ESP32 HTTPClient Library

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The ESP32 HTTPClient Library simplifies making HTTP and HTTPS requests from the ESP32, enabling secure communication with web servers over an established network connection. It is a powerful tool for IoT projects, allowing developers to fetch data, send information, and interact with APIs seamlessly.

Below is a categorized list of methods available in the ESP32 HTTPClient Library, organized by their primary purposes.

Connection Management

• begin – Initializes the HTTP client with a target URL (HTTP or HTTPS)
• end – Closes the current connection and frees resources.
• setConnectTimeout – Sets the connection timeout in milliseconds.
• setTimeout – Sets the overall timeout for the request in milliseconds.
• connected – Returns true if the client is still connected to the server.
• setURL – Updates the URL for the current HTTP client instance.
• setReuse – Enables or disables connection reuse (keep-alive).

HTTP Request Methods

• GET – Sends an HTTP GET request to the server.
• POST – Sends an HTTP POST request with a payload.
• PUT – Sends an HTTP PUT request with a payload.
• PATCH– Sends an HTTP PATCH request with a payload.
• sendRequest– Sends a custom HTTP request with a specified method and payload.

Request Configuration

• addHeader– Adds a custom HTTP header to the request.
• setAuthorization– Sets basic authentication credentials.
• setAuthorizationType – Sets type of authentication.
• setUserAgent – Sets the User-Agent header for the request.
• setFollowRedirects – Configures whether to follow HTTP redirects (e.g., HTTPC_STRICT_FOLLOW_REDIRECTS).
• setRedirectLimit – Sets the maximum number of redirects to follow.
• setAcceptEncoding – Sets the Accept-Encoding header (e.g., “gzip”).

Response Handling

• getString – Retrieves the response body as a String.
• getStream – Returns the response as a Stream object for processing large data.
• getStreamPtr – Returns pointer to read server response raw data
• writeToStream – Writes the response body directly to a provided Stream object.
• getSize – Returns the size of the response body in bytes.
• getLocation – Gets the redirect location (if any) from the response headers.
• errorToString – Converts an HTTP error code to a human-readable string.
• collectHeaders – Specifies which response headers to collect for later retrieval.
• header – Retrieves the value of a specific response header
• headerName – Returns the name of the header at the specified index.
• hasHeader– Checks if a specific response header exists.

Cookie Management

• setCookieJar – Sets a cookie jar object to store and manage cookies.
• clearAllCookies – Removes all cookies from the cookie jar.
• resetCookieJar – Resets the cookie jar to a new, empty state.

Related Articles:

ESP32 HTTPClient Library – HTTP Status Codes and Error Codes

Understanding How Your ESP32 Sends the HTTP POST Request