HttpServer class

A server that delivers content, such as web pages, using the HTTP protocol.

A server that delivers content, such as web pages, using the HTTP protocol.

The HttpServer is a Stream that provides HttpRequest objects. Each HttpRequest has an associated HttpResponse object. The server responds to a request by writing to that HttpResponse object. The following example shows how to bind an HttpServer to an IPv6 InternetAddress on port 80 (the standard port for HTTP servers) and how to listen for requests. Port 80 is the default HTTP port. However, on most systems accessing this requires super-user privileges. For local testing consider using a non-reserved port (1024 and above).

import 'dart:io';

main() {
  HttpServer
      .bind(InternetAddress.ANY_IP_V6, 80)
      .then((server) {
        server.listen((HttpRequest request) {
          request.response.write('Hello, world!');
          request.response.close();
        });
      });
}

Incomplete requests, in which all or part of the header is missing, are ignored, and no exceptions or HttpRequest objects are generated for them. Likewise, when writing to an HttpResponse, any Socket exceptions are ignored and any future writes are ignored.

The HttpRequest exposes the request headers and provides the request body, if it exists, as a Stream of data. If the body is unread, it is drained when the server writes to the HttpResponse or closes it.

Bind with a secure HTTPS connection

Use bindSecure to create an HTTPS server.

The server presents a certificate to the client. In the following example, the certificate is named localhost_cert and comes from the database found in the pkcert directory.

import 'dart:io';
import "dart:isolate";

main() {
  var testPkcertDatabase = Platform.script.resolve('pkcert')
                                   .toFilePath();
  SecureSocket.initialize(database: testPkcertDatabase,
                          password: 'dartdart');

  HttpServer
      .bindSecure(InternetAddress.ANY_IP_V6,
                  443,
                  certificateName: 'localhost_cert')
      .then((server) {
        server.listen((HttpRequest request) {
          request.response.write('Hello, world!');
          request.response.close();
        });
      });
}

The certificate database is managed using the Mozilla certutil tool (see NSS Tools certutil). Dart uses the NSS library to handle SSL, and the Mozilla certutil must be used to manipulate the certificate database.

Connect to a server socket

You can use the listenOn constructor to attach an HTTP server to a ServerSocket.

import 'dart:io';

main() {
  ServerSocket.bind(InternetAddress.ANY_IP_V6, 80)
    .then((serverSocket) {
      HttpServer httpserver = new HttpServer.listenOn(serverSocket);
      serverSocket.listen((Socket socket) {
        socket.write('Hello, client.');
      });
    });
}

Other resources

Implements

Constructors

HttpServer.listenOn(ServerSocket serverSocket)
Attaches the HTTP server to an existing ServerSocket. When the HttpServer is closed, the HttpServer will just detach itself, closing current connections but not closing serverSocket.

Static Methods

bind(address, int port, {int backlog: 0, bool v6Only: false, bool shared: false}) → Future<HttpServer>
Starts listening for HTTP requests on the specified address and port.
bindSecure(address, int port, {int backlog: 0, bool v6Only: false, String certificateName, bool requestClientCertificate: false, bool shared: false}) → Future<HttpServer>
The address can either be a String or an InternetAddress. If address is a String, bind will perform a InternetAddress.lookup and use the first value in the list. To listen on the loopback adapter, which will allow only incoming connections from the local host, use the value InternetAddress.LOOPBACK_IP_V4 or InternetAddress.LOOPBACK_IP_V6. To allow for incoming connection from the network use either one of the values InternetAddress.ANY_IP_V4 or InternetAddress.ANY_IP_V6 to bind to all interfaces or the IP address of a specific interface.

Instance Properties

serverHeader String
read / write
Get and set the default value of the Server header for all responses generated by this HttpServer.
autoCompress bool
read / write
Whether the HttpServer should compress the content, if possible.
idleTimeout Duration
read / write
Get or set the timeout used for idle keep-alive connections. If no further request is seen within idleTimeout after the previous request was completed, the connection is dropped.
defaultResponseHeaders HttpHeaders
read-only
port int
read-only
address InternetAddress
read-only
sessionTimeout int
write-only
isEmpty Future<bool> Inherited
read-only
isBroadcast bool Inherited
read-only
first Future<HttpRequest> Inherited
read-only
last Future<HttpRequest> Inherited
read-only
single Future<HttpRequest> Inherited
read-only
length Future<int> Inherited
read-only

Instance Methods

close({bool force: false}) → Future
Permanently stops this HttpServer from listening for new connections. This closes the Stream of HttpRequests with a done event. The returned future completes when the server is stopped. For a server started using bind or bindSecure this means that the port listened on no longer in use.
connectionsInfo() → HttpConnectionsInfo
Returns an HttpConnectionsInfo object summarizing the number of current connections handled by the server.
pipe(StreamConsumer<HttpRequest> streamConsumer) → Future Inherited
Pipe the events of this stream into streamConsumer.
take(int count) → Stream<HttpRequest> Inherited
Provides at most the first n values of this stream.
map(dynamic convert(T event)) → Stream Inherited
Creates a new stream that converts each element of this stream to a new value using the convert function.
listen(void onData(T event), {Function onError, void onDone(), bool cancelOnError}) → StreamSubscription<HttpRequest> Inherited
Adds a subscription to this stream.
timeout(Duration timeLimit, {void onTimeout(EventSink sink)}) → Stream Inherited
Creates a new stream with the same events as this stream.
distinct([bool equals(T previous, T next)]) → Stream<HttpRequest> Inherited
Skips data events if they are equal to the previous data event.
takeWhile(bool test(T element)) → Stream<HttpRequest> Inherited
Forwards data events while test is successful.
fold(initialValue, dynamic combine(previous, T element)) → Future Inherited
Reduces a sequence of values by repeatedly applying combine.
toSet() → Future<Set<HttpRequest>> Inherited
Collects the data of this stream in a Set.
firstWhere(bool test(T element), {Object defaultValue()}) → Future Inherited
Finds the first element of this stream matching test.
forEach(void action(T element)) → Future Inherited
Executes action on each data event of the stream.
skipWhile(bool test(T element)) → Stream<HttpRequest> Inherited
Skip data events from this stream while they are matched by test.
join([String separator = ""]) → Future<String> Inherited
Collects string of data events' string representations.
contains(Object needle) → Future<bool> Inherited
Checks whether needle occurs in the elements provided by this stream.
asyncExpand(Stream convert(T event)) → Stream Inherited
Creates a new stream with the events of a stream per original event.
lastWhere(bool test(T element), {Object defaultValue()}) → Future Inherited
Finds the last element in this stream matching test.
singleWhere(bool test(T element)) → Future<HttpRequest> Inherited
Finds the single element in this stream matching test.
drain([futureValue]) → Future Inherited
Discards all data on the stream, but signals when it's done or an error occured.
asyncMap(dynamic convert(T event)) → Stream Inherited
Creates a new stream with each data event of this stream asynchronously mapped to a new event.
handleError(Function onError, {bool test(error)}) → Stream<HttpRequest> Inherited
Creates a wrapper Stream that intercepts some errors from this stream.
reduce(T combine(T previous, T element)) → Future<HttpRequest> Inherited
Reduces a sequence of values by repeatedly applying combine.
transform(StreamTransformer<HttpRequest> streamTransformer) → Stream Inherited
Chains this stream as the input of the provided StreamTransformer.
every(bool test(T element)) → Future<bool> Inherited
Checks whether test accepts all elements provided by this stream.
any(bool test(T element)) → Future<bool> Inherited
Checks whether test accepts any element provided by this stream.
toList() → Future<List<HttpRequest>> Inherited
Collects the data of this stream in a List.
where(bool test(T event)) → Stream<HttpRequest> Inherited
Creates a new stream from this stream that discards some data events.
asBroadcastStream({void onListen(StreamSubscription<T> subscription), void onCancel(StreamSubscription<T> subscription)}) → Stream<HttpRequest> Inherited
Returns a multi-subscription stream that produces the same events as this.
skip(int count) → Stream<HttpRequest> Inherited
Skips the first count data events from this stream.
expand(Iterable convert(T value)) → Stream Inherited
Creates a new stream from this stream that converts each element into zero or more events.
elementAt(int index) → Future<HttpRequest> Inherited
Returns the value of the indexth data event of this stream.