One of the most common methods of integration are synchronous HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) calls for transmitting data between entities. In this course we will cover the most common practices of HTTP usage and how to implement these integration use cases with Frends.

The topics of this course are:

As this course covers different use cases of HTTP, we can also presume these use cases are valid with HTTPS, which is an extension of the HTTP for secure communication over TLS. HTTPS is therefore preferred in any integration use case as it encrypts the communication and enables a more secure connection between the client and the server.

To consume HTTP endpoints with Frends, we must first understand the basic components of HTTP requests. The requests require four main components: HTTP method, URL or the request endpoint, HTTP headers and HTTP payload or body depending on the method. Additionally, all successful HTTP requests are replied with an HTTP response that contains HTTP status code, possible HTTP response payload or body and a collection of HTTP headers as well.

HTTP method specifies the action to be taken at the server. There are different methods designed for specific purposes and note that all methods may not be supported by all servers or resources.

URL or the request endpoint specifies the location of the resource on the server that is consumed.

HTTP headers is a collection of specific format data that provides additional information to the server about the request in question. Also, the response of a HTTP request usually returns a set of HTTP headers that describe the response payload and provide additional information from the server.

HTTP payload or body contains the data that is transmitted between client and server whether in the request or response. A group of HTTP methods do not require a payload or body in the request and these will be covered in the following modules.

HTTP status code indicates the status of the request for the client in the response. The code itself is an integer ranging from 100-599 with standardized meanings for different values.

All of the request components above are configurable in Frends Tasks and the response values can be referenced from the Task results with a traditional Frends notation.

The following modules will go through different aspects of HTTP integrations starting from consuming REST APIs.

The next article is Introduction to Consuming REST APIs