public.test.http

Function description

Goal

This function is used to check the content of a HTTP(S) web page. The aim of this function is to know if you can contact a server or not.

As an example, you can add two instance of this function, one for checking access to Internet server and an other for Intranet servers.

As result of the test, the item will be red when no connectivity at all, orange for connectivity but wrong result, or green when everything is OK.

The item won't display anything before the end of the first try.

Settings

The settings dictionary contain all informations you can set to use this function. Here is a description of each.

Key	Type	Description
title	Translatable string (see: Label translation)	Item's title shown in the menu
computedTitle	Name of the script in Application Support CustomScripts folder	First line on stdout will be the title
optionalDisplay	Boolean	Will show the related item only if option key was pressed when Hello-IT menu was shown (supported in Hello-IT 1.4.0+)
URL	String	URL to test
mode	String	Comparaison algorithm you want to use (see below for acceptable values)
originalString	String	Comparaison argument used by the one of the mode (expected value described below)
ignoreSystemState	Boolean (optional)	Ignore network state reported by the system (scenario with proxy or advanced filtering can push system to report false state). Default is false
failedConnection	String (optional)	State to report if the connection fail (see acceptable values below). Default is HITPluginTestStateError
unmatchingResult	String (optional)	State to report if the test fail (see acceptable values below). Default is HITPluginTestStateWarning
timeout	Integer (optional)	Time in seconds before considering the service is unresponsive. Default is 30

Supported mode

Mode	Description
md5	Make a md5 sum and compare it to originalString
compare	Content must be exactly the same as originalString
contain	Valid if originalString is found in the answer's body

The md5 hash can be created with curl http://www.example.com | md5

Acceptable state

Reported state for unmatching result or fail connection can be:

• HITPluginTestStateError
• HITPluginTestStateWarning
• HITPluginTestStateUnavailable
• HITPluginTestStateOK
• HITPluginTestStateNone

Sample settings

<dict>
	<key>functionIdentifier</key>
	<string>public.test.http</string>
	<key>settings</key>
	<dict>
		<key>URL</key>
		<string>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ygini/Hello-IT/975ff834701153c3a4cdf91991a9860334645eb9/staticfiles/internet_test.txt</string>
		<key>mode</key>
		<string>md5</string>
		<key>originalString</key>
		<string>ccf41dc8262810b99142b5627d27c25e</string>
		<key>ignoreSystemState</key>
		<true/>
		<key>repeat</key>
		<integer>60</integer>
		<key>title</key>
		<string>Internet</string>
	</dict>
</dict>

More informations

Main implementation

The main implementation of this function is made in the TestHTTP plugin from the main project.

Shared test URL

Most of us were using md5 based scenario with Apple captive portal webpage. It will work until Apple change something (like in April 2017).

To avoid this issue and offer a shared URL not requiring all of us to host a target file (even if it would be better in term of security), we added a static file with random content on the project repository.

You can use two distinct URL to get it:

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ygini/Hello-IT/master/staticfiles/internet_test.txt to get the last version
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ygini/Hello-IT/975ff834701153c3a4cdf91991a9860334645eb9/staticfiles/internet_test.txt to get the original version

Using the last version will give us the ability to change the content if somehow we discover a security issue related to this feature.

Using the original version will make you safe if we do a mistake.

Current md5 checksum for this content is ccf41dc8262810b99142b5627d27c25e.