject, [path, method, version, referer, accept, flags, context]

OpenRequest requestobject, hashref

Opens an HTTP request. Returns undef on errors or a number if the connection was succesful. You can then use one of the AddHeader, SendRequest, QueryInfo, QueryDataAvailable and ReadFile methods on the newly created requestobject. The parameters and their values are:

• path
  The object to request. This is generally a file name, an executable module, etc. Default: /

• method
  The method to use; can actually be GET, POST, HEAD or PUT. Default: GET

• version
  The HTTP version. Default: HTTP/1.0

• referer
  The URL of the document from which the URL in the request was obtained. Default: none

• accept
  The content types accepted. They must be separated by a ``\0'' (ASCII zero). Default: text/* image/gif image/jpeg

• flags
  Additional flags affecting the behavior of the function. Default: none

• context
  A number to identify this operation if it is asynchronous. See SetStatusCallback and GetStatusCallback for more info on asynchronous operations. Default: none

Refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions documentation for more details on those parameters. If you pass hashref (a reference to an hash array), the following values are taken from the array:

    %hash=(
      "path"        => "path",
      "method"      => "method",
      "version"     => "version",
      "referer"     => "referer",
      "accept"      => "accept",
      "flags"       => flags,
      "context"     => context,
    );

See also Request.

Example:

    $HTTP->OpenRequest($REQUEST, "/index.html");
    $HTTP->OpenRequest($REQUEST, "/index.html", "GET", "HTTP/0.9");

    $params{"path"} = "/index.html";
    $params{"flags"} = "
    $HTTP->OpenRequest($REQUEST, \%params);

QueryInfo header, [flags]

Queries information about an HTTP request object created with OpenRequest. You can specify an header (for example, ``Content-type'') and/or one or more flags. If you don't specify flags, HTTP_QUERY_CUSTOM will be used by default; this means that header should contain a valid HTTP header name. For the possible values of flags refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions document.

Example:

    $HTTP->OpenRequest($REQUEST,"/index.html");
    $statuscode = $REQUEST->QueryInfo("", HTTP_QUERY_STATUS_CODE);
    $headers = $REQUEST->QueryInfo("", HTTP_QUERY_RAW_HEADERS_CRLF); # will get all the headers
    $length = $REQUEST->QueryInfo("Content-length");

Request [path, method, version, referer, accept, flags]

Request hashref

Performs an HTTP request and returns an array containing the status code, the headers and the content of the file. It is a one-step procedure that makes an OpenRequest, a SendRequest, some QueryInfo, ReadFile and finally Close. For a description of the parameters, see OpenRequest.

Example:

    ($statuscode, $headers, $file) = $HTTP->Request("/index.html");
    ($s, $h, $f) = $HTTP->Request("/index.html", "GET", "HTTP/1.0");

SendRequest [postdata]

Send an HTTP request to the destination server. postdata are any optional data to send immediately after the request header; this is generally used for POST or PUT requests. See also OpenRequest.

Example:

    $HTTP->OpenRequest($REQUEST, "/index.html");
    $REQUEST->SendRequest();

    # A POST request...
    $HTTP->OpenRequest($REQUEST, "/cgi-bin/somescript.pl", "POST");

    #This line is a must -> (thanks Philip :)
    $REQUEST->AddHeader("Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded");

    $REQUEST->SendRequest("key1=value1&key2=value2&key3=value3");

APPENDIX

Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions

Complete documentation for the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions can be found, in both HTML and zipped Word format, at this address:

    http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/sdk/docs/wininet/

Functions Table

This table reports the correspondence between the functions offered by WININET.DLL and their implementation in the Win32::Internet extension. Functions showing a ``---'' are not currently implemented. Functions enclosed in parens ( ) aren't implemented straightforwardly, but in a higher-level routine, eg. together with other functions.

    WININET.DLL                     Win32::Internet

    InternetOpen                    new Win32::Internet
    InternetConnect                 FTP / HTTP
    InternetCloseHandle             Close
    InternetQueryOption             QueryOption
    InternetSetOption               SetOption
    InternetSetOptionEx             ---
    InternetSetStatusCallback       SetStatusCallback
    InternetStatusCallback          GetStatusCallback
    InternetConfirmZoneCrossing     ---
    InternetTimeFromSystemTime      TimeConvert
    InternetTimeToSystemTime        TimeConvert
    InternetAttemptConnect          ---
    InternetReadFile                ReadFile
    InternetSetFilePointer          ---
    InternetFindNextFile            (List)
    InternetQueryDataAvailable      QueryDataAvailable
    InternetGetLastResponseInfo     GetResponse
    InternetWriteFile               ---
    InternetCrackUrl                CrackURL
    InternetCreateUrl               CreateURL
    InternetCanonicalizeUrl         CanonicalizeURL
    InternetCombineUrl              CombineURL
    InternetOpenUrl                 OpenURL
    FtpFindFirstFile                (List)
    FtpGetFile                      Get
    FtpPutFile                      Put
    FtpDeleteFile                   Delete
    FtpRenameFile                   Rename
    FtpOpenFile                     ---
    FtpCreateDirectory              Mkdir
    FtpRemoveDirectory              Rmdir
    FtpSetCurrentDirectory          Cd
    FtpGetCurrentDirectory          Pwd
    HttpOpenRequest                 OpenRequest
    HttpAddRequestHeaders           AddHeader
    HttpSendRequest                 SendRequest
    HttpQueryInfo                   QueryInfo
    InternetErrorDlg                ---

Actually, I don't plan to add support for Gopher, Cookie and Cache functions. I will if there will be consistent requests to do so.

There are a number of higher-level functions in the Win32::Internet that simplify some usual procedures, calling more that one WININET API function. This table reports those functions and the relative WININET functions they use.

    Win32::Internet                 WININET.DLL

    FetchURL                        InternetOpenUrl
                                    InternetQueryDataAvailable
                                    InternetReadFile
                                    InternetCloseHandle

    ReadEntireFile                  InternetQueryDataAvailable
                                    InternetReadFile

    Request                         HttpOpenRequest
                                    HttpSendRequest
                                    HttpQueryInfo
                                    InternetQueryDataAvailable
                                    InternetReadFile
                                    InternetCloseHandle

    List                            FtpFindFirstFile
                                    InternetFindNextFile

Constants

Those are the constants exported by the package in the main namespace (eg. you can use them in your scripts); for their meaning and proper use, refer to the Microsoft Win32 Internet Functions document.

    HTTP_ADDREQ_FLAG_ADD
    HTTP_ADDREQ_FLAG_REPLACE
    HTTP_QUERY_ALLOW
    HTTP_QUERY_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION
    HTTP_QUERY_CONTENT_ID
    HTTP_QUERY_CONTENT_LENGTH
    HTTP_QUERY_CONTENT_TRANSFER_ENCODING
    HTTP_QUERY_CONTENT_TYPE
    HTTP_QUERY_COST
    HTTP_QUERY_CUSTOM
    HTTP_QUERY_DATE
    HTTP_QUERY_DERIVED_FROM
    HTTP_QUERY_EXPIRES
    HTTP_QUERY_FLAG_REQUEST_HEADERS
    HTTP_QUERY_FLAG_SYSTEMTIME
    HTTP_QUERY_LANGUAGE
    HTTP_QUERY_LAST_MODIFIED
    HTTP_QUERY_MESSAGE_ID
    HTTP_QUERY_MIME_VERSION
    HTTP_QUERY_PRAGMA
    HTTP_QUERY_PUBLIC
    HTTP_QUERY_RAW_HEADERS
    HTTP_QUERY_RAW_HEADERS_CRLF
    HTTP_QUERY_REQUEST_METHOD
    HTTP_QUERY_SERVER
    HTTP_QUERY_STATUS_CODE
    HTTP_QUERY_STATUS_TEXT
    HTTP_QUERY_URI
    HTTP_QUERY_USER_AGENT
    HTTP_QUERY_VERSION
    HTTP_QUERY_WWW_LINK
    ICU_BROWSER_MODE
    ICU_DECODE
    ICU_ENCODE_SPACES_ONLY
    ICU_ESCAPE
    ICU_NO_ENCODE
    ICU_NO_META
    ICU_USERNAME
    INTERNET_CONNECT_FLAG_PASSIVE
    INTERNET_FLAG_ASYNC
    INTERNET_FLAG_HYPERLINK
    INTERNET_FLAG_KEEP_CONNECTION
    INTERNET_FLAG_MAKE_PERSISTENT
    INTERNET_FLAG_NO_AUTH
    INTERNET_FLAG_NO_AUTO_REDIRECT
    INTERNET_FLAG_NO_CACHE_WRITE
    INTERNET_FLAG_NO_COOKIES
    INTERNET_FLAG_READ_PREFETCH
    INTERNET_FLAG_RELOAD
    INTERNET_FLAG_RESYNCHRONIZE
    INTERNET_FLAG_TRANSFER_ASCII
    INTERNET_FLAG_TRANSFER_BINARY
    INTERNET_INVALID_PORT_NUMBER
    INTERNET_INVALID_STATUS_CALLBACK
    INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_DIRECT
    INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_PROXY
    INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_PROXY_PRECONFIG
    INTERNET_OPTION_CONNECT_BACKOFF
    INTERNET_OPTION_CONNECT_RETRIES
    INTERNET_OPTION_CONNECT_TIMEOUT
    INTERNET_OPTION_CONTROL_SEND_TIMEOUT
    INTERNET_OPTION_CONTROL_RECEIVE_TIMEOUT
    INTERNET_OPTION_DATA_SEND_TIMEOUT
    INTERNET_OPTION_DATA_RECEIVE_TIMEOUT
    INTERNET_OPTION_HANDLE_TYPE
    INTERNET_OPTION_LISTEN_TIMEOUT
    INTERNET_OPTION_PASSWORD
    INTERNET_OPTION_READ_BUFFER_SIZE
    INTERNET_OPTION_USER_AGENT
    INTERNET_OPTION_USERNAME
    INTERNET_OPTION_VERSION
    INTERNET_OPTION_WRITE_BUFFER_SIZE
    INTERNET_SERVICE_FTP
    INTERNET_SERVICE_GOPHER
    INTERNET_SERVICE_HTTP
    INTERNET_STATUS_CLOSING_CONNECTION
    INTERNET_STATUS_CONNECTED_TO_SERVER
    INTERNET_STATUS_CONNECTING_TO_SERVER
    INTERNET_STATUS_CONNECTION_CLOSED
    INTERNET_STATUS_HANDLE_CLOSING
    INTERNET_STATUS_HANDLE_CREATED
    INTERNET_STATUS_NAME_RESOLVED
    INTERNET_STATUS_RECEIVING_RESPONSE
    INTERNET_STATUS_REDIRECT
    INTERNET_STATUS_REQUEST_COMPLETE
    INTERNET_STATUS_REQUEST_SENT
    INTERNET_STATUS_RESOLVING_NAME
    INTERNET_STATUS_RESPONSE_RECEIVED
    INTERNET_STATUS_SENDING_REQUEST

VERSION HISTORY

• 0.081 (25 Sep 1999)
  
  • Documentation converted to pod format by Jan Dubois <jand@activestate.com>.

  • Minor changes from Perl 5.005xx compatibility.

• 0.08 (14 Feb 1997)
  
  • fixed 2 more bugs in Option(s) related subs (thanks to Brian Helterline!).

  • Error() now gets error messages directly from WININET.DLL.

  • The PLL file now comes in 2 versions, one for Perl version 5.001 (build 100) and one for Perl version 5.003 (build 300 and higher). Everybody should be happy now :)

  • added an installation program.

• 0.07 (10 Feb 1997)
  
  • fixed a bug in Version() introduced with 0.06...

  • completely reworked PM file, fixed *lots* of minor bugs, and removed almost all the warnings with ``perl -w''.

• 0.06 (26 Jan 1997)
  
  • fixed another hideous bug in ``new'' (the 'class' parameter was still missing).

  • added support for asynchronous operations (work still in embryo).

  • removed the ending \0 (ASCII zero) from the DLL version returned by ``Version''.

  • added a lot of constants.

  • added safefree() after every safemalloc() in C... wonder why I didn't it before :)

  • added TimeConvert, which actually works one way only.

• 0.05f (29 Nov 1996)
  
  • fixed a bug in ``new'' (parameters passed were simply ignored).

  • fixed another bug: ``Chdir'' and ``Cwd'' were aliases of RMDIR instead of CD..

• 0.05 (29 Nov 1996)
  
  • added ``CrackURL'' and ``CreateURL''.

  • corrected an error in TEST.PL (there was a GetUserAgent instead of UserAgent).

• 0.04 (25 Nov 1996)
  
  • added ``Version'' to retrieve package and DLL versions.

  • added proxies and other options to ``new''.

  • changed ``OpenRequest'' and ``Request'' to read parameters from a hash.

  • added ``SetOption/QueryOption'' and a lot of relative functions (connect, username, password, useragent, etc.).

  • added ``CanonicalizeURL'' and ``CombineURL''.

  • ``Error'' covers a wider spectrum of errors.

• 0.02 (18 Nov 1996)
  
  • added support for HTTP sessions and requests.

• 0.01 (11 Nov 1996)
  
  • fetching of HTTP, FTP and GOPHER URLs.

  • complete set of commands to manage an FTP session.

AUTHOR

Version 0.08 (14 Feb 1997) by Aldo Calpini <a.calpini@romagiubileo.it>

CREDITS

Win32::Internet is based on the Win32::Registry code written by Jesse Dougherty.

Additional thanks to: Carl Tichler for his help in the initial development; Tore Haraldsen, Brian Helterline for the bugfixes; Dave Roth for his great source code examples.

DISCLAIMER

This program is FREE; you can redistribute, modify, disassemble, or even reverse engineer this software at your will. Keep in mind, however, that NOTHING IS GUARANTEED to work and everything you do is AT YOUR OWN RISK - I will not take responsability for any damage, loss of money and/or health that may arise from the use of this program!

This is distributed under the terms of Larry Wall's Artistic License.