HTTP triggered functions in GCP - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Create a Simple HTTP Triggered Cloud Function on GCP

📖 Scenario: You are building a small cloud function on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that responds to HTTP requests. This function will greet users by name when they visit a URL with their name as a parameter.

🎯 Goal: Build a deployable HTTP triggered Cloud Function on GCP that reads a name from the URL query and returns a greeting message.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Python function named greet that accepts an HTTP request.

Extract the name parameter from the HTTP request query string.

Return a greeting message including the name parameter or a default greeting if no name is provided.

Add the necessary configuration to deploy the function as an HTTP trigger.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

HTTP triggered cloud functions are used to build APIs, webhooks, and lightweight backend services that respond to web requests instantly.

💼 Career

Understanding how to create and deploy HTTP triggered functions is essential for cloud developers and engineers working with serverless architectures on GCP.

1

Create the basic HTTP function

Create a Python function called greet that accepts a single parameter request. Inside the function, return the string 'Hello World!'.

GCP

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Define a function named greet with one parameter request. Return the string 'Hello World!'.

2

Extract the name parameter from the request

Inside the greet function, create a variable called name that gets the name parameter from request.args. Use request.args.get('name').

GCP

def greet(request):
    # Extract the 'name' parameter from the request query
    # Your code here

Need a hint?

Use request.args.get('name') to get the name from the URL query parameters.

3

Return a personalized greeting

Modify the greet function to return 'Hello ' + name if name is not null. Otherwise, return 'Hello World!'. Use an if statement to check name.

GCP

def greet(request):
    name = request.args.get('name')
    # Return a personalized greeting if name exists
    # Your code here

Need a hint?

Use an if statement to check if name is not null. Return a greeting accordingly.

4

Add the HTTP trigger configuration

Add a comment at the top of the file that says # Deploy this function with --trigger-http to indicate it is an HTTP triggered function.

GCP

# Your code here

def greet(request):
    name = request.args.get('name')
    if name:
        return 'Hello ' + name
    else:
        return 'Hello World!'

Need a hint?

Add a comment to remind how to deploy this function as an HTTP trigger.