http-sendrecv with Google geocode

George Neuner

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Apr 20, 2015, 8:39:30 PM4/20/15

to racket users

Hi all,

I'm having trouble accessing the Google geocode API using http-sendrecv.

Code is:

(define (lookup address) (let [        (form-data (alist->form-urlencoded                     (list (cons 'address address)                           )))                 (response #f)        (lat #f)        (long #f)       ]        (printf "Looking up ~s~n" address)    (printf "=> ~s~n" form-data)        (with-handlers [                    (exn:fail?                     (lambda (e)                       (fprintf (ferr) "~n~n%%~n~a~n%%~n" (format "Error: ~a" (exn-message e)))                       ))                   ]      (let-values [                   ((errcode header port)                    (http-sendrecv "maps.googleapis.com"                                   "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json"                                   ;#:ssl? ssl?                                        ;#:port port                                        #:version #"1.1"                                        #:method #"GET"                                        #:headers (list "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded")                                        #:data form-data                                   ;#:content-decode decodes                                   ))                  ]        (set! response (port->string port))        ;(set! response (read-json port))        (printf "=> ~s~n" response)        ))          (fprintf (ferr) "lat:~s long:~s~n" lat long )    (values lat long)    ))

It doesn't yet extract relevant data because I haven't yet successfully gotten any data. 8-(

As a test I lookup the State House in Boston:

   (lookup "24 Beacon St, Boston, MA, 01233")

Looking up "24 Beacon St, Boston, MA, 01233"=> "address=24+Beacon+St%2C+Boston%2C+MA%2C+01233"=> "<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html lang=en>\n <meta charset=utf-8>\n <meta name=viewport content=\"initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, width=device-width\">\n <title>Error 400 (Bad Request)!!1</title>\n <style>\n    *{margin:0;padding:0}html,code{font:15px/22px arial,sans-serif}html{background:#fff;color:#222;padding:15px}body{margin:7% auto 0;max-width:390px;min-height:180px;padding:30px 0 15px}* > body{background:url(//www.google.com/images/errors/robot.png) 100% 5px no-repeat;padding-right:205px}p{margin:11px 0 22px;overflow:hidden}ins{color:#777;text-decoration:none}a img{border:0}@media screen and (max-width:772px){body{background:none;margin-top:0;max-width:none;padding-right:0}}#logo{background:url(//www.google.com/images/errors/logo_sm_2.png) no-repeat}@media only screen and (min-resolution:192dpi){#logo{background:url(//www.google.com/images/errors/logo_sm_2_hr.png) no-repeat 0% 0%/100% 100%;-moz-border-image:url(//www.google.com/images/errors/logo_sm_2_hr.png) 0}}@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio:2){#logo{background:url(//www.google.com/images/errors/logo_sm_2_hr.png) no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:100% 100%}}#logo{display:inline-block;height:55px;width:150px}\n </style>\n <a href=//www.google.com/><span id=logo aria-label=Google></span></a>\n <p><b>400.</b> <ins>That’s an error.</ins>\n <p>Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request. <ins>That’s all we know.</ins>\n"lat:#f long:#f#f#f
Totally unhelpful.
However if I paste the URI and urlencoded data into a browser:

    http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=24+Beacon+St%2C+Boston%2C+MA%2C+01233

then I get a good return. It also works from an HTML form, e.g.,

      <form action="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json" method="GET">         <label>address</label>         <input type="text" name="address" size="128" />         <button type="submit" >             GEOCODE             </button>         </form> 

I'm using http-sendrecv successfully with other web APIs - I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong with Google. Number and/or frequency of requests is not an issue - I'm very far from the daily limit and many minutes elapse between tests as I'm trying to figure out what's wrong.

The documentation is at https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/#GeocodingRequests

Any clues to pierce the veil of stupidity would be appreciated.
Thanks,
George

Sean Kanaley

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Apr 21, 2015, 1:46:45 AM4/21/15

to George Neuner, racket users

Just comment out #:data and append it to the url:

(http-sendrecv "maps.googleapis.com" (string-append "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?" form-data)

;#:ssl? ssl? ;#:port port #:version #"1.1" #:method #"GET" #:headers (list "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded") ;#:data form-data ;#:content-decode decodes ))

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George Neuner

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Apr 21, 2015, 2:25:31 AM4/21/15

to Sean Kanaley, racket users

Hi Sean,

On 4/21/2015 1:46 AM, Sean Kanaley wrote:

Just comment out #:data and append it to the url:
(http-sendrecv "maps.googleapis.com" (string-append "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?" form-data)
;#:ssl? ssl? ;#:port port #:version #"1.1" #:method #"GET" #:headers (list "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded") ;#:data form-data ;#:content-decode decodes ))

Doesn't work - I get the same error back:
blah, blah ... Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request. That’s all we know ....

I've tried appending the data as you suggest. I've tried adding "?" deliberately to the URI. I've tried with and without #:headers. #:version #"1.0" and #"1.1". #:method #"GET" vs #"POST". Everything produces the same error.

But perversely the result of (string-append "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?" form-data) works if I paste it into a browser.

George

Sean Kanaley

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Apr 21, 2015, 3:39:24 AM4/21/15

to George Neuner, racket users

Hi George,

I'm not sure then -- I am in Racket 6.1.1. Here is the source that worked for me:

#lang racket

(require net/http-client

net/uri-codec)

(define (lookup address)

(let [

(form-data (alist->form-urlencoded

(list (cons 'address address)

)))

(response #f)

(lat #f)

(long #f)

]

(printf "Looking up ~s~n" address)

(printf "=> ~s~n" form-data)

(with-handlers [

(exn:fail?

(lambda (e)

3; (fprintf (ferr) "~n~n%%~n~a~n%%~n" (format "Error: ~a" (exn-message e)))

))

]

(let-values [

((errcode header port)

(http-sendrecv "maps.googleapis.com"

(string-append "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?" form-data)

;#:ssl? ssl?

;#:port port

#:version #"1.1"

#:method #"GET"

#:headers (list "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded")

;#:data form-data

;#:content-decode decodes

))

]

(set! response (port->string port))

;(set! response (read-json port))

(printf "=> ~s~n" response)

))

;(fprintf (ferr) "lat:~s long:~s~n" lat long )

(values lat long)

))

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(I commented out the fprintfs to avoid dealing with ferr.)

It won't work if #:data is uncommented. I hope that helps, otherwise I'm stuck too.

George Neuner

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Apr 21, 2015, 10:32:28 AM4/21/15

to Sean Kanaley, racket users

Hi Sean,

Even weirder .... when I tried this morning your string-append solution - which I had left in place - worked immediately with no changes from last night. The only thing different is I had closed DrRacket before going to bed and reopened it this morning. Maybe something was wonky in DrRacket? It had been running about ~14 hours yesterday at the point I started having trouble and I fought with it a couple more hours before quitting? But AFAICR, I've never seen that before.

However, as you discovered also, passing the data as #:data doesn't work and now I'm interested in why. ISTM that the URI + #:data should be identical to the string-append with "?" and #:method #"GET".

Also, Google recommends using POST if the data is sensitive, but I can't get POST to work even from a pure HTML form in a browser.

So now I'm really curious as to what's going on.

Thanks for your help,
George

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