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How can I debug HTTParty requests to see what data is being sent?

Debugging HTTParty requests is essential for troubleshooting API integrations and ensuring your web scraping scripts send the correct data. HTTParty provides several built-in methods and configuration options to help you inspect outgoing requests, headers, payloads, and responses.

Built-in Debug Option

The simplest way to debug HTTParty requests is using the built-in debug_output option:

require 'httparty'

class APIClient
  include HTTParty
  debug_output $stdout
  base_uri 'https://api.example.com'
end

response = APIClient.get('/users')

This will output detailed information about the request and response to the console, including: - Request method and URL - Request headers - Request body - Response status - Response headers - Response body

For more granular control, you can enable debugging for specific requests:

response = HTTParty.get('https://api.example.com/users', 
  debug_output: $stdout
)

Custom Debug Output Destination

Instead of outputting to stdout, you can redirect debug information to a file or custom logger:

# Debug to file
debug_file = File.open('httparty_debug.log', 'w')
HTTParty.get('https://api.example.com/users', 
  debug_output: debug_file
)
debug_file.close

# Debug to custom logger
require 'logger'
logger = Logger.new('httparty.log')
HTTParty.get('https://api.example.com/users', 
  debug_output: logger
)

Using Hooks for Advanced Debugging

HTTParty provides hooks that allow you to intercept and inspect requests at different stages:

class DebugClient
  include HTTParty
  base_uri 'https://api.example.com'

  # Hook before request is sent
  def self.before_request(request)
    puts "=== REQUEST DEBUG ==="
    puts "Method: #{request.http_method}"
    puts "URI: #{request.path}"
    puts "Headers: #{request.options[:headers]}"
    puts "Body: #{request.options[:body]}"
    puts "Query: #{request.options[:query]}"
    puts "====================="
  end

  # Hook after response is received
  def self.after_request(request, response)
    puts "=== RESPONSE DEBUG ==="
    puts "Status: #{response.code} #{response.message}"
    puts "Headers: #{response.headers}"
    puts "Body length: #{response.body&.length || 0} bytes"
    puts "======================"
  end
end

# Register hooks
DebugClient.class_eval do
  before_request :before_request
  after_request :after_request
end

response = DebugClient.post('/users', 
  body: { name: 'John Doe', email: 'john@example.com' }.to_json,
  headers: { 'Content-Type' => 'application/json' }
)

Inspecting Request Objects

You can create HTTParty request objects without executing them to inspect their properties:

require 'httparty'

# Build request without sending
request = HTTParty::Request.new(
  Net::HTTP::Post,
  'https://api.example.com/users',
  {
    body: { name: 'John Doe', email: 'john@example.com' }.to_json,
    headers: { 
      'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
      'Authorization' => 'Bearer token123'
    }
  }
)

# Inspect request details
puts "HTTP Method: #{request.http_method}"
puts "URI: #{request.uri}"
puts "Headers: #{request.options[:headers]}"
puts "Body: #{request.options[:body]}"
puts "Query params: #{request.options[:query]}"

# Execute the request
response = request.perform

Debugging with Middleware

For complex debugging scenarios, you can use Net::HTTP's built-in debugging or create custom middleware:

require 'httparty'
require 'net/http'

# Enable Net::HTTP debugging
Net::HTTP.class_eval do
  alias_method :old_initialize, :initialize
  def initialize(*args)
    old_initialize(*args)
    @debug_output = $stderr
  end
end

class VerboseClient
  include HTTParty
  base_uri 'https://api.example.com'

  # Custom debug method
  def self.debug_request(method, url, options = {})
    puts "\n" + "="*50
    puts "HTTParty Debug Information"
    puts "="*50
    puts "Timestamp: #{Time.now}"
    puts "Method: #{method.to_s.upcase}"
    puts "URL: #{url}"

    if options[:headers]
      puts "\nHeaders:"
      options[:headers].each { |k, v| puts "  #{k}: #{v}" }
    end

    if options[:body]
      puts "\nBody:"
      puts "  #{options[:body]}"
    end

    if options[:query]
      puts "\nQuery Parameters:"
      options[:query].each { |k, v| puts "  #{k}: #{v}" }
    end

    puts "="*50 + "\n"

    # Execute the actual request
    response = send(method, url, options)

    puts "Response Status: #{response.code}"
    puts "Response Headers: #{response.headers}"
    puts "Response Body (first 200 chars): #{response.body[0..200]}..."
    puts "="*50 + "\n"

    response
  end
end

# Usage
response = VerboseClient.debug_request(:post, '/users',
  body: { name: 'Jane Doe', email: 'jane@example.com' }.to_json,
  headers: { 'Content-Type' => 'application/json' }
)

Debugging Authentication Issues

When debugging authentication problems, pay special attention to headers and tokens:

class AuthDebugClient
  include HTTParty
  base_uri 'https://api.example.com'

  def self.authenticated_request(method, endpoint, token, options = {})
    headers = options.delete(:headers) || {}
    headers['Authorization'] = "Bearer #{token}"

    puts "=== AUTHENTICATION DEBUG ==="
    puts "Token (first 10 chars): #{token[0..10]}..."
    puts "Full Authorization header: #{headers['Authorization']}"
    puts "Other headers: #{headers.reject { |k, v| k == 'Authorization' }}"
    puts "=============================="

    send(method, endpoint, options.merge(headers: headers, debug_output: $stdout))
  end
end

# Usage
response = AuthDebugClient.authenticated_request(:get, '/protected-endpoint', 'your-jwt-token')

Debugging Form Data and File Uploads

For debugging multipart form data and file uploads:

require 'httparty'

# Debug multipart form data
response = HTTParty.post('https://api.example.com/upload',
  body: {
    file: File.open('/path/to/file.pdf'),
    description: 'Important document',
    category: 'legal'
  },
  debug_output: $stdout
)

# Custom debugging for file uploads
class FileUploadDebugger
  include HTTParty

  def self.upload_with_debug(url, file_path, additional_fields = {})
    file_size = File.size(file_path)

    puts "=== FILE UPLOAD DEBUG ==="
    puts "File path: #{file_path}"
    puts "File size: #{file_size} bytes"
    puts "Additional fields: #{additional_fields}"
    puts "=========================="

    body = additional_fields.merge(file: File.open(file_path))

    post(url, body: body, debug_output: $stdout)
  end
end

Environment-Specific Debugging

Set up debugging based on your environment:

class SmartDebugClient
  include HTTParty
  base_uri 'https://api.example.com'

  # Enable debugging in development/test environments
  if %w[development test].include?(ENV['RAILS_ENV'])
    debug_output $stdout
  end

  def self.conditional_debug(method, url, options = {})
    if ENV['HTTPARTY_DEBUG'] == 'true'
      options[:debug_output] = $stdout
    end

    send(method, url, options)
  end
end

# Usage with environment variable
# HTTPARTY_DEBUG=true ruby your_script.rb

Best Practices for Production Debugging

When debugging in production environments, be cautious about logging sensitive data:

class ProductionSafeDebugger
  include HTTParty

  def self.safe_debug_request(method, url, options = {})
    debug_info = {
      method: method.to_s.upcase,
      url: url,
      timestamp: Time.now.iso8601
    }

    # Safely log headers (mask sensitive ones)
    if options[:headers]
      debug_info[:headers] = options[:headers].transform_values do |value|
        value.to_s.include?('Bearer') ? '[MASKED]' : value
      end
    end

    # Log body size instead of content for sensitive data
    if options[:body]
      debug_info[:body_size] = options[:body].to_s.length
      debug_info[:body_type] = options[:body].class.name
    end

    puts "DEBUG: #{debug_info.to_json}"

    send(method, url, options)
  end
end

Integration with Monitoring Tools

For production applications, consider integrating HTTParty debugging with monitoring solutions. While the specific implementation depends on your monitoring stack, similar to how to monitor network requests in Puppeteer, you can capture and analyze HTTP traffic patterns to identify performance bottlenecks and errors.

Console Commands for Quick Debugging

You can also use HTTParty's debugging features directly from the Ruby console or IRB:

# Start IRB with HTTParty
irb -r httparty

# Enable debugging for all requests
HTTParty.debug_output $stdout

# Make a test request
HTTParty.get('https://api.github.com/users/octocat')

For command-line debugging, you can create a simple Ruby script:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'httparty'

# Enable debugging
HTTParty.debug_output $stdout

# Parse command line arguments
url = ARGV[0] || 'https://httpbin.org/get'
method = (ARGV[1] || 'GET').upcase

case method
when 'GET'
  response = HTTParty.get(url)
when 'POST'
  response = HTTParty.post(url, body: { test: 'data' }.to_json, 
                          headers: { 'Content-Type' => 'application/json' })
end

puts "\nFinal Response Code: #{response.code}"

Troubleshooting Common Issues

When debugging HTTParty requests, look out for these common problems:

  1. Incorrect Content-Type headers: Ensure JSON requests have Content-Type: application/json
  2. Missing authentication headers: Verify Bearer tokens or API keys are properly formatted
  3. Encoding issues: Check if special characters in request bodies are properly encoded
  4. Query parameter formatting: Ensure arrays and nested objects are correctly serialized
  5. SSL certificate problems: Look for SSL-related errors in debug output

Advanced Debugging with Network Analysis

For deeper network-level debugging, you can combine HTTParty's debugging with external tools:

# Monitor HTTP traffic with tcpdump
sudo tcpdump -i any -A 'port 80 or port 443'

# Use curl to replicate HTTParty requests
curl -v -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"key":"value"}' \
     https://api.example.com/endpoint

Error Handling and Debugging Integration

Combine debugging with comprehensive error handling:

class RobustClient
  include HTTParty

  def self.debug_and_handle_request(method, url, options = {})
    # Enable debugging
    options[:debug_output] = $stdout if ENV['DEBUG']

    begin
      response = send(method, url, options)

      # Log successful request details
      puts "SUCCESS: #{method.upcase} #{url} -> #{response.code}"

      response
    rescue Net::TimeoutError => e
      puts "TIMEOUT ERROR: #{e.message}"
      puts "Request details: #{method.upcase} #{url}"
      puts "Options: #{options.inspect}"
      raise
    rescue StandardError => e
      puts "REQUEST ERROR: #{e.class} - #{e.message}"
      puts "Request details: #{method.upcase} #{url}"
      puts "Options: #{options.inspect}"
      raise
    end
  end
end

The debugging techniques covered here provide comprehensive visibility into your HTTParty requests, helping you identify and resolve issues quickly. Whether you're building web scrapers or integrating with APIs, proper debugging is essential for reliable applications.

For complex scenarios involving multiple requests or session management, consider implementing structured logging that captures the complete request-response cycle, making it easier to trace issues across multiple API calls.

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