ILEcurl

ILEcurl an opensource wrapper for the cURL tool. It makes it easy to use cURL from an RPG program like:

dcl-proc main ;

    dcl-s res varchar(32700);
    res = ic_curl ('https://google.com':'-k');
    ic_joblog (res);

end-proc;

Installation

If you just need the binary, simply skip to the "Release" section in this document. If you, however, will work with this project - this is what you do:

Installation of ILEcurl should be done with git, gmake (GNU Make) , python and most important curl, which are all available via yum - you can read more about yum here.

yum install git
yum install make-gnu
yum install python39
yum install curl 

ILEcurl is a two step process. ILEcurl requires you to build from source, but this step has been totally automated for you. To install ILEcurl, you need to use the pase environment (with ssh for example) and with a couple of seconds you can have the project built. No need to download save files, upload them or restore them.

mkdir /prj
cd /prj
git -c http.sslVerify=false clone https://github.com/NielsLiisberg/ILEcurl.git
cd ILEcurl
gmake

This will create:

• The ILEcurl library
• ILEcurl/ILEcurl service program.
• ILEcurl/QRPGLEREF.ILEcurl for the ILEcurl API prototypes.
• ILEcurl/ILEcurl binding directory, with the reference to ILEcurl service program.
• Test folder with test and examples.

Develop from a local clone

Edit in a clone on your PC and let .sitemule/sync_build.sh copy it to the IBM i and run gmake there (set I_HOST and DELPOY_PATH in .env). The VS Code tasks use it.

.sitemule/sync_build.sh all                          # service program + release
.sitemule/sync_build.sh ILEcurl.rpgle DIR=src        # one source file
.sitemule/sync_build.sh all BIN_LIB=MYLIB            # into another library

Each sync leaves GIT-MANAGED.md in the IBM i folder: it is a copy of the repo, so edit here, not there.

Using ILEcurl

the syntax is

  result = ic_curl ( url : curlparms : inputdata);

result

The result is the response from the http-request. It is produced in UTF-8 but will automatically converted to EBCDIC by the prototypes, so if you are using only basic letters you can simply use plain RPG variables - otherwise look in the UTF-8 examples

url

The url can use the protocols http and https

cURL parameters

This is the extra curl command parameter - note the input parameter is a separate parameter so you don't have to escape the input

input data

Like the result it is transferred in UTF-8 and converted by the prototype. The contents type ( form, json, XML etc) can be used however you need to set the Content-type accordingly.

For more information about cURL parameters please read:

https://curl.haxx.se/docs/manpage.html

Release

To deploy ILEcurl you need to run yum install curl on your target box and to install the binary release:

CRTLIB ILECURL
CPYFRMSTMF FROMSTMF('./release/release.savf') TOMBR('/QSYS.lib/ILECURL.lib/RELEASE.FILE') MBROPT(*REPLACE) CVTDTA(*NONE)
RSTLIB SAVLIB(ILECURL) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(ILECURL/RELEASE)

You can now copy the ILEcurl prototypes and service program into your application library if you wish. You can also merge it into your application library directly with this restore command:

RSTOBJ OBJ(*ALL) SAVLIB(ILECURL) DEV(*SAVF)  SAVF(ILECURL/RELEASE) MBROPT(*ALL) ALWOBJDIF(*FILELVL) RSTLIB(MyAppLib)