HTTP Debugging

SmashingConf Oxford talk with Curl, Ngrok and Charles Proxy as the main tools mentioned

Transcript

1. Debugging HTTP
   Lorna Mitchell, SmashingConf 2015
   

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2. Why Debugging HTTP?
   

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3. 6 Stages of Debugging
   

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4. Denial
   That can't happen.
   

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5. Frustration
   That doesn't happen on my machine.
   

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6. Disbelief
   That shouldn't happen.
   

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7. Testing
   Why does that happen?
   

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8. Gotcha
   Oh, I see.
   

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9. Relief
   How did that ever work?
   

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10. Fault-Finding HTTP
    ... is just like fault-finding elsewhere in a web project
    Seeing the problem is usually harder than fixing it
    

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11. Developer Tools
    Get to know the tools in your browser.
    

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12. Developer Tools
    

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13. Curl
    Curl (or cURL) is command-line multitool for HTTP
    http://curl.haxx.se/
    

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14. Lornajane's Curl Cheat Sheet
    -X [verb] The verb to use for this request
    -H "[Header
    :value]"
    A header to send. Use as many times as needed
    -d [value] Body data as a string, a filename, or a key/value
    pair
    -s The "silent" switch, to hide curl's progress meter
    when piping the output to something else
    -c [filename] Where to store any incoming cookies for future
    use
    -b [filename] Cookies to send with the request
    -v to show headers for both request and response
    

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15. Postman
    

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16. RESTClient
    

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17. Paw
    

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18. Ngrok
    Expose local websites to the wider web
    https://ngrok.com/
    

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19. Charles Proxy
    Multi-platform Web Debugging Proxy
    http://www.charlesproxy.com/
    

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20. Debugging SSL
    Charles can perform a man-in-the-middle attack
    

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21. Debugging SSL
    You need to authorise the "attack"
    

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22. Make Debugging Your Super Power
    

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23. Other Excellent Tools
    • Postman (Chrome) http://getpostman.com/
    • RESTClient http://restclient.net/
    • Paw http://luckymarmot.com/paw
    • Fiddler http://www.telerik.com/fiddler
    

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24. Questions?
    From http://www.oreilly.com
    Contact: http://lornajane.net - @lornajane
    

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