How to use tsNetGetSync to retrieve data from a web site
Introduction
This lesson is designed to show how the tsNet external can be used to retrieve data from a website. The example code in this lesson retrieves a To Do list and displays the number of items and the list.
To achieve this goal, we use the tsNetGetSync function from the tsNet external library.
In this example we are using a test REST API available from https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com
Lay out the Stack
Create a new stack then drag a button and a field onto it.
Set the name of the field to "Output".
Save this stack.
Create the Script
Edit the script of the button that you placed on the stack by right clicking on the button and selecting "edit script".
Add the following code.
on mouseUp pButtonNumber
-- The following line is the call to tsNetGetSync
put tsNetGetSync("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos", tHeaders, tRecvHeaders, tResult, tBytes) into tData
-- tResult will be 200 (the HTTP response code for a successful transfer) if
-- tsNetGetSync was able to retrieve the data
-- If this is not the case, we will inform the user
if tResult is not 200 then
answer "Could not retrieve data"
else
-- The retrieved data is in JSON format, convert to a normal LiveCode array
put JSONtoArray(tData) into tArray
-- Display the number of items and the list
put "There are" && the number of elements in tArray && "items." & return & return into field "Output"
repeat with x = 1 to the number of elements in tArray
put "Item" && x & ":" && tArray[x]["title"] & tab & tArray[x]["completed"] & return after field "Output"
end repeat
end if
end mouseUpMore information
The code above shows a very simple example of how to use tsNetGetSync to retrieve data. There are additional parameters that can be used with the tsNetGetSync function that allow more specific configuration and provide more information on the response that is returned from the web server. However, as can be seen above, these additional parameters are often not necessary when retrieving data from a website.
In particular, the tHeaders variable can be used to control what HTTP headers are sent with the HTTP GET request. The tRecvHeaders variable contains the HTTP headers returned from the web server and the tBytes variable stores the number of bytes of data that has been returned.
More information about these additional parameters can be found in the LiveCode dictionary.
Test
Switch to Run mode and click the button.
Ron
What am I missing here? This and other tsNet lessons seem to work without using the tsNetInit command. Does tsNet automatically work from the IDE? What about in a standalone?
Elanor Buchanan
Hi Ron
tsNetInit is now called automatically in the IDE and standalones so in most cases you shouldn't need to call it explicitly.
Kind regards
Elanor
Charles
Hi Ron
Just to add to Elanor's comments, if you are including tsNet alongside the internet library (libURL) then tsNetInit is automatically called. However, if you are using tsNet without the internet library then you will need to manually called tsNetInit.
Charles
Albert Imasuen
I followed the step by step above and i got an error message of "Could not Retrieve data". Please am I missing something?
Elanor Buchanan
Hi Albert
It looks like the API that was being used as an example in this lesson has been deprecated. We'll get the lesson updated with another example.
Kind regards
Elanor