tiny_httpd 0.17.0 (latest)

HTTP server.

This module implements a very simple, basic HTTP/1.1 server using blocking IOs and threads.

It is possible to use a thread pool, see create's argument new_thread.

since 0.13

exception Bad_req of int * string

Exception raised to exit request handlers with a code+error message

Middlewares

A middleware can be inserted in a handler to modify or observe its behavior.

since 0.11

module Middleware : sig ... end

module Head_middleware : sig ... end

A middleware that only considers the request's head+headers.

Main Server type

type t

A HTTP server. See create for more details.

module type IO_BACKEND = sig ... end

A backend that provides IO operations, network operations, etc.

val create_from : 
  ?buf_size:int ->
  ?middlewares:([ `Encoding | `Stage of int ] * Middleware.t) list ->
  backend:(module IO_BACKEND) ->
  unit ->
  t

Create a new webserver using provided backend.

The server will not do anything until run is called on it. Before starting the server, one can use add_path_handler and set_top_handler to specify how to handle incoming requests.

parameter buf_size
size for buffers (since 0.11)

parameter middlewares
see add_middleware for more details.

since 0.14

val addr : t -> string

Address on which the server listens.

val is_ipv6 : t -> bool

is_ipv6 server returns true iff the address of the server is an IPv6 address.

since 0.3

val port : t -> int

Port on which the server listens. Note that this might be different than the port initially given if the port was 0 (meaning that the OS picks a port for us).

val active_connections : t -> int

Number of currently active connections.

val add_decode_request_cb : 
  t ->
  (unit Request.t -> (unit Request.t * (IO.Input.t -> IO.Input.t)) option) ->
  unit

Add a callback for every request. The callback can provide a stream transformer and a new request (with modified headers, typically). A possible use is to handle decompression by looking for a Transfer-Encoding header and returning a stream transformer that decompresses on the fly.

deprecated
use add_middleware instead

val add_encode_response_cb : 
  t ->
  (unit Request.t -> Response.t -> Response.t option) ->
  unit

Add a callback for every request/response pair. Similarly to add_encode_response_cb the callback can return a new response, for example to compress it. The callback is given the query with only its headers, as well as the current response.

deprecated
use add_middleware instead

val add_middleware : 
  stage:[ `Encoding | `Stage of int ] ->
  t ->
  Middleware.t ->
  unit

Add a middleware to every request/response pair.

parameter stage
specify when middleware applies. Encoding comes first (outermost layer), then stages in increasing order.

raises Invalid_argument
if stage is `Stage n where n < 1

since 0.11

Request handlers

val set_top_handler : t -> (IO.Input.t Request.t -> Response.t) -> unit

Setup a handler called by default.

This handler is called with any request not accepted by any handler installed via add_path_handler. If no top handler is installed, unhandled paths will return a 404 not found

This used to take a string Request.t but it now takes a byte_stream Request.t since 0.14 . Use Request.read_body_full to read the body into a string if needed.

val add_route_handler : 
  ?accept:(unit Request.t -> (unit, Response_code.t * string) result) ->
  ?middlewares:Middleware.t list ->
  ?meth:Meth.t ->
  t ->
  ('a, string Request.t -> Response.t) Route.t ->
  'a ->
  unit

add_route_handler server Route.(exact "path" @/ string @/ int @/ return) f calls f "foo" 42 request when a request with path "path/foo/42/" is received.

Note that the handlers are called in the reverse order of their addition, so the last registered handler can override previously registered ones.

parameter meth
if provided, only accept requests with the given method. Typically one could react to `GET or `PUT.

parameter accept
should return Ok() if the given request (before its body is read) should be accepted, Error (code,message) if it's to be rejected (e.g. because its content is too big, or for some permission error). See the http_of_dir program for an example of how to use accept to filter uploads that are too large before the upload even starts. The default always returns Ok(), i.e. it accepts all requests.

since 0.6

val add_route_handler_stream : 
  ?accept:(unit Request.t -> (unit, Response_code.t * string) result) ->
  ?middlewares:Middleware.t list ->
  ?meth:Meth.t ->
  t ->
  ('a, IO.Input.t Request.t -> Response.t) Route.t ->
  'a ->
  unit

Similar to add_route_handler, but where the body of the request is a stream of bytes that has not been read yet. This is useful when one wants to stream the body directly into a parser, json decoder (such as Jsonm) or into a file.

since 0.6

Server-sent events

EXPERIMENTAL: this API is not stable yet.

module type SERVER_SENT_GENERATOR = sig ... end

A server-side function to generate of Server-sent events.

type server_sent_generator = (module SERVER_SENT_GENERATOR)

Server-sent event generator. This generates events that are forwarded to the client (e.g. the browser).

since 0.9

val add_route_server_sent_handler : 
  ?accept:(unit Request.t -> (unit, Response_code.t * string) result) ->
  ?middlewares:Head_middleware.t list ->
  t ->
  ('a, string Request.t -> server_sent_generator -> unit) Route.t ->
  'a ->
  unit

Add a handler on an endpoint, that serves server-sent events.

The callback is given a generator that can be used to send events as it pleases. The connection is always closed by the client, and the accepted method is always GET. This will set the header "content-type" to "text/event-stream" automatically and reply with a 200 immediately. See server_sent_generator for more details.

This handler stays on the original thread (it is synchronous).

since 0.9

Upgrade handlers

These handlers upgrade the connection to another protocol.

since 0.17

module type UPGRADE_HANDLER = sig ... end

Handler that upgrades to another protocol.

type upgrade_handler = (module UPGRADE_HANDLER)

since 0.17

val add_upgrade_handler : 
  ?accept:(unit Request.t -> (unit, Response_code.t * string) result) ->
  ?middlewares:Head_middleware.t list ->
  t ->
  ('a, upgrade_handler) Route.t ->
  'a ->
  unit

Run the server

val running : t -> bool

Is the server running?

since 0.14

val stop : t -> unit

Ask the server to stop. This might not have an immediate effect as run might currently be waiting on IO.

val run : ?after_init:(unit -> unit) -> t -> (unit, exn) result

Run the main loop of the server, listening on a socket described at the server's creation time, using new_thread to start a thread for each new client.

This returns Ok () if the server exits gracefully, or Error e if it exits with an error.

parameter after_init
is called after the server starts listening. since 0.13 .

val run_exn : ?after_init:(unit -> unit) -> t -> unit

run_exn s is like run s but re-raises an exception if the server exits with an error.

since 0.14