Generate list of HTTP redirects

chaseurls.erl

%%% @author John Daily <[email protected]>
%%% @copyright (C) 2012, John Daily
%%% @doc
%%%   The httpc module in inets does not appear to offer any way to
%%%   determine the "real" URL if it follows a series of redirects
%%%   during its request. This code addresses that gap.
%%%
%%%   The code does not interpret any HTML-based redirect, such as a
%%%   meta refresh.
%%%
%%%   It may be useful to wrap httpc:request so that the list of URLs
%%%   is included in the standard result set, but that exercise is
%%%   left for posterity.
%%% @end
%%% Created : 27 Nov 2012 by John Daily <[email protected]>

-module(chaseurls).
-compile(export_all).

-define(MAXREDIRECTS, 10).

%% Will return a tuple, with one of these atoms as first member:
%%   * ok
%%   * brokenchain (received a 4XX or 5XX status error when requesting a URL)
%%   * toomany (too many redirects)
%%
%% The 2nd member is a list of URLs in reverse order.  The URL
%% provided with the original call will always be the last member, and
%% the last URL encountered will be the first.
%%
%% Examples:
%%   chase("http://some-bad-url") -> { brokenchain, [ "http://some-bad-url" ] }
%%   chase("http://some-valid-url") -> { ok, [ "http://final-redirect", "http://intermediate-redirect",
%%                                             "http://some-valid=url" ] }
%%   chase("http://some-looping-url1") -> { toomany, [ "http://some-looping-url2",
%%                                                     "http://some-looping-url1",
%%                                                     "http://some-looping-url2",
%%                                                     "http://some-looping-url1",
%%                                                     "http://some-looping-url2",... ]}
chase(URL) ->
    inets:start(), %% will silently fail if already started
    chase({url, URL}, ?MAXREDIRECTS, []).

%% Allow the caller to specify the # of redirects before halting
chase(URL, MaxRedirects) ->
    inets:start(), %% will silently fail if already started
    chase({url, URL}, MaxRedirects, []).

%% Do not reverse the results; we want the last URL to be head of the
%% list in case that's all the caller wants
chase(done, _Count, URLs) ->
    {ok, URLs};
chase({_, nolocation}, _Count, URLs) ->
    {brokenchain, URLs};
chase({url, URL}, 0, URLs) ->
    {toomany, [URL] ++ URLs};
chase({url, URL}, Count, Previous) ->
    chase(process_result(httpc:request(get, {URL, []}, [{autoredirect, false}], [])),
          Count - 1,
          [URL] ++ Previous).

process_result({ok, {{_Version, Status, _Reason}, _Headers, _}}) when Status >= 200, Status < 300 ->
    done;
process_result({ok, {{_Version, Status, _Reason}, Headers, _}}) when Status >= 300, Status < 400 ->
    {url, proplists:get_value("location", Headers, nolocation) };
process_result({ok, {{_Version, Status, _Reason}, _Headers, _}}) when Status >= 400 ->
    {error, nolocation}.