Rails how to check API request URL before pull

Question

I am looking for a way to check if the API URL exists before making a request using HTTParty. Currently, if the URL does not exist, the HTTParty request errors.

I tried following this Check if URL exists in Ruby:

api_url = "http://api.meetup.com/LA-Computer-Science-Reading-Group/events?photo-host=public&page=20&sig_id=215634693&sig=0be729af948c1a17ce5f35faa9fcedd5ae22de56"
require "net/http"
url_request = URI.parse(api_url)
req = Net::HTTP.new(url_request.host, url_request.port)
res = req.request_head(url_request.path)

@check = res 

response = HTTParty.get(api_url)

view:

<%= @check.inspect %>
#<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>

But if I change the URL to something that does not exist, such as:

http://api.meeeeeetup.com/LA-Computer-Science-Reading-Group/events?photo-host=public&page=20&sig_id=215634693&sig=0be729af948c1a17ce5f35faa9fcedd5ae22de56`

The page still errors with getaddrinfo: nodename nor servname provided, or not known

Also, the URL request I want to check is a XML request:

http://api.indeed.com/ads/apisearch?publisher=#{publisher_key}&q=java&l=austin%2C+tx&sort=&radius=&st=&jt=&start=&limit=&fromage=&filter=&latlong=1&co=us&chnl=&userip=&useragent=&v=2

and using the idea above, this API URL does not return a successful call. Instead it returns a #<Net::HTTPMethodNotAllowed 405 Method Not Allowed readbody=true>.

I'm not sure about emulating a browser to check the results that way or if there is an easier way to check for validity of the API URL request before the HTTParty request.

Why can't httparty simply make the request and fail if invalid url? — Joel Blum, Feb 08 '17 at 19:16
@Joel_Blum I found if I pass in the invalid URL to HTTParty, it would just error with `getaddrinfo: nodename nor servname provided, or not known` and break the app. I'm not sure how to catch that error or if HTTParty has a way to check the URL response before failing. — teresa, Feb 08 '17 at 19:22
You can check a URL for validity; that's different than ensuring the endpoint *exists*. But your "invalid" URL example isn't an invalid URL, it just doesn't exist. http://stackoverflow.com/a/26768085/438992 — Dave Newton, Feb 08 '17 at 19:31
Thank you, @DaveNewton. I was able to get the check working based on your comment. I also edited my question so it was more accurate. — teresa, Feb 08 '17 at 20:00
@tshckr Please add the answer as an answer, not as part of the question. — Dave Newton, Feb 08 '17 at 20:30

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:01

Thanks to @Dave Newton from the comments I was able to get the check working. I also edited my question to reflect that it was not about the 'validity' of the URL. But it was that the URL does not exist.

Based on: How can I handle errors with HTTParty?.

Solution:

 begin
   response = HTTParty.get(url) 
 rescue HTTParty::Error
   # don´t do anything / whatever
   puts "=========ERROR=============="
 rescue StandardError
   # rescue instances of StandardError,
   # i.e. Timeout::Error, SocketError etc
   puts "=========STANDARD ERROR=============="
 end

Then added a check if !response.nil?, so if the HTTParty request returned an error. response would be nil and the block of code would be ignored.

Rails how to check API request URL before pull

1 Answers1