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

  • HttpServer is a Stream. Refer to the Stream class for information about the streaming qualities of an HttpServer. Pausing the subscription of the stream, pauses at the OS level.

  • The http_server package on pub.dartlang.org contains a set of high-level classes that, together with this class, makes it easy to provide content through HTTP servers.

Implements

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.

Properties

InternetAddress address
read-only
Returns the address that the server is listening on. This can be used to get the actual address used, when the address is fetched by a lookup from a hostname.
bool autoCompress
read / write
Whether the HttpServer should compress the content, if possible.
HttpHeaders defaultResponseHeaders
read-only
Default set of headers added to all response objects.
Future<HttpRequest> first
read-only, inherited
Returns the first element of the stream.
Duration idleTimeout
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.
bool isBroadcast
read-only, inherited
Reports whether this stream is a broadcast stream.
Future<bool> isEmpty
read-only, inherited
Reports whether this stream contains any elements.
Future<HttpRequest> last
read-only, inherited
Returns the last element of the stream.
Future<int> length
read-only, inherited
Counts the elements in the stream.
int port
read-only
Returns the port that the server is listening on. This can be used to get the actual port used when a value of 0 for port is specified in the bind or bindSecure call.
String serverHeader
read / write
Get and set the default value of the Server header for all responses generated by this HttpServer.
int sessionTimeout
write-only
Sets the timeout, in seconds, for sessions of this HttpServer. The default timeout is 20 minutes.
Future<HttpRequest> single
read-only, inherited
Returns the single element.

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.

Methods

any(bool test(T element)) → Future<bool>
inherited
Checks whether test accepts any element provided by this stream.
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.
asyncExpand(Stream convert(T event)) → Stream
inherited
Creates a new stream with the events of a stream per original event.
asyncMap(dynamic convert(T event)) → Stream
inherited
Creates a new stream with each data event of this stream asynchronously mapped to a new event.
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.
contains(Object needle) → Future<bool>
inherited
Checks whether needle occurs in the elements provided by this stream.
distinct([bool equals(T previous, T next)]) → Stream<HttpRequest>
inherited
Skips data events if they are equal to the previous data event.
drain([futureValue]) → Future
inherited
Discards all data on the stream, but signals when it's done or an error occured.
elementAt(int index) → Future<HttpRequest>
inherited
Returns the value of the indexth data event of this stream.
every(bool test(T element)) → Future<bool>
inherited
Checks whether test accepts all elements provided by 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.
firstWhere(bool test(T element), {Object defaultValue()}) → Future
inherited
Finds the first element of this stream matching test.
fold(initialValue, dynamic combine(previous, T element)) → Future
inherited
Reduces a sequence of values by repeatedly applying combine.
forEach(void action(T element)) → Future
inherited
Executes action on each data event of the stream.
handleError(Function onError, {bool test(error)}) → Stream<HttpRequest>
inherited
Creates a wrapper Stream that intercepts some errors from this stream.
join([String separator = ""]) → Future<String>
inherited
Collects string of data events' string representations.
lastWhere(bool test(T element), {Object defaultValue()}) → Future
inherited
Finds the last element in this stream matching test.
listen(void onData(T event), {Function onError, void onDone(), bool cancelOnError}) → StreamSubscription<HttpRequest>
inherited
Adds a subscription to 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.
pipe(StreamConsumer<HttpRequest> streamConsumer) → Future
inherited
Pipe the events of this stream into streamConsumer.
reduce(T combine(T previous, T element)) → Future<HttpRequest>
inherited
Reduces a sequence of values by repeatedly applying combine.
singleWhere(bool test(T element)) → Future<HttpRequest>
inherited
Finds the single element in this stream matching test.
skip(int count) → Stream<HttpRequest>
inherited
Skips the first count data events from this stream.
skipWhile(bool test(T element)) → Stream<HttpRequest>
inherited
Skip data events from this stream while they are matched by test.
take(int count) → Stream<HttpRequest>
inherited
Provides at most the first n values of this stream.
takeWhile(bool test(T element)) → Stream<HttpRequest>
inherited
Forwards data events while test is successful.
timeout(Duration timeLimit, {void onTimeout(EventSink sink)}) → Stream
inherited
Creates a new stream with the same events as this stream.
toList() → Future<List<HttpRequest>>
inherited
Collects the data of this stream in a List.
toSet() → Future<Set<HttpRequest>>
inherited
Collects the data of this stream in a Set.
transform(StreamTransformer<HttpRequest> streamTransformer) → Stream
inherited
Chains this stream as the input of the provided StreamTransformer.
where(bool test(T event)) → Stream<HttpRequest>
inherited
Creates a new stream from this stream that discards some data events.