web_server 2.0.0

An efficient server library for quickly creating a WebServer and handling HTTP requests, WebSocket connections, and API requests.

WebServer Changelog

v2.0.0 (12.20.2015)

• HttpServerRequestHandler: Added content types for .mp3, .ogg, .oga, .ogv.
• HttpServerRequestHandler: Changed the _fileExtensions content types over to using the ContentType Object instead of a List
• HttpServerRequestHandler: Some code clean-up and optimizations for the occasional variable reuse optimization or the similar.
• HttpServerRequestHandler: Created a new format for listening for webpage path requests to make it easier to understand and more intuitive by making the event format similar to binding DOM events on a webpage, like, for example, the format of querySelector('...').onClick.listen((_) {}).
• WebServer: Added a new constructor for binding a secure server and switched the syntax to using the new Dart 1.13 BoringSSL format instead of the old NSS method; use the new WebServer.secure() constructor to support this.
• WebServer: Removed the 'GET' and 'POST' allowedMethods default value so that any type of request header will be allowed by default; the developer will no longer have to specify every type of allowed request method.
• WebServer: Bumped the default wait time for a response to generate from the server code (response deadline) from 20 seconds to 30 seconds to allow for more complex response generation to not catch the developer off guard as quickly in case the developer isn't coding with this deadline in mind.
• Improved some of the verbose error logging by including the name of the Class and method in the error text to make debugging easier (especially if manually working with a forked version of this repo and learning how it works).
• HttpServerRequestHandler: Added a method and structures for opening the ability for developers using this package to add their own custom error code handlers using .onErrorDocument().
• Updated the examples files to demonstrate some of this release's API changes and additions.
• HttpServerRequestHandler: Deprecated serveVirtualDirectory() in favor of the clearer and having more features, like being dynamic, serveStaticVirtualDirectory() and serveDynamicVirtualDirectory() (arriving eventually; a.k.a. coming soon).
• HttpServerRequestHandler: Renamed the UrlData Class to UrlPath to make it easier to understand what the Object is representing.
• Added an bin/ directory and an executable rule to the Pubspec to enable using this package with pub global activate and running a server right from a directory using the command line without even having to write any code! It's as simple as the web_server command from the terminal, and it will serve that directory as a serveStaticVirtualDirectory() command.
• HttpServerRequestHandler (serveStaticVirtualDirectory): Made the requirement of providing a whitelist of supported file extensions an optional parameter to allow for serving an entire directory, or a directory with flexible file types, simple and not requiring a server restart; also, this makes it possible for the pub global web_server command to operate with any directory's files.
• Updates to the ReadMe for the new methods and features; clarified and demonstrated features that might not have been as well-known or exemplified before; added a testimonial for my work using this package in many side projects and work-requested projects at Ebates.
• HttpServerRequestHandler: Removed a loop that was checking file extensions on every file entity for a match in the serveStaticVirtualDirectory and is now doing a .contains() on the List to be much faster and loop less.
• HttpServerRequestHandler (serveStaticVirtualDirectory): Removed the redundant isRelativePath parameter.
• HttpServerRequestHandler (serveStaticVirtualDirectory): Now, there is a parameter to enable pre-caching for files in this static Directory to make reads pull from memory instead of the FileSystem, which will be much faster and economical.
• Updated the code examples directory files to reflect the new API changes and additions.
• ReadMe: Added a section asking other developers to let me know if they are making something exciting using my Dart package.
• HttpServerRequestHandler: Improved the helper methods for sending 404 and 500 errors easily with sendPageNotFoundResponse() and sendInternalServerErrorResponse(); will now use the supplied custom error response HTML from the developer, if provided.
• HttpServerRequestHandler (serveStaticFile): Automatically detects relative file paths and more efficiently resolves the relative path to access the static file; removed the redundant isRelativePath parameter.
• ReadMe: Clarification to some of the code examples and section titles; added details about SocialFlare to the "Who is using this package?" section.
• LICENSE: Added a LICENSE file to allow other developers to use this code and for compatibility with the Dart Pub requirements.

v1.1.4 (5.14.2015)

• Found that HttpRequest paths were not matching serveVirtualDirectory() generated paths on Windows machines because the Url would be something like: '/main.dart' and Windows would provide and store a path segment with the opposite separator at '\main.dart' resulting in the String comparison to fail; this has been resolved.

v1.1.3 (5.9.2015)

• Added a handleRequestsStartingWith() method for intercepting requests starting with a specified string; this is useful for handling everything in API patterns such as starting with '/api/'; added an example to the examples folder in "example/web_server.dart".

v1.1.2 (5.5.2015)

• Removed a single inefficient .runtimeType use.
• Changed a mimetype definition and added more.
• Images and some binary sources were loading incorrectly, so switching to directly piping the file contents into the HttpResponse, instead of reading, then adding.
• Fixed issue with the file extension not matching in serveVirtualDirectory if the extension was not all lowercase.
• Solved issue with file and directory path building that would assemble incorrectly on Windows machines.
• Changed the serveVirtualDirectory() parameter for "includeDirNameInPath" to "includeContainerDirNameInPath" for parameter meaning clarity.
• Fixed a broken try/catch when loading a virtual file for a request.
• Made _VirtualDirectoryFileData easier to use by adding getters with clearer meaning such as .absoluteFileSystemPath and .httpRequestPath.
• Greatly improved the efficiency of serveStandardFile for certain binary file formats and nicely improved speed and memory for all binary file formats.
• Removed UTF-8 from being the default charset for non-matched mimetypes in binary files.
• Removed diffent handling in serveStandardFile based on the mimetype and now all use the same piping to the HttpResponse.
• Included another log into shouldBeVerbose guide.
• Nicely clarified some confusing parts of the code.

v1.1.1 (4.26.2015)

• Removing the default UTF-8 charset requirement in the response header to allow for different file encodings; will re-add the charset soon when encoding detection (appears to be difficult at the moment) is implemented.
• Handling for non-UTF8 file encoding by piping the file bytes directly into the response without passing through a string decoder first; last release, I understood this differently and the behavior was not what I wanted it to behave as; stinkin' byte encoding detection.
• Will re-add the byte encoding to the content-type header soon; I really don't like leaving this out in requests, but don't want to prevent clients from serving non-UTF8 files until this can be determined.

v1.1.0 (4.25.2015)

• Renamed the WebServer.webServer library to just WebServer.
• Renamed the WebServer.webSocketConnectionManager library to just WebSocketConnectionManager.
• Added tons more docs, comments, and inline code examples; published Docs online using Jennex as the host and placed the link in the Pubspec.
• Implemented the URI Object to make relative file path resolution more accurate.
• Possibly solved issue that appears on Windows when resolving relative paths in serveVirtualDirectory() and serverStaticFile().
• Added better honoring of the shouldBeVerbose parameter and changed to static property [breaking API change].
• UTF8 encoding was required for files to be read before, but now it will work with any encoding and convert it to UTF8 during file read.

v1.0.9 (4.16.2015)

• Added a new example for creating virtual directories at "example/virtual_directory.dart".
• Removed some logging that may have been misleading.
• Using a relative sub-directory path in serveVirtualDirectory() could lead to incorrect path following if the developer did not execute their script from the terminal in the project's root directory (such as using an Editor where it goes from the SDK's bin/ folder); fixed this by building an absolute directory path using Platform.script.path and getting the parent folder for the main execution, then building the relative path from there; this will prevent a lot of potential confusion for future developers using this Dart package; also added this to serveStaticFile().
• Improved some of the comments and code in the example files.
• Added an option to switch off recursive indexing in serveVirtualDirectory().

v1.0.8 (4.15.2015)

• Added the ApiResponse and ApiErrorResponse classes to help make sending API data easier and with consistent formatting.
• Updated the "example/web_server.dart" file to show uses of the new ApiResponse class.

v1.0.7 (4.15.2015)

• Added built-in support for basic authentication path registering.
• Code clean-up and DRY clean-up.
• Basic security improvements.
• New public helper methods for returning error pages.
• Helper function for changing "{{...}}" variables in a text file using a key/value Map.
• Updated some namespacing of the libraries.
• (Again) Cleaned-up some files by removing redundant sub-files with the same name as the library (e.g. "lib/src/web_server/web_server.dart" -> "lib/src/web_server.dart" - already existed to include the sub-file by the same name).
• Initial GitHub package commit!!!

v1.0.6 (4.11.2015)

• Cleaned-up some files by removing redundant sub-files with the same name as the library (e.g. "lib/src/web_server/web_server.dart" -> "lib/src/web_server.dart" - already existed to include the sub-file by the same name).
• Added locking of only certain methods, such as 'GET' or 'POST', at the WebServer level, otherwise, a 403 FORBIDDEN status code will be returned.
• Put some limits in for blocking attempts at overloading the server with certain data in an attack.

v1.0.5 (4.2.2015)

• Enabled GZIP compression - jeez was that an excellent discovery and improvement!!
• Added a serveVirtualDirectory method.

v1.0.4 (late 2014-early 2015)

• Created a folder with examples for how to use the web server.
• Removed access to .on[] for the HttpServerHandler in favor of using .registerUrl().
• An error will be thrown when attempting to create a secure server until the API is completed for that feature.
• Renamed .registerUrl() to .registerFile().
• Added .registerDirectory() to allow for manual handling of all immediate sub-items in a directory by a single event.

v1.0.3 (12.16.2014)

• Original improvements and creation brought over from another of my projects; development that started back in June 2014.
• Structure for creating servers bound securely using a security certificate (still not sure how to get this fully working, though).