hurl/docs/entry.md

# Entry

## Definition

A Hurl file is a list of entries, each entry being a mandatory [request], optionally followed by a [response].

Responses are not mandatory, a Hurl file consisting only of requests is perfectly valid. To sum up, responses can be used
to [capture values] to perform subsequent requests, or [add asserts to HTTP responses].

## Example

```hurl
# First, test home title.
GET https://acmecorp.net

HTTP 200
[Asserts]
xpath "normalize-space(//head/title)" == "Hello world!"

# Get some news, response description is optional
GET https://acmecorp.net/news

# Do a POST request without CSRF token and check
# that status code is Forbidden 403
POST https://acmecorp.net/contact
[FormParams]
default: false
email: john.doe@rookie.org
number: 33611223344
HTTP 403
```

## Description

### Options

[Options] specified on the command line apply to every entry in an Hurl file. For instance, with [`--location` option],
every entry of a given file will follow redirection:

```shell
$ hurl --location foo.hurl
```

You can use an [`[Options]` section][options] to use option only for a specified option. For instance, in this Hurl file:

```hurl
GET https://google.fr
HTTP 301

GET https://google.fr
[Options]
location: true
HTTP 200

GET https://google.fr
HTTP 301
```

The second entry will follow location (so we can test the status code to be 200 instead of 301).

You can use it to log a specific entry:

```hurl
# ... previous entries

GET https://api.example.org
[Options]
very-verbose: true
HTTP 200

# ... next entries
```

### Cookie storage

Requests in the same Hurl file share the cookie storage, enabling, for example, session based scenario.

### Redirects

By default, Hurl doesn't follow redirection. To effectively run a redirection, entries should describe each step
of the redirection, allowing insertion of asserts in each response.

```hurl
# First entry, test the redirection (status code and 'Location' header)
GET https://google.fr

HTTP 301
Location: https://www.google.fr/

# Second entry, the 200 OK response
GET https://www.google.fr
HTTP 200
```

Alternatively, one can use [`--location`] option to force redirection
to be followed. In this case, asserts are executed on the last received response. Optionally, the number of
redirections can be limited with [`--max-redirs`].

```hurl
# Running hurl --location google.hurl
GET https://google.fr
HTTP 200
```

Finally, you can force redirection on a particular request with an [`[Options]` section][options] and the [`--location` option]:

```hurl
GET https://google.fr
[Options]
location: true
HTTP 200
```

### Retry

Every entry can be retried upon asserts, captures or runtime errors. Retries allow polling scenarios and effective runs 
under flaky conditions. Asserts can be explicit (with an [`[Asserts]` section][asserts]), or implicit (like [headers] or [status code]).

Retries can be set globally for every request (see [`--retry`] and [`--retry-interval`]), 
or activated on a particular request with an [`[Options]` section][options].

For example, in this Hurl file, first we create a new job, then we poll the new job until it's completed:

```hurl
# Create a new job
POST http://api.example.org/jobs

HTTP 201
[Captures]
job_id: jsonpath "$.id"
[Asserts]
jsonpath "$.state" == "RUNNING"


# Pull job status until it is completed
GET http://api.example.org/jobs/{{job_id}}
[Options]
retry: 10   # maximum number of retry, -1 for unlimited

HTTP 200
[Asserts]
jsonpath "$.state" == "COMPLETED"
```


[request]: /docs/request.md
[response]: /docs/response.md
[capture values]: /docs/capturing-response.md
[add asserts to HTTP responses]: /docs/asserting-response.md
[`--location`]: /docs/manual.md#location
[`--max-redirs`]: /docs/manual.md#max-redirs
[Options]: /docs/manual.md#options
[options]: /docs/request.md#options
[`--location` option]: /docs/manual.md#location
[headers]: /docs/response.md#headers
[status code]: /docs/response.md#version-status
[asserts]: /docs/response.md#asserts
[Asserts]: /docs/response.md#asserts
[`--retry`]: /docs/manual.md#retry
[`--retry-interval`]: /docs/manual.md#retry-interval