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						- # stream-http [](https://travis-ci.org/jhiesey/stream-http)
 - 
 - [](https://saucelabs.com/u/stream-http)
 - 
 - This module is an implementation of Node's native `http` module for the browser.
 - It tries to match Node's API and behavior as closely as possible, but some features
 - aren't available, since browsers don't give nearly as much control over requests.
 - 
 - This is heavily inspired by, and intended to replace, [http-browserify](https://github.com/substack/http-browserify).
 - 
 - ## What does it do?
 - 
 - In accordance with its name, `stream-http` tries to provide data to its caller before
 - the request has completed whenever possible.
 - 
 - Backpressure, allowing the browser to only pull data from the server as fast as it is
 - consumed, is supported in:
 - * Chrome >= 58 (using `fetch` and `WritableStream`)
 - 
 - The following browsers support true streaming, where only a small amount of the request
 - has to be held in memory at once:
 - * Chrome >= 43 (using the `fetch` API)
 - * Firefox >= 9 (using `moz-chunked-arraybuffer` responseType with xhr)
 - 
 - The following browsers support pseudo-streaming, where the data is available before the
 - request finishes, but the entire response must be held in memory:
 - * Chrome
 - * Safari >= 5, and maybe older
 - * IE >= 10
 - * Most other Webkit-based browsers, including the default Android browser
 - 
 - All browsers newer than IE8 support binary responses. All of the above browsers that
 - support true streaming or pseudo-streaming support that for binary data as well
 - except for IE10. Old (presto-based) Opera also does not support binary streaming either.
 - 
 - ### IE8 note:
 - As of version 2.0.0, IE8 support requires the user to supply polyfills for
 - `Object.keys`, `Array.prototype.forEach`, and `Array.prototype.indexOf`. Example
 - implementations are provided in [ie8-polyfill.js](ie8-polyfill.js); alternately,
 - you may want to consider using [es5-shim](https://github.com/es-shims/es5-shim).
 - All browsers with full ES5 support shouldn't require any polyfills.
 - 
 - ## How do you use it?
 - 
 - The intent is to have the same API as the client part of the
 - [Node HTTP module](https://nodejs.org/api/http.html). The interfaces are the same wherever
 - practical, although limitations in browsers make an exact clone of the Node API impossible.
 - 
 - This module implements `http.request`, `http.get`, and most of `http.ClientRequest`
 - and `http.IncomingMessage` in addition to `http.METHODS` and `http.STATUS_CODES`. See the
 - Node docs for how these work.
 - 
 - ### Extra features compared to Node
 - 
 - * The `message.url` property provides access to the final URL after all redirects. This
 - is useful since the browser follows all redirects silently, unlike Node. It is available
 - in Chrome 37 and newer, Firefox 32 and newer, and Safari 9 and newer.
 - 
 - * The `options.withCredentials` boolean flag, used to indicate if the browser should send
 - cookies or authentication information with a CORS request. Default false.
 - 
 - This module has to make some tradeoffs to support binary data and/or streaming. Generally,
 - the module can make a fairly good decision about which underlying browser features to use,
 - but sometimes it helps to get a little input from the developer.
 - 
 - * The `options.mode` field passed into `http.request` or `http.get` can take on one of the
 - following values:
 -   * 'default' (or any falsy value, including `undefined`): Try to provide partial data before
 - the request completes, but not at the cost of correctness for binary data or correctness of
 - the 'content-type' response header. This mode will also avoid slower code paths whenever
 - possible, which is particularly useful when making large requests in a browser like Safari
 - that has a weaker JavaScript engine.
 -   * 'allow-wrong-content-type': Provides partial data in more cases than 'default', but
 - at the expense of causing the 'content-type' response header to be incorrectly reported
 - (as 'text/plain; charset=x-user-defined') in some browsers, notably Safari and Chrome 42
 - and older. Preserves binary data whenever possible. In some cases the implementation may
 - also be a bit slow. This was the default in versions of this module before 1.5.
 -   * 'prefer-stream': Provide data before the request completes even if binary data (anything
 - that isn't a single-byte ASCII or UTF8 character) will be corrupted. Of course, this option
 - is only safe for text data. May also cause the 'content-type' response header to be
 - incorrectly reported (as 'text/plain; charset=x-user-defined').
 -   * 'disable-fetch': Force the use of plain XHR regardless of the browser declaring a fetch
 - capability. Preserves the correctness of binary data and the 'content-type' response header.
 -   * 'prefer-fast': Deprecated; now a synonym for 'default', which has the same performance
 - characteristics as this mode did in versions before 1.5.
 - 
 - * `options.requestTimeout` allows setting a timeout in millisecionds for XHR and fetch (if
 - supported by the browser). This is a limit on how long the entire process takes from
 - beginning to end. Note that this is not the same as the node `setTimeout` functions,
 - which apply to pauses in data transfer over the underlying socket, or the node `timeout`
 - option, which applies to opening the connection.
 - 
 - ### Features missing compared to Node
 - 
 - * `http.Agent` is only a stub
 - * The 'socket', 'connect', 'upgrade', and 'continue' events on `http.ClientRequest`.
 - * Any operations, including `request.setTimeout`, that operate directly on the underlying
 - socket.
 - * Any options that are disallowed for security reasons. This includes setting or getting
 - certain headers.
 - * `message.httpVersion`
 - * `message.rawHeaders` is modified by the browser, and may not quite match what is sent by
 - the server.
 - * `message.trailers` and `message.rawTrailers` will remain empty.
 - * Redirects are followed silently by the browser, so it isn't possible to access the 301/302
 - redirect pages.
 - * The `timeout` event/option and `setTimeout` functions, which operate on the underlying
 - socket, are not available. However, see `options.requestTimeout` above.
 - 
 - ## Example
 - 
 - ``` js
 - http.get('/bundle.js', function (res) {
 - 	var div = document.getElementById('result');
 - 	div.innerHTML += 'GET /beep<br>';
 - 
 - 	res.on('data', function (buf) {
 - 		div.innerHTML += buf;
 - 	});
 - 
 - 	res.on('end', function () {
 - 		div.innerHTML += '<br>__END__';
 - 	});
 - })
 - ```
 - 
 - ## Running tests
 - 
 - There are two sets of tests: the tests that run in Node (found in `test/node`) and the tests
 - that run in the browser (found in `test/browser`). Normally the browser tests run on
 - [Sauce Labs](http://saucelabs.com/).
 - 
 - Running `npm test` will run both sets of tests, but in order for the Sauce Labs tests to run
 - you will need to sign up for an account (free for open source projects) and put the
 - credentials in a [`.zuulrc` file](https://github.com/defunctzombie/zuul/wiki/zuulrc).
 - 
 - To run just the Node tests, run `npm run test-node`.
 - 
 - To run the browser tests locally, run `npm run test-browser-local` and point your browser to
 - `http://localhost:8080/__zuul`
 - 
 - ## License
 - 
 - MIT. Copyright (C) John Hiesey and other contributors.
 
 
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