Implementing libcurl

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January 2024

libcurl is a free library that can download data from the internet. It supports just about every protocol imaginable, and is available under a MIT/X derivative license.

Implementation

Windows

1. Download the latest version of libcurl.
2. Extract the \lib and \include folders to a convenient location.
3. Open libcurl's VS project and change it to Release mode.
4. Go to libcurl > Properties > C/C++ > Preprocessor > Definitions and add CURL_STATICLIB. Unless you really do want to use LDAP, add HTTP_ONLY too.
5. Go to libcurl > Properties > C/C++ > Code Generation > Runtime Library and change it to read Multi-threaded (/MT).
6. Build libcurl.
7. Add libcurl.lib to your main project. The easiest way is to drag it onto the Solution Explorer.
8. Go to Your Project > Properties > C/C++ > Preprocessor > Definitions and add CURL_STATICLIB, as you did to curl itself.
9. Go to Your Project > Properties > C/C++ > General > Additional Include Directories and add the libcurl \include folder you extracted earlier.
10. Go to Your Project > Linker > Input > Additional Dependencies and add ws2_32.lib. If you want to use LDAP, add wldap32.lib as well.
11. #include "curl/curl.h" and start coding!

Note:Remember that you will need to repeat steps 8-10 in both Release and Debug configurations.

Linux

^[Todo]

Usage

• The libcurl C API
• Some examples

Here is how to write the contents of a web page to the console:

#include "curl/curl.h"

// Called when curl receives data from the server
static size_t rcvData(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void *userdata)
{
	Msg((char*)ptr); // up to 989 characters each time
	return size * nmemb;
}

void PrintPage()
{
        CURL *curl;
	curl = curl_easy_init();
	curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "developer.valvesoftware.com");
	curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, rcvData);
	curl_easy_perform(curl);
	curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
}

ConCommand print_page("print_page", PrintPage);