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HTTP

Introduction

There are two ways of doing routing in Starcounter:

  1. With the built-in Handle API that handles HTTP

  2. With the routing API found in the Authorization library

In most cases, it's recommended to use the API in the Authorization library because of its ease of use. Although, there might be some cases where the Handle API is needed. This page describes the built-in Handle API

Requests

Catching Incoming Requests

Incoming HTTP 1.0/1.1 requests are caught using the static Handle class.

Handle.GET("/hello", () =>
{
    return "Hello World";
});

Handlers can be registered anywhere and at any time. Though, in most cases, they are registered in the Main method

Catching Common HTTP Verbs

The basic HTTP methods GET, POST, PUT, DELETE and PATCH can be caught by methods with the same name in the Handle class.

Handle.GET("/hello", () =>
{
    return "Hello World";
});

Handle.POST("/hello", () =>
{
    return 500;
});

Handle.DELETE("/hello", () =>
{
    return 500;
});

Accepting Parameters in Requests

When matching incoming requests, some parts of the URI may contain dynamic data. This is handled by Starcounter by allowing you to define parameters in handlers. This is done by marking the dynamic part of the URI template with curly braces. The simplest use of the curly brace syntax is a single question mark {?}. This indicates that there is a fragment of dynamic data in the URI. The type of the data is determined by the code delegate that follows.

Handle.GET("/hello/{?}", (string name) => 
{         
    return "Hello " + name;
});

In the above example, the delegate accepts string name. This means that the parameter will be parsed as a string, for example: /hello/albert, /hello/anna. To accept an integer parameter, simply change the lambda parameter type.

Handle.GET("/squared?{?}", (int num) => 
{         
    return num + " squared equals " + num * num;
});

The accepted URIs would, for example, be /squared?123 and /squared?-4321

To accept multiple dynamic fragments, add more curly braces. For each dynamic parameter there should be a parameter in the delegate. They are enumerated from left to right, so be careful to put the parameters in the right order.

Handle.GET("/{?}/{?}", (string list, int item) => 
{         
    return "List is " + list + " and item is " + item;
});

The accepted URIs would be, for example: /serialnumbers/4534123, /itemid/34321

Database object as parameter in handler

One can also expect a database object as a parameter to a handler:

[Database]
public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; };
}
Handle.GET("/People/{?}", (Person person) => person.Name);

Such handler can be called with database object ID as a parameter or using special Self.GET variant, which takes database class instance as a second parameter:

var person = Db.SQL<Person>(...).FirstOrDefault();
Response response = Self.GET("/People/{?}", person);

The handler above can be also called with object ID as parameter:

string objectId = DbHelper.GetObjectID(c);
Response response = Self.GET("/People/" + objectId);

Catching Other Verbs

The CUSTOM verb in the Handle class makes it possible to register other HTTP methods or even catch all methods and URIs.

Handle.CUSTOM("REPORT /hello/{?}", (string p1) =>
{
    return 500;
});

Handle.CUSTOM("{?} /hello/{?}", (string method, string p1) =>
{
    return p1;
});

Handle.CUSTOM("OPTIONS", "/hello/{?}", (string p1) =>
{
    return p1;
});

Handle.CUSTOM("{?}", (string methodAndUri) =>
{
    return "Caught: " + methodAndUri;
});

The Request Object

A Request parameter can be declared together with the enumerated parameters. It encapsulates the entire request.

Handle.GET("/hello", (Request request) =>
{
    return 500;
});

Handle.GET("/persons/{?}", (string name, Request request) =>
{
    return 500;
});

To access certain request HTTP headers, use Headers[String] accessor on a Request object (same as for the Response object):

string mySuperHeader = req.Headers["MySuperHeader"];
string allRequestCookies = req.Headers["Set-Cookie"];

Request cookies are accessible from Cookies as a list of strings "name=value" (same as for Response object):

List<String> allRequestCookies = req.Cookies;

To obtain client IP address, use GetClientIpAddress() on the Request object.

Use the HandlerAppName property to find out which application the request belongs to. This might be useful when working with request filters.

Handler Options

When creating (using the Handle interface) and calling handlers (using the Self interface), one can supply last HandlerOptions parameter, which specifies certain options for handler calls or registration. Here are the notable handler options:

  • SkipRequestFilters: used to declare a handler for which request filters will not be applied.

  • SkipResponsetFilters: used to declare a handler for which response filters will not be applied.

  • SkipHandlersPolicy: If the database flag "EnforceURINamespaces" is set to True, all application handlers are required to start with application name. In this case SkipHandlersPolicy flag allows to register any URI handler.

  • SelfOnly: registered handler is going to be accessible only inside codehost using Self interface. SelfOnly handlers are not registered in gateway, in comparison with normal handlers.

Examples:

Registering a handler that skips request filters:

Handle.POST("/myhandler", (Request request) =>
{
    return 204;
}, new HandlerOptions() { SkipRequestFilters = true });

Exception Propagation Within Applications

Internal requests are requests made to handlers within same user application (sccode instance) using Node and X. Internal requests and handlers can be nested and create a call hierarchy. Sometimes its useful to cast a specific exception deep down in the hierarchy and handle it on another level or let the system handle it (for example by automatically sending the response). This can be achieved using ResponseException exception object. The following example illustrates this concept:

Handle.GET("/exc1", (Request req) =>
{
    Response resp = Self.GET("/exc2");
    return resp;
});

Handle.GET("/exc2", (Request req) =>
{
    try
    {
        Response resp = Self.GET("/exc3");
        return resp;
    }
    catch (ResponseException exc)
    {
        exc.ResponseObject.StatusDescription = "Modified!";
        exc.ResponseObject.Headers["MyHeader"] = "Super value!";
        exc.UserObject = "My user object!";
        throw exc;
    }
});

Handle.GET("/exc3", (Request req) =>
{
    Response resp = new Response()
    {
        StatusCode = 404,
        StatusDescription = "Not found!"
    };

    throw new ResponseException(resp);
});

Handler /exc3 constructs and throws an instance of ResponseException exception. Handler /exc2 catches the exception, modifies some data and re-throws the exception. Eventually, the ResponseException is caught by outer system handler and ResponseObject is automatically sent on the original Request req. Note that ResponseException mechanisms are working only within one user application (they are simple C# exceptions).

User can attach an arbitrary user object to ResponseException by either constructor or UserObject property.

Unregistering HTTP Handlers

After an HTTP handler is created - it can be unregistered with the Handle.UnregisterHttpHandler method.

Size Limit on Payloads

The default limit on payloads in requests is 1048576 bytes, exceeding this limit will prevent the request from going through and this warning will be printed in the Administrator log:

Attempt to HTTP upload of more than 1048576 bytes. Closing socket connection

The limit can be increased to a maximum of 2048576 bytes by changing the value of MaximumReceiveContentLength in %userprofile%\Documents\Starcounter\Personal\scnetworkgateway.xml.

When sending large files, we recommend to use WebSocket instead of HTTP. That pattern is demonstrated in the FileUploadPage (code-behind, HTML) in the sample app KitchenSink.

Responses

When responding to a request from a handler such as Handle.GET, a Response object should be returned.

The Response class has many implicit cast operators to make this convenient.

  • string (mime type will be text/plain or text/html depending on the request Accept header)

  • byte[] (mime type will be the first one in the Accept header)

  • Json object (mime type will be application/json)

  • int, uint, decimal, bool, double, long, ulong, DateTime returns a Javascript literal (JSON)

  • null (no content)

Returning Different Types

Response Object

When creating a Response object, you have the choice of setting the body to a byte[], a string.

Handle.GET("/hello", () =>
{
    new Response()
    {
        ContentType = "text/plain",
        Body = "Hello World"
    };
});

JSON Object

When returning an instance of the Json class, the mime type will application/json and the body will contain a JSON string.

Handle.GET("/hello", () =>
{
    return new PersonData()
    {
        FirstName = "Joachim",
        LastName = "Wester"
    };
});

String

When returning a string, the returned mime type depends on the Accept header of the request. If the request prioritizes text/html or application\json, the HTTP response will use this type accordingly. If no Accept header was provided, the mime-type text/plain will be used.

Handle.GET("/hello", () => "Hello World" );

Status Code and Status Description

Create a Response object:

GET("/hello", () =>
{
    return new Response()
    {
        StatusCode = 404,
        StatusDescription = "Not Found"
    };
});

If an integer is returned from a delegate that will result in automatic response with a StatusCode equal to the integer and default status description.

Null

When null is returned from the handler, it's equal to returning the 404 Not found status code.

Streamed Body

When creating the Response object, the body can be set to a byte[], string, or Stream. As Starcounter schedules threads in a optimized way, it is recommended to allow Starcounter to handle streaming. This is done by assigning the stream to the Response object and then returning the response, relying on Starcounter to read the stream and send the network traffic on its own accord. Streamed object should allow getting length of the stream in bytes (Length property).

Handle.GET("/movie", () =>
{
   FileStream stream = File.Open("bigfile.mpg", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.Read));
   var response = new Response()
   {
        StreamedBody = stream,
        ContentType = "application/octet-stream"
   };
   return response;
});

Note that the stream object is automatically closed when the stream data is sent completely or if the connection is dropped.

Serving Static Resources

To resolve a static resource, there is a method Handle.ResolveStaticResource which takes a resource URI and incoming request and returns a response representing this resource. Response however can be a 404, so to return a "nice" 404 page user has to do the following code, for example:

Response resp = Handle.ResolveStaticResource(req.Uri, req);

if (404 == resp.StatusCode)
{
    resp = Self.GET("/404.html");
}
return resp;

When the codehost starts, Starcounter adds a static resource resolver on the default user port (GET handler on URI "/{?}").

Delayed or Explicitly Handled Responses

Sometimes, the Response object cannot be returned immediately in the handler. One reason could be the access of third party resources or doing long-running jobs. By returning HandlerStatus.Handled in the handler, the user indicates that the response will be returned later or that it already has been returned another way.

For example:

Handle.GET("/postponed", (Request req) =>
{
    Http.POST("/posttest", "Here I do a post!", null, null, (Response resp, Object userObject) =>
    {
        // Modifying the response object by injecting some data.
        resp.Headers["MySuperHeader"] = "Here is my header value!";
        resp.Headers["Set-Cookie"] = "MySuperCookie=CookieValue";
        req.Response = resp;
    }); // "resp" object will be automatically sent when delegate exits.
    return HandlerStatus.Handled;
});

Please refer to the External HTTP calls and Node usage article for more information.

Summary of Adjustable Response Fields

  • StatusCode: 404, 501, etc

  • StatusDescription: "Not Found", "Service Unavailable", etc

  • ContentType: "text/html", "application/json", etc

  • ContentEncoding: "gzip", etc

  • Cookies: a list of entries like "MyCookie1=123", "MyCookie2=456", etc

  • Body: "Here is response body!", etc

  • BodyBytes: Byte[] bodyBytes = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5};, etc

  • ConnFlags: used to manipulate the connection with client.

The following Response.ConnectionFlags values are available:

  • Response.ConnectionFlags.DisconnectImmediately: immediately disconnects the associated connection with endpoint without sending any data first.

  • Response.ConnectionFlags.DisconnectAfterSend: first sends given message to endpoint and then closes the corresponding connection.

Example:

Handle.GET(8080, "/shutdown", (Request req) =>
{
    return new Response()
    {
        Body = "Closing connection with you!",
        ConnFlags = Response.ConnectionFlags.DisconnectAfterSend
    };
});

Setting arbitrary HTTP headers on a Response object is straightforward using the Headers property:

Handle.GET("/response", () =>
{
    var response = new Response()
    {
        StatusCode = 404,
        StatusDescription = "Not Found",
        ContentType = "text/html",
        ContentEncoding = "gzip",
        Cookies = { "MyCookie1=123", "MyCookie2=456" },
        Body = "response1"
    };

    response.Headers["MyHeader"] = "MyHeaderData";
    response.Headers["Location"] = "/newlocation";

    return response;
});

Remarks:

  • StatusCode default value is 200

  • StatusDescription default value is "OK"

  • Server default value is Server: Starcounter/#starcounter_version (Windows), for example: Server: Starcounter/2.3.1.7779 (Windows).

  • To access certain HTTP headers, use the Headers accessor on the Response or Request object:

Response response;
...
if ("SC" == response.Headers["Server"])
{
  return response.Headers["Accept-Ranges"];  
}

Examples:

Handle.GET("/hello", () =>
{
  return new Response()
  {
    StatusCode = 404,
    StatusDescription = "Not Found",
    ContentType = "text/html",
    ContentEncoding = "gzip",
    Cookies = { "MyCookie1=123", "MyCookie2=456" },
    Body = "response1"
  };
});

Encode complex HTTP header values, such as those containing line separators, using base64 or similar encoding to reduce the chance of headers that are parsed the wrong way.

Setting Properties on Outgoing Response

Sometimes, when deep in the call hierarchy of Self.GET, it's necessary to be able to set properties not on the current response, but directly on corresponding, not yet available, outgoing responses, like headers, status codes, messages, and cookies. To achieve that, the following static methods are available from the class Handle:

void AddOutgoingCookie(String cookieName, String cookieValue);
void AddOutgoingHeader(String headerName, String headerValue);
void SetOutgoingStatusDescription(String statusDescription);
void SetOutgoingStatusCode(UInt16 statusCode);
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