Node-Red HTTP Request Node for Beginners

The node-red http request node is a core node and can be used for making http requests. It can be used for.

• Retrieving web pages from a website
• Making API Request
• Sending and receiving JSON data to a website or API.
• etc

HTTP Request Node Settings

Below is a screen shot of the http request node configuration page.

The settings include

1. The request method -The node supports the GET,POST,PUT and DELETE methods.

The main method is GET which is used for getting a web page.

2. The url of the resource –

URL examples:

• www.google.com
• www.mysite.com:8080 #set port
• https://www.google.com :use ssl

3. Authentication -If the website requires authentication then basic authentication can be done here.

4. SSL– A check box for forcing the connection to use SSL

5. Response – The response from the server can be an

• UTF-8 String i.e. A standard web page
• A binary buffer -Binary data
• A parsed JSON object – Usually used with web APIs. The node will convert JSON data into a JavaScript object.

Programmatically Changing Settings

The request method and the url can also be set in the node or a proceeding node.

To do that you must configure the http request node request method to be set by msg.method and leave the url blank as shown above

You can then use a function or change node to set the method and url by using the msg.method and msg.url properties as shown below.

Usage Examples

To help you better use this node I’ve created several videos.

-Using The HTTP Request Node -Video 1

In this video tutorial we start with a quick overview of the http protocol and basic request and responses .We start with a basic overview of the node and then use it to get web pages and to process and extract data from web pages.