3. Why HTTP API
❖ cURL : A library to communicate with remote hosts. Works only
when the cURL extension is loaded into PHP.!
❖ File system (fopen, file_get_contents) : This function opens up a file
or an URL and this works when php ini_settings allows for this.!
❖ Sockets (fsockopen) : Initiates a socket connection to the resource
specified by host-name. Again it’s possible that the hosting company
might have disabled the fsockopen function.!
❖ Streams: Works on PHP 4.3 or later.!
❖ HTTP: Provides a powerful request and parallel interface for remote
calls. It needs PHP 5.2+
5. Helper Functions
❖ wp_remote_get() - Retrieves a URL using the GET HTTP
method.!
❖ wp_remote_post() - Retrieves a URL using the POST HTTP
method.!
❖ wp_remote_head() - Retrieves a URL using the HEAD
HTTP method.!
❖ wp_remote_request() - Retrieves a URL using either the
default GET or a custom HTTP method (should be caps)
that you specify.
10. More Helper Functions
❖ wp_remote_retrieve_body() - Retrieves just the body from the response.!
❖ wp_remote_retrieve_header() - Gives you a single HTTP header based
on name from the response.!
❖ wp_remote_retrieve_headers() - Returns all of the HTTP headers in an
array for processing.!
❖ wp_remote_retrieve_response_code() - Gives you the number for the
HTTP response. This should be 200, but could be 4xx or even 3xx on
failure.!
❖ wp_remote_retrieve_response_message() - Returns the response
message based on the response code
