Create and Execute Basic Request

Create basic request

To quickly create and execute basic request, select menu option Tools/Basic Request or press Ctrl+B. You can specify the following data in the window that opens:

• Execution URL; enter URL against which you want to execute request, for example, http://www.example.com. If you do not provide the protocol that you want to use, for example, you enter only www.example.com, the HTTP protocol will be prepended automatically. You can press F4 or click corresponding toolbar button to open window for building URL. Here you can specify data for every URL part and temporarily include or exclude particular query string parameter.
• Request headers; specify request HTTP headers that will be included with the request. Each header must be specified on a separate line, name and value for each header must be separated by a colon. Particular header can be excluded by preceding it with a double forward slash. Excluded headers will be ignored during the execution and won't be part of the request data.
• Method; select one of the methods available in the drop down or type the desired method name.
• Upload data type; the following upload types of request data are possible:
  • String data type; to specify string request data, enter string data in the request data field or click Create button to create body from an existing HTML content. The body specified here will be added to the request and will be encoded with the selected request encoding. Particular data item can be excluded by preceding it with a double forward slash. Excluded data items will be ignored during the execution and won't be part of the request data.
  • Single file contents type; if you want to upload file from disk, select corresponding option and enter full path to the file on the disk. You can also click Browse button to search for the file on the disk.
  • Multipart form data type; If you want to upload multipart form data, select corresponding option and enter each data element on a separate line, you can also include files (with full paths) from your computer. Content type should be set to multipart/form-data (set automatically when this upload type is selected). During upload process, HttpMaster will include all data elements with valid file path as files; others will be included as plain text data. If you would like to include content type with particular element, specify content type value after the element value and separate them with vertical bar. Particular data item can be excluded by preceding it with a double forward slash. Excluded data items will be ignored during the execution and won't be part of the request data.
• Content type; select content type from the drop down or enter your own.
• Content viewer; select pretty viewer for request body. This setting is only for more user-friendly display, you can safely leave this at default value (Text).

Execute basic request

To execute basic request, click Execute selected request tab button in the execution toolbar or press F5. After the request is completed, the response data is displayed in the panel below the request data. To stop current execution, click Stop current execution button in the execution toolbar or press Shift+F5.

Execution timeout

If you would like to change execution timeout value, click corresponding button in the toolbar and specify timeout value in seconds. The value specified for execution timeout affects all basic request tabs. For more info on execution timeout, see the corresponding topic.

Additional request options

The following additional request options are available:

• Follow Redirection Responses; if enabled, HTTP return codes from redirection range (3xx) wont be returned to the application, but will automatically redirect.
• Create Persistent Connection; creates persistent/non-persistent connection by sending the Connection header with the Keep-alive or Close values.
• Automatically Decompress Response Data; adds Accept-encoding header and automatically decompresses received compressed data.

Request encoding

With the corresponding toolbar button you can select encoding that will be used when uploading string data. It will also be used with URL encoding. Changing encoding affects only selected tab; for other open tabs you can select different encoding.

Authentication data

If you have opened basic request directly (with menu option Basic Request), authentication type is always Do not include authentication data. You can, however, change authentication data by opening authentication window and specifying authentication data.
If you have opened basic request via project request item (with menu option Open as Basic Request), authentication type is set to the value specified in the project properties. You can, however, change authentication data by opening authentication window and specifying different authentication data. The value of property that specifies whether project authentication data should be excluded with the request item does not have any effect. See Authentication data for more information.

OAuth access data

If you would like to obtain OAuth access data from authentication provider, click Obtain OAuth Access Data button and specify necessary data. See OAuth Access Data for more information.

Insert project parameter value in selected field

If you have opened basic request window via project request items and you have parameters defined in the project, you can obtain default value of any parameter and use it in this window. To obtain the value of some project parameter, put cursor in the field where you would like to insert parameter value. Then click corresponding button in the main toolbar and select desired parameter from the dropdown. This option is only visible if basic request window was opened via project request items. If basic request window was opened via project request items but there are no parameters defined in the project, button for inserting parameter value is disabled.

Open project request items as basic request

Any project request item listed in the main window can be opened as basic request. To open selected items in the basic request window, click Tools/Open Items As Basic Request menu option or press Ctrl+F8 and basic request window will be opened with the execution data of the selected request items (each selected item will be opened in its own tab). Additional project items can also be opened when basic request window is already open. To open additional project request item as basic request, double-click the desired item in the list available in the right part of the window. New tab will be created with the execution data of the selected request item. It is important to note that this list is available only if basic request window was opened via project request item (menu option Open Items As Basic Request), otherwise it is hidden even if some project is currently open in HttpMaster.

Relative disk paths

Specifying relative disk paths (for upload files, for example) is only relevant if basic request window was opened via project request item. Since execution engine uses location of the project file to determine absolute path of the disk file, project file must be opened in HttpMaster and basic request window must be opened via project request item.

Validations

If you have defined custom validation rule for particular project request item and this item is opened as basic request, execution of this basic request will evaluate all validations that are part of item's validation rule. You can review results of these validations on Validations tab after the execution.

Create new project from basic request data

If you would like to save basic request data as a new project, click button to create new project available in basic request window toolbar. In the displayed window you will have to specify project name and name for each request item; when project will be created, HttpMaster will create separate request item for each open request tab. At the end of the operation, you will have to specify disk location where new project file will be stored. This file can then be opened in the main window.