I am working on ActionScript3 API for Bloglines services, which requires HTTP Authentication for its two of the services. I was not able to set the header of a HTTP/GET request. Macromedia Flash Player allows you set the header only for POST requests. I discussed this issues with Ted Patrick and he told me how I can us Socket to achieve the desired and he was very kind to give a me code-snippet, which got me started. Thanks Ted.
Finally, I could implement a class(HTTPURLLoader) which allows me to:
- Add request-headers
- Do HTTP Authentication for GET URLs
- Handle HTTP status messages
- Read the complete response header
It basically connects to a HTTP server on port 80(hardcoded for now) and sends an HTTP/1.0 request so that server closes the connection immediately after response. I could use HTTP/1.1 to keep connection alive and do things. But then closing connection would require some more logic, either a timeout logic if there is no activity on socket then close the connection, or find the end delimiter of response and then close. So I chose the easiest approach 
I am still working on it and there is a lot(bugs-fixing, optimization, code-commenting, removing hardcoded stuff etc) to be done. I just wanted to share whatever I have done so far. I think, idea is more important than the implementation.
Anyways, I also implemented Base64 in AS3 and also OPML parser for Bloglines. I would soon upload the entire Bloglines AS3 API source.
Download the code:
Usage:-
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.macromedia.com/2005/mxml" creationComplete="onAppInit()">
<mx:Script>
import flash.net.URLRequest;
import flash.net.URLRequestHeader;
import com.abdulqabiz.net.HTTPURLLoader;
import com.abdulqabiz.crypto.Base64;
private var loader:HTTPURLLoader;
private var END_POINT:String = "http://rpc.bloglines.com/";
//you need to set your email/password required for Bloglines access.
private var email:String = "YOUR_EMAIL_FOR_BLOGLINES";
private var password:String = "YOUR_BLOGLINES_PASSWORD";
private function onAppInit()
{
loader = new HTTPURLLoader();
loader.addEventListener("complete", onComplete);
loader.addEventListener("httpStatus", onHTTPStatus);
loader.addEventListener("progress", onProgress);
//for simplicity,not handling following three events.
//loader.addEventListener("close", onClose);
//loader.addEventListener("ioError", onIOError);
//loader.addEventListener("securityError",onSecurityError);
}
private function onComplete(event:Event)
{
//headers stroed as name-value(hash map)
var rh:Object = HTTPURLLoader(event.target).responseHeaders;
var str:String = "";
for(var p:String in rh) str+= p + ":" + rh[p] + "\n";
console.text+="Response Headers: \n" + str + "\n\n";
//data property holds the content
console.text+="Body Content:\n" + HTTPURLLoader(event.target).data + "\n\n";
}
private function onProgress(event:ProgressEvent)
{
//bytesTotal is not accurate, and its 0 if server doesn't send Content-Length header.
console.text+= "Event: progress:-\n" + "bytesLoaded: " + event.bytesLoaded + "\n\n";
}
private function onHTTPStatus(event:HTTPStatusEvent)
{
//if httpStatus is 401, 403, 404, 500, 501, socket is closed.
console.text+= "Event: httpStatus (" + event.status + ")\n\n";
}
private function loadURL()
{
var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
//call listsubs method of Bloglines
request.url = END_POINT + "listsubs";
var credentials:String = Base64.encode(email + ":" + password);
//create HTTP Auth request header
var authHeader:URLRequestHeader = new URLRequestHeader("Authorization","Basic " + credentials);
//add the header to request
request.requestHeaders.push(authHeader);
//make the request.
loader.load(request);
}
</mx:Script>
<mx:Button label="Load URL" click="loadURL()"/>
<mx:TextArea id="console" width="100%" height="100%"/>
</mx:Application>
