WebGyver Revisited

HTTP Request Error / Adobe Flex Builder 3

Posted by admin on August 29, 2008

When I started out with this BLOG several years ago, I just wanted to have a place online where I could jot down tips and tricks for various web development issues. So, after banging my head against the wall in disbelief, I would like to dedicate this post to myself and anyone else who’s been getting the “HTTP Request Error” in Flex 3 lately.

The fascination thing (to me) about this error was that I was sending a request to a PHP page on Server A, and everything worked fine. Because I didn’t want to disrupt the web site on Server A too much, I published a mirrored copy of everything on Server B. The same code, however, would result in an error on Server B.

After staring at my code in Flex, comparing identical PHP files and thinking up all kinds of scenarios that could explain what was happening, I copied and pasted the HTTPService’s url parameter into my web browsers . . . and everything looked all right. I even stripped down the PHP code on Server B to the bare minimum: nada!

After consulting with my best online friend (Google), I discovered that other Flex developers had experienced similar boo-boos. In my case, I had omitted the “http://” prefix from the HTTPService’s url parameter for Server B — thanks to a lot of careless copying and pasting. Once I added the full web page URL, everything worked wonderfully.

In case this might help anyone else out there, other causes for the dreaded HTTP Request Error could include:

• Pointing to a web page that doesn’t exist (or is misspelled)
• Accidentally reversing one or more slashes in the URL
• Introducing typos into the HTTPService’s url parameter

For what it’s worth.