Pascal (Lazarus/Delphi)

How to Avoid Large Strings in HTTP Responses

See more HTTP Examples

In some programming languages/environments, returning and passing large strings is problematic for both performance and other reasons (for example, with SQL Server limitations on sizes varchar variables).

One way of avoiding the need to return the actual string data, is to pass the data from one place to another via a Chilkat StringBuilder or BinData object. This example demonstrates a simple HTTP GET where the response body contains XML approximately 274K in size. The response body is loaded into the Chilkat.Xml without the XML content ever needing to leave the native code internal to Chilkat.

Pascal (Lazarus/Delphi)

program ChilkatDemo;

// Demonstrates using the Chilkat Pascal wrapper via the C bridge DLL.
// Builds as a console application under Lazarus (FPC) or Delphi.

{$IFDEF FPC}
  {$MODE DELPHI}
{$ENDIF}
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  {$IFDEF UNIX}
  cthreads,
  {$ENDIF}
  SysUtils,
  CkDllLoader,
  Chilkat.Http,
  Chilkat.StringBuilder,
  Chilkat.Xml,
  Chilkat.HttpResponse;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

procedure RunDemo;
var
  success: Boolean;
  http: THttp;
  resp: THttpResponse;
  sb: TStringBuilder;
  xml: TXml;
  bAutoTrim: Boolean;

begin
  success := False;

  //  This example assumes the Chilkat HTTP API to have been previously unlocked.
  //  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

  http := THttp.Create;

  resp := THttpResponse.Create;
  success := http.HttpNoBody('GET','https://www.chilkatsoft.com/hamlet.xml',resp);
  if (success = False) then
    begin
      WriteLn(http.LastErrorText);
      Exit;
    end;

  sb := TStringBuilder.Create;
  //  Copy the response body to sb.
  success := resp.GetBodySb(sb);

  xml := TXml.Create;
  //  Load the XML from the sb.
  bAutoTrim := False;
  success := xml.LoadSb(sb,bAutoTrim);

  WriteLn('The response body was ' + sb.Length + ' characters in length.');
  WriteLn('Success.');

  //  The output is:
  //  
  //  	The response body was 279658 characters in length.
  //  	Success.


  http.Free;
  resp.Free;
  sb.Free;
  xml.Free;

end;

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

begin

  try
    RunDemo;
  except
    on E: Exception do
      WriteLn('Unhandled exception: ', E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;

  WriteLn;
  {$IFDEF MSWINDOWS}
  WriteLn('Press Enter to exit...');
  ReadLn;
  {$ENDIF}
end.