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Web APIs

Pro Feature

Pro features are only available with a Professional licence. To upgrade, visit cavalry.scenegroup.co.

Introduction​

Cavalry provides a way to interact with API endpoints on the web by creating a WebClient object and interacting with its methods to get, post or put. These API calls are blocking meaning they must successfully complete before progressing to the next part of a script.

Further to the WebClient, Cavalry also provides a simple WebServer. You can call /get to retrieve whatever response you have set on the server, or, for those of an adventurous persuasion, you can use /post. To aid when using /post the WebServer can poll for new data and will fire a callback function when a data drop has been detected.

Getting Started​

Try these examples to get to know the Web API.

Simple get request.​

// Make a new WebClient
var client = new api.WebClient("https://www.boredapi.com");
// Send the Get Request (this returns a random activity to do if you're bored).
client.get("/api/activity");
// Check it succeeded
if (client.status() == 200) {
    let obj = JSON.parse(client.body());
    // Safety check, and print the activity
    if ('activity' in obj) {
        console.log("Random activity: "+obj.activity);
    }
}

Getting and saving an SVG file.​

var client = new api.WebClient("https://cavalry.scenegroup.co");
client.get("/images/logo_cavalry-landscape-outline_001.svg");
if (client.status() == 200) {
    api.writeToFile("/Some/Path/Here/cavLogo.svg", client.body());
}

WebClient​

warning

When using the WebClient the constructor can only contain the base URL (e.g. https://www.boredapi.com). Passing in a route (e.g. https://www.boredapi.com/api/activity) results in an error where WebClient.status() will return -1.

setBasicAuthentication(username:string, password:string)​

Sets basic authentication for any subsequent requests.

setDigestAuthentication(username:string, password:string)​

Sets digest authentication for any subsequent requests.

setTokenAuthentication(token:string)​

Sets token based authentication for any subsequent requests.

addHeader(key:string, value:string)​

Adds a header for any following requests. API keys, app keys, content types and so forth can be added in this way.

getHeaders() → object​

var client = new api.WebClient("https://www.boredapi.com");
client.get("/api/activity");
if (client.status() == 200) {
    let headers = client.getHeaders();
    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(headers)) {
      console.log(`${key}: ${value}`);
    }
}

status() → int​

Returns the status of the request. For example 200 means OK.

body() → string​

The returned body. This is often in the form of JSON but you can check the Content-Type header with getHeaders() if you're unsure.

get(path:string)​

Performs a get request. Once done, status() and if successful, body() should be available.

post(path:string, content:string, contentType:string)​

Performs a post request. Once done, status() and if successful, body() should be available.

put(path:string, content:string, contentType:string)​

Performs a put request. Once done, status() and if successful, body() should be available.

postFromFile(path:string, filePath:string, contentType:string)​

A helper method for posting a file directly. This method is needed especially when uploading binary files (like images or movies). Performs a post request. Once done, status() and if successful, body() should be available.

putFromFile(path:string, filePath:string, contentType:string)​

A helper method for posting a file directly. This method is needed especially when uploading binary files (like images or movies). Performs a put request. Once done, status() and if successful, body() should be available.

writeBodyToBinaryFile(path:string)​

If get has been used to retrieve binary data (i.e an image or a movie), this cannot be passed to the usual api.writeToFile() call. You must instead use this function to write the body data to file (which you can then pull into Cavalry as an Asset for example).

setProxy(hostAddress:string, port:number)​

Enter a proxy server's IP and port number.

setProxyBasicAuthentication(username:string, password:string)​

Enter a username and password to authenticate to a proxy server.

setProxyBearerAuthentication(password:string)​

Enter a password for a proxy server that uses a bearer token.

WebServer​

A complete example of a UI script which implements a Cavalry Server. Please save this into the Cavalry Scripts folder Help > Scripts and then load it via the Window > Scripts menu.

var server = new api.WebServer();

var button = new ui.Button("Start Server");

button.onClick = function () {
    if (!server.isRunning()) {
        server.listen("localhost", 1234);
        button.setText("Stop Server");
    } else {
        server.stop();
        button.setText("Start Server");
    }
}

function Callbacks() { 
    this.onPost = function () {
        console.log("Queue length: "+server.postCount());
        processButton.setEnabled(true);
    }
}

var processButton = new ui.Button("Process Posts");
processButton.setEnabled(false);

processButton.onClick = function () {
    while(server.postCount()) {
        let obj = server.getNextPost();
        console.log("Process: "+obj.result);
    }
    processButton.setEnabled(false);
}

var callbackObj = new Callbacks();
server.addCallbackObject(callbackObj);

ui.add(button);
ui.add(processButton);
ui.show();

Once this script is running, run this in the JavaScript Editor, the /post text should print to the console.

var client = new api.WebClient("http://localhost:1234");
client.post("/post", "Cavalry Needs You!", "text/plain");
client.post("/post", "Join the Cavalry!", "text/plain");

listen(host:string, port:int)​

Start the server listening on the host address (e.g localhost) on the specified port number.

stop()​

Stop the server, any polling will also stop.

setResultForGet(resultText:string)​

Set the result for /get requests, only text/plain is currently supported.

getNextPost() → object​

As many /post events may happen before you have a chance to react, Cavalry will queue them for you. This function will get the next (the oldest) post and will pop the post from the queue meaning once you get it, you can no longer access it from the server. The object will contain a result string, and an headers array, each header is an object with a name and value. Please note only non binary data is supported for /post events.

getNewestPost() → object​

This is just like the above method, only instead of getting the oldest unprocessed /post, it will skip to the newest and pop that from the queue.

postCount() → int​

Returns the number of unprocessed /post events. Process posts using the getNextPost() or getNewestPost() functions.

clearPosts()​

Clear all unprocessed /post events. Process posts using the getNextPost() or getNewestPost() functions.

addCallbackObject(callbackObj:object)​

Set a Callback object (much like the UI callback object). This is a JavaScript object with an onPost function implemented. Setting a Callback object will start the server polling for new information, by default we poll the server once every 3 seconds.

var server = new api.WebServer();
function Callbacks() { 
    this.onPost = function () {
        console.log("Check result: " + server.getNewestPost().result);
    }
}

var callbackObj = new Callbacks();
server.addCallbackObject(callbackObj);

setHighFrequency()​

Calling this after setting a Callback object will change the polling frequency to once per second.

setRealtime()​

Calling this after setting a Callback object will change the polling frequency to 60 times a second. This is useful for realtime communication with things like midi-controllers.