Re: [boost] [ann] Urdl - a library for downloading web content

Subject: Re: [boost] [ann] Urdl - a library for downloading web content
From: Thorsten Ottosen (thorsten.ottosen_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-06-17 04:32:35

Hi Chris,

Christopher Kohlhoff skrev:
> Hi all,
> 
> I have just released a new Boost.Asio-based library, Urdl, which can be
> used for accessing and downloading web content.
> 
>   <http://think-async.com/Urdl>
>   <http://sourceforge.net/projects/urdl>
> 
> It currently has limited support for the protocols "http", "https" and
> "file". It provides an easy-to-use extension to standard C++ iostreams
> and an asynchronous interface for use with Boost.Asio.

Looks really nice.

1.
------
May I suggest that you add a bunch of constants instead of
using strings. You currently have

   // We're doing an HTTP POST ...
   is.set_option(urdl::http::request_method("POST"));

   // ... where the MIME type indicates plain text ...
   is.set_option(urdl::http::request_content_type("text/plain"));

I don't like the hard-coding of "POST" and "text/plain". Also for 
type-safety reasons, strings are usually irritating. Maybe it would
be possible to use enumeration values instead:

   // We're doing an HTTP POST ...
   is.set_option(urdl::http::request_method::post);

   // ... where the MIME type indicates plain text ...
   is.set_option(urdl::http::request_content_type::text_plain));

2.
--------

The Url class has operators like ==, != and <. May I suggets you hass 
hash_value( const url& ) too.

3.
------

I'm not a fan of short names. Especially

   http::errc::errc_t

would be clearer IMO as

   http::error_codes::error_code

or something like that.

-Thorsten