Getting Started

Help Topics

Obtain HttpMaster

You can obtain HttpMaster in the following ways:

Download installer; installer is packed as msi file; simply double-click it and follow instructions to install it. After the installation you can start it with the corresponding start menu or desktop shortcut.
Download portable; portable edition is packed as zip file; extract the content of the zip in the desired location and double-click the file HttpMaster.Windows.exe. More information on portable edition can be found in the readme.txt contained in the zip file.

Important

Portable edition maintains all data (settings, temporary files and folders, etc.) at the location where it was launched from. You can, for example, extract portable edition to a USB drive, run it from there, and everything necessary will be maintained on the USB drive.

Start working

HttpMaster is a development and test tool to create, manage, execute, and debug HTTP requests with a number of different options. There are essentially two ways to start creating HTTP requests:

Execute HTTP request in the request window; this option is more suitable if you would like to quickly execute an HTTP request. Request window can be opened from the welcome window or from the main window. It is also possible to open any project request item in the request window (if you have already created a project). In short, request window is recommended if you want to execute HTTP requests in the simplest possible way.
Execute project in the execution window; this option is more powerful because it enables you to create several request items each representing one or more HTTP requests and execute them in a batch. Because of this, executing project items in execution window is more suitable if you want to utilize some advanced features like multi-value parameters or request chaining.

Execute in the request window

To execute HTTP requests without creating HttpMaster project, click corresponding button in the welcome window or select main window menu option Tools/Open Request Window. Enter all necessary data, click Execute selected request tab button in the toolbar and wait until the execution is completed. The execution results will be displayed in the panel located below the request data. For more information on executing HTTP requests, see the corresponding topic.

Important

If you have an OpenAPI (Swagger) data available, you can create new request tabs from an OpenAPI data. Click the corresponding toolbar button and pick location (URL or disk file) of your OpenAPI data. New request tab will be created for each OpenAPI operation.

Important

If you are executing HTTP requests in the request window, it is possible to create new project from all open request tabs. This can be handy if you would like to store your request definitions for a later use or start using some advanced features like, for example, request chaining. You can then open saved project and execute its request items in the execution window or open them again in the request window. To create the project, click the corresponding toolbar button and save project to disk.

Execute in the execution window

Creating HttpMaster project will enable you to further customize requests and use some advanced features like, for example, request chaining. Follow these steps to create HttpMaster project and its request items:

Select menu option File/New Project or press Ctrl+N. The window with project properties is opened. Alternatively, you can create new project by clicking the corresponding button in the welcome window.
Type the name of the project in the Project name field and click OK button.
Select menu option Project/New Item or press Ctrl+I to create new request item inside the project. New request item is opened in a separate tab.
Type the name of the request item in the Item name field.
Type absolute URL in the URL field.
Select menu option Project/Apply Changes for Selected Item.

For more information on working with the project, see the corresponding topic.

To execute project request items, select one of the option available in the Run menu or click the corresponding toolbar button. If you would like to execute request item opened in some tab, click Execute button in the General tab and select one of the available menu options. For more information on various ways to execute project request items, see the section below.

Important

If you have an OpenAPI (Swagger) data available, you can create new project or update existing project with it. Select the corresponding option from the File main menu and pick location of your OpenAPI data. See the corresponding topic for more information.

Important

There is a sample project available which can be opened in HttpMaster. Click the corresponding button in the welcome window or select the corresponding option in the Help main menu to open the sample project.

Execute project request items

Created project request items can be executed in the following ways:

In the execution window; this is the most common way of executing request items and can be accessed with the corresponding menu options from the Run main menu. For more information, see the corresponding topic.
In the request window; each project request item can be opened in the request window and executed there. This can be handy for quick executions not requiring some advanced features like, for example, request chaining. To open request item in the request window, select the corresponding option from the Tools main menu. For more information, see the corresponding topic.
With command line interface; each project can be executed with a command line interface to automate execution and its results can be inspected in HttpMaster. For more information, see the corresponding topic.
With the cURL command line tool; HttpMaster is able to create and execute project request items with cURL. This functionality can be accessed with the corresponding menu options available in the Tools main menu. cURL requests can be extensively customized in the application options.

Important

For even more advanced execution scenarios with support for conditional execution, you can create execution groups. See the corresponding topic for more information.