CHttp Extension
VSCode Extension for CHttp command line tool. It allows to send and performance measure HTTP requests in Visual Studio Code.
Features
- Send/Cancel HTTP requests and view responses
- Compose requests using the chttp file and HTTP language
- Preview response with headers, body, trailers and a summary line
- Performance Measurement requests
- DIFF performance measurement results
- Use variables in request
- Define file scoped variables
- Use overarching cookie container
- Comments (line starts with # or //) support
- CodeLens for sending requests
- HTTP versions of 1.0 1.1 2 and 3 are supported
Getting Started
Send a simple HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 request requests. When no HTTP version is specified HTTP/2 is used by default.
GET https://localhost:5001
One can define headers and content. Separate headers and content with an empty line.
POST https://localhost:5001/jsonrequest HTTP/2
Content-Type:application/json
{
"message": "hello world"
}
To add comments use #or // characters. To separate queries, use the ### character combination.
Variables
It is possible to define and re-use file level variables using the @variable syntax. Then a variable can be referenced with the {{variable}} syntax.
@baseUrl = localhost:5001
@path = delay
###
GET https://{{baseUrl}}/{{path}} HTTP/2
Variables may also reference another request's response content or headers. To achieve this, create a named request:
###
# @name jsonSample
GET https://localhost:5001/jsonresponse
###
@nextRequestContent = {{jsonSample.response.body.message}}
###
# echo
GET https://localhost:5001/echo
{{nextRequestContent}}
In the above case the top request is named by the # @name jsonSample attribute. A variable @nextRequestContent references the response body's message JSON field. Use json-path to refer to a custom element of the response. Use the [requestname].response.header.content-type to refer to response headers.
Then use this variable in another request with {{nextRequestContent}} reference.
Attributes
Use attributes to change the HTTP request behavior. At the time of writing the following attributes are supported:
- clientscount
- requestcount
- timeout (in seconds)
- no-certificate-validation
- no-redirect
- name
- kerberos-auth
Using named requests:
@baseUrl = localhost:5001
###
# @name jsonSample
GET https://{{baseUrl}}/jsonresponse HTTP/2
Or ignore certificate validation errors, by using the @no-certificate-validation attribute with value true.
# @no-certificate-validation true
GET https://localhost:5001/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Run performance measurements by defining either @clientscount or @requestcount attributes. Their default values are 10 and 100 respectively.
# @clientsCount 10
# @requestCount 100
Samples:
@baseUrl = localhost:5001
###
# @clientsCount 10
# @requestCount 100
GET https://{{baseUrl}}
###
# @clientsCount 10
# @requestCount 100
POST https://{{baseUrl}}/post
{"data":"hello world"}
While it is possible to set a request content, for performance measurements it is not suggested as larger requests can impact the performance measurement on client side.
The output has three sections. The top section displays statistical results. The middle section draws a distribution of requests. The last section displays an aggregate view of the response codes.
RequestCount: 100, Clients: 10
| Mean: 322,698 us |
| StdDev: 80,236 us |
| Error: 8,024 us |
| Median: 310,700 us |
| Min: 198,700 us |
| Max: 652,700 us |
| 95th: 473,700 us |
| Throughput: 0.000 B/s |
| Req/Sec: 2,82E+04 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
244,100 us #########
289,500 us ###################
334,900 us ###################
380,300 us ##############
425,700 us ####
471,100 us ##
516,500 us ##
561,900 us #
607,300 us
652,700 us #
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HTTP status codes:
1xx: 0, 2xx: 100, 3xx: 0, 4xx: 0, 5xx: 0, Other: 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I this case the mean execution time is 322.698 us. The distribution has a single mode. All requests 100 returned status codes from the 200-299 range.
Compare two named performance measurement results with the DIFF command. Use the @name [value] attribute to give a referrable name to a query and refer these names with the DIFF command.
###
# @name comparison
# @clientsCount 10
# @requestCount 100
GET https://{{baseUrl}}/post HTTP/2
###
# @name basePerformance
# @clientsCount 10
# @requestCount 100
POST https://{{baseUrl}}/post
{"data":"hello world"}
###
DIFF basePerformance comparison
Diff results an aggregate view of the differences between the two requests.
RequestCount: 100, Clients: 10, Connections: 10
| Mean: 448,127 us -55,265 us |
| StdDev: 151,588 us +120,312 us |
| Error: 15,159 us +12,031 us |
| Median: 413,600 us -115,100 us |
| Min: 265,300 us -137,600 us |
| Max: 1,285 ms +225,800 us |
| 95th: 763,700 us +220,100 us |
| Throughput: 0.000 B/s 0 B/s |
| Req/Sec: 1,16E+04 +9244,993 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
266,040 us +++++++++++++
404,380 us =============###
542,720 us ====############
681,060 us =++
819,400 us ##
957,740 us =
1,096 ms =+
1,234 ms
1,373 ms
1,511 ms +
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HTTP status codes:
1xx: 0 +0, 2xx: 100 +0, 3xx: 0 +0, 4xx: 0 +0, 5xx: 0 +0, Other: 0 +0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Warning: session files contain different urls: https://localhost:5001/,https://localhost:5001/post
------------------------------------------------------------------------
