gistfile1.rb

require 'rubygems'
require 'httparty'

# authority = [ userinfo "@" ] host [ ":" port ]
# http://labs.apache.org/webarch/uri/rfc/rfc3986.html#authority  
  
module HTTPartyHarder
  attr_accessor :authority

  def authority
    @authority ||= 'localhost:80'
  end
  
  # Here's the callback majick!
  def get(path = '/', callbacks = HTTPartyHarder::Callbacks.new)	  
    begin
      response = self.class.get( File.join('http://', @authority, path) )
      callbacks[:complete].call(response)
      # you could also check for a status code here...
      response
    
    # URI::InvalidURIError, SocketError, Errno::ECONNREFUSED  
    rescue Exception => error
      callbacks[:error].call(error)
      nil
    end
  end
  
  # Oh, the joys of dependency injection
  class Callbacks < Hash
    def initialize(params = {}) 
      self[:complete] = lambda {|response|}
      self[:error]    = lambda {|error|}
      # You could also set these up ...
      self[:success]  = lambda {|response|}
      self[:failure]  = lambda {|response|}
    end
  end
end


class Peer
  include HTTParty
  include HTTPartyHarder
  
  # This kinda sucks
  def initialize(authority = nil)
    @authority = authority if authority
  end
end


@coworker = Peer.new('me:pass@127.0.0.1:80')

puts @coworker.authority

@coworker.get('your-mom', {
  :error    => lambda {|error| p "Rats! #{error}"},
  :complete => lambda {|response| p "Woohoo! #{response.headers['status']}"}
})