diff --git a/sodapy/__init__.py b/sodapy/__init__.py
index 74d1f35..4904c51 100644
--- a/sodapy/__init__.py
+++ b/sodapy/__init__.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ def __init__(self, domain, app_token, username=None, password=None,
                                session_adapter["adapter"])
             self.uri_prefix = session_adapter["prefix"]
         else:
-            self.uri_prefix = "https"
+            self.uri_prefix = "https://"
 
     def authentication_validation(self, username, password, access_token):
         '''
@@ -230,20 +230,20 @@ def _perform_request(self, request_type, resource, **kwargs):
             raise Exception("Unknown request type. Supported request types are"
                             ": {0}".format(", ".join(request_type_methods)))
 
-        uri = "{0}://{1}{2}".format(self.uri_prefix, self.domain, resource)
+        uri = "{0}{1}{2}".format(self.uri_prefix, self.domain, resource)
 
         # set a timeout, just to be safe
         kwargs["timeout"] = 10
 
         response = getattr(self.session, request_type)(uri, **kwargs)
-
+        
         # handle errors
         if response.status_code not in (200, 202):
             _raise_for_status(response)
 
         # when responses have no content body (ie. delete, set_public), simply 
         # return the whole response
-        if not len(response.text):
+        if not response.text:
             return response
 
         # for other request types, return most useful data
diff --git a/tests/test_data/empty.txt b/tests/test_data/empty.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/test_soda.py b/tests/test_soda.py
index 0f39cdd..4bf0e31 100644
--- a/tests/test_soda.py
+++ b/tests/test_soda.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import json
 
 
-PREFIX = "mock"
+PREFIX = "http://"
 DOMAIN = "fakedomain.com"
 PATH = "/songs.json"
 APPTOKEN = "FakeAppToken"
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ def test_delete():
     client = Socrata(DOMAIN, APPTOKEN, username=USERNAME, password=PASSWORD,
                      session_adapter=mock_adapter)
 
-    uri = "{0}://{1}{2}".format(PREFIX, DOMAIN, PATH)
+    uri = "{0}{1}{2}".format(PREFIX, DOMAIN, PATH)
     adapter.register_uri("DELETE", uri, status_code=200)
     response = client.delete(PATH)
     assert response.status_code == 200
@@ -159,12 +159,36 @@ def test_create():
     assert len(response.get("id")) == 9
     client.close()
 
+def test_set_public():
+    mock_adapter = {}
+    mock_adapter["prefix"] = PREFIX
+    adapter = requests_mock.Adapter()
+    mock_adapter["adapter"] = adapter
+    client = Socrata(DOMAIN, APPTOKEN, username=USERNAME, password=PASSWORD,
+                     session_adapter=mock_adapter)
+
+    response_data = "empty.txt"
+    resource = "/api/views" + PATH
+    set_up_mock(adapter, "PUT", response_data, 200, resource=resource)
+    
+    response = client.set_public(PATH)
+    
+    request = adapter.request_history[0]
+    assert "method" in request.qs
+    assert "value" in request.qs
+    
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+
 def set_up_mock(adapter, method, response, response_code,
                 reason="OK", auth=None, resource=PATH):
     path = os.path.join(TEST_DATA_PATH, response)
     with open(path, "rb") as f:
-        body = json.load(f)
-    uri = "{0}://{1}{2}".format(PREFIX, DOMAIN, resource)
+        try:
+            body = json.load(f)
+        except ValueError:
+            body = None
+            
+    uri = "{0}{1}{2}".format(PREFIX, DOMAIN, resource)
     headers = {
         "content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8"
     }