HttpOpenRequest function

Creates an HTTP request handle.

Syntax

HINTERNET HttpOpenRequest(
  _In_  HINTERNET hConnect,
  _In_  LPCTSTR lpszVerb,
  _In_  LPCTSTR lpszObjectName,
  _In_  LPCTSTR lpszVersion,
  _In_  LPCTSTR lpszReferer,
  _In_  LPCTSTR *lplpszAcceptTypes,
  _In_  DWORD dwFlags,
  _In_  DWORD_PTR dwContext
);

Parameters

hConnect [in]

A handle to an HTTP session returned by InternetConnect.

lpszVerb [in]

A pointer to a null-terminated string that contains the HTTP verb to use in the request. If this parameter is NULL, the function uses GET as the HTTP verb.

lpszObjectName [in]

A pointer to a null-terminated string that contains the name of the target object of the specified HTTP verb. This is generally a file name, an executable module, or a search specifier.

lpszVersion [in]

A pointer to a null-terminated string that contains the HTTP version. If this parameter is NULL, the function uses HTTP/1.1 as the version.

lpszReferer [in]

A pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the URL of the document from which the URL in the request (lpszObjectName) was obtained. If this parameter is NULL, no referrer is specified.

lplpszAcceptTypes [in]

A pointer to a null-terminated array of strings that indicates media types accepted by the client. Here is an example.

PCTSTR rgpszAcceptTypes[] = {_T(“text/*”), NULL};

Failing to properly terminate the array with a NULL pointer will cause a crash.

If this parameter is NULL, no types are accepted by the client. Servers generally interpret a lack of accept types to indicate that the client accepts only documents of type "text/*" (that is, only text documents—no pictures or other binary files). For more information and a list of valid media types, see ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types/media-types.

dwFlags [in]

Internet options. This parameter can be any of the following values.

Value	Meaning
INTERNET_FLAG_CACHE_IF_NET_FAIL	Returns the resource from the cache if the network request for the resource fails due to an ERROR_INTERNET_CONNECTION_RESET (the connection with the server has been reset) or ERROR_INTERNET_CANNOT_CONNECT (the attempt to connect to the server failed).
INTERNET_FLAG_HYPERLINK	Forces a reload if there was no Expires time and no LastModified time returned from the server when determining whether to reload the item from the network.
INTERNET_FLAG_IGNORE_CERT_CN_INVALID	Disables checking of SSL/PCT-based certificates that are returned from the server against the host name given in the request. WinINet functions use a simple check against certificates by comparing for matching host names and simple wildcarding rules.
INTERNET_FLAG_IGNORE_CERT_DATE_INVALID	Disables checking of SSL/PCT-based certificates for proper validity dates.
INTERNET_FLAG_IGNORE_REDIRECT_TO_HTTP	Disables detection of this special type of redirect. When this flag is used, WinINet functions transparently allow redirects from HTTPS to HTTP URLs.
INTERNET_FLAG_IGNORE_REDIRECT_TO_HTTPS	Disables detection of this special type of redirect. When this flag is used, WinINet functions transparently allow redirects from HTTP to HTTPS URLs.
INTERNET_FLAG_KEEP_CONNECTION	Uses keep-alive semantics, if available, for the connection. This flag is required for Microsoft Network (MSN), NT LAN Manager (NTLM), and other types of authentication.
INTERNET_FLAG_NEED_FILE	Causes a temporary file to be created if the file cannot be cached.
INTERNET_FLAG_NO_AUTH	Does not attempt authentication automatically.
INTERNET_FLAG_NO_AUTO_REDIRECT	Does not automatically handle redirection in HttpSendRequest.
INTERNET_FLAG_NO_CACHE_WRITE	Does not add the returned entity to the cache.
INTERNET_FLAG_NO_COOKIES	Does not automatically add cookie headers to requests, and does not automatically add returned cookies to the cookie database.
INTERNET_FLAG_NO_UI	Disables the cookie dialog box.
INTERNET_FLAG_PRAGMA_NOCACHE	Forces the request to be resolved by the origin server, even if a cached copy exists on the proxy.
INTERNET_FLAG_RELOAD	Forces a download of the requested file, object, or directory listing from the origin server, not from the cache.
INTERNET_FLAG_RESYNCHRONIZE	Reloads HTTP resources if the resource has been modified since the last time it was downloaded. All FTP resources are reloaded. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 R2 and earlier:  Gopher resources are also reloaded.
INTERNET_FLAG_SECURE	Uses secure transaction semantics. This translates to using Secure Sockets Layer/Private Communications Technology (SSL/PCT) and is only meaningful in HTTP requests.

 

dwContext [in]

A pointer to a variable that contains the application-defined value that associates this operation with any application data.

Return value

Returns an HTTP request handle if successful, or NULL otherwise. To retrieve extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

HttpOpenRequest creates a new HTTP request handle and stores the specified parameters in that handle. An HTTP request handle holds a request to be sent to an HTTP server and contains all RFC822/MIME/HTTP headers to be sent as part of the request.

If a verb other than "GET" or "POST" is specified, HttpOpenRequest automatically sets INTERNET_FLAG_NO_CACHE_WRITE and INTERNET_FLAG_RELOAD for the request.

With Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and later, if lpszVerb is set to "HEAD", the Content-Length header is ignored on responses from HTTP/1.1 servers.

After the calling application has finished using the HINTERNET handle returned by HttpOpenRequest, it must be closed using the InternetCloseHandle function.

Note   When a request is sent in asynchronous mode (the dwFlags parameter of InternetOpen specifies INTERNET_FLAG_ASYNC), and the dwContext parameter is zero (INTERNET_NO_CALLBACK), the callback function set with InternetSetStatusCallback on the request handle will not be invoked, however, the call will still be performed in asynchronous mode.

Like all other aspects of the WinINet API, this function cannot be safely called from within DllMain or the constructors and destructors of global objects.

Note  WinINet does not support server implementations. In addition, it should not be used from a service. For server implementations or services use Microsoft Windows HTTP Services (WinHTTP).

Requirements

See also

HTTP Sessions

WinINet Functions

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Build date: 10/26/2012