Designates a container consisting of an Internet resource or local file in the form of a URL.
# Metadata
Platforms: desktop, server, mobile OS: mac, windows, linux, ios, android Introduced: 1.0 Security: network
# Syntax
URL
# Examples
get URL "http://www.xworlds.com/index.html"
put URL "binfile:/Users/myuser/Files/example.gif" into image "Example Logo"
post field "Results" to URL "http://www.example.org/current.txt"
local tURL put "http://www.xworlds.com/index.html" into tURL get URL tURL
put "Hello World" into URL "file:/Users/myuser/Documents/sample.txt"
-- Writing the contents of a field to an external file, preserving text encoding on textSave put "???? ??????" into field "russiantext" put textEncode(field "russiantext" ,"UTF-8") into URL "binfile:/Users/myuser/Documents/russtext.txt" end textSave # Reading contents of a file into LiveCode, preserving text encoding on textRead local tText put URL "binfile:/Users/myuser/Documents/russtext.txt" into tText put textDecode(tText,"UTF-8") into field "russiantext" end textRead
# Description
Use the URL keyword to access the contents of a local file or a file accessible on the Web.
A URL is a method of designating a file or other resource. You can use a URL like any other container. You can get the contents of a URL or use its contents in any expression. LiveCode supports the following URL schemes:
* http: a page from a web server * ftp: a directory or file on an FTP server * file: a text file on the local disk (not on a server) * binfile: a binary file * resfile: on Mac OS and OS X systems, the resource fork of a file
All actions that refer to a URL container are blocking: that is, the handler pauses until LiveCode is finished accessing the URL. Since fetching a web page may take some time due to network lag, accessing URLs may take long enough to be noticeable to the user. To avoid this delay, use the load command (which is non-blocking) to cache web pages before you need them.
For technical information about URLs and URL schemes, see [RFC 1630](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1630).
>*Important:* The http, ftp and https keywords are > part > of the Internet library on desktop platforms. To ensure > that the keywords work in a desktop > standalone application, you must include this > LiveCode custom library when you create your > standalone application. In the Inclusions > pane of the Standalone Application Settings window, make sure the > "Internet" script library is selected.
>*Cross-platform note:* On iOS and Android, you can use the http, > ftp and https keywords without the need for the > Internet library. When specifying URLs for iOS and > Android, you must use the appropriate form that conforms to > [RFC 1630](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1630).
>*Important:* The space character is not valid in URLs, > however the Internet library (Desktop platforms) replaces this character with the required '%20'. This is something that the mobile and server platforms do not do. Be careful to construct valid URLs when working on fully cross platform applications.
# Tags
# See
- **keyword:** binfile, file, ftp, http, resfile, URL - **property:** HTMLText - **command:** launch url, libURLSetAuthCallback, libURLSetExpect100, load - **function:** urlEncode - **glossary:** binary file, command, container, expression, file, FTP, keyword, LiveCode custom library, local file, platform, resource, resource fork, server, standalone application, text file, Unicode, URL, URL scheme, web server - **library:** Internet library