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. The certificate chain and the private key are set in the SecurityContext object that is passed to bindSecure.

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

main() {
  SecurityContext context = new SecurityContext();
  var chain =
      Platform.script.resolve('certificates/server_chain.pem')
      .toFilePath();
  var key =
      Platform.script.resolve('certificates/server_key.pem')
      .toFilePath();
  context.useCertificateChain(chain);
  context.usePrivateKey(key, password: 'dartdart');

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

The certificates and keys are PEM files, which can be created and managed with the tools in OpenSSL.

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, SecurityContext context, { int backlog: 0, bool v6Only: false, 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.

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.

factory

Properties

address InternetAddress

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.

read-only
autoCompress bool

Whether the HttpServer should compress the content, if possible.

read / write
defaultResponseHeaders HttpHeaders

Default set of headers added to all response objects.

read-only
first Future<HttpRequest>

Returns the first element of the stream.

read-only, inherited
hashCode int

Get a hash code for this object.

read-only, inherited
idleTimeout Duration

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.

read / write
isBroadcast bool

Reports whether this stream is a broadcast stream.

read-only, inherited
isEmpty Future<bool>

Reports whether this stream contains any elements.

read-only, inherited
last Future<HttpRequest>

Returns the last element of the stream.

read-only, inherited
length Future<int>

Counts the elements in the stream.

read-only, inherited
port int

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.

read-only
runtimeType Type

A representation of the runtime type of the object.

read-only, inherited
serverHeader String

Get and set the default value of the Server header for all responses generated by this HttpServer.

read / write
sessionTimeout int

Sets the timeout, in seconds, for sessions of this HttpServer. The default timeout is 20 minutes.

write-only
single Future<HttpRequest>

Returns the single element.

read-only, inherited

Operators

operator ==(other) bool

The equality operator.

inherited

Methods

any(bool test(T element)) Future<bool>

Checks whether test accepts any element provided by this stream.

inherited
asBroadcastStream({void onListen(StreamSubscription<T> subscription), void onCancel(StreamSubscription<T> subscription) }) Stream<HttpRequest>

Returns a multi-subscription stream that produces the same events as this.

inherited
asyncExpand(Stream convert(T event)) Stream

Creates a new stream with the events of a stream per original event.

inherited
asyncMap(dynamic convert(T event)) Stream

Creates a new stream with each data event of this stream asynchronously mapped to a new event.

inherited
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>

Checks whether needle occurs in the elements provided by this stream.

inherited
distinct([bool equals(T previous, T next) ]) Stream<HttpRequest>

Skips data events if they are equal to the previous data event.

inherited
drain([futureValue ]) Future

Discards all data on the stream, but signals when it's done or an error occured.

inherited
elementAt(int index) Future<HttpRequest>

Returns the value of the indexth data event of this stream.

inherited
every(bool test(T element)) Future<bool>

Checks whether test accepts all elements provided by this stream.

inherited
expand(Iterable convert(T value)) Stream

Creates a new stream from this stream that converts each element into zero or more events.

inherited
firstWhere(bool test(T element), { Object defaultValue() }) Future

Finds the first element of this stream matching test.

inherited
fold(initialValue, dynamic combine(previous, T element)) Future

Reduces a sequence of values by repeatedly applying combine.

inherited
forEach(void action(T element)) Future

Executes action on each data event of the stream.

inherited
handleError(Function onError, { bool test(error) }) Stream<HttpRequest>

Creates a wrapper Stream that intercepts some errors from this stream.

inherited
join([String separator = "" ]) Future<String>

Collects string of data events' string representations.

inherited
lastWhere(bool test(T element), { Object defaultValue() }) Future

Finds the last element in this stream matching test.

inherited
listen(void onData(T event), { Function onError, void onDone(), bool cancelOnError }) StreamSubscription<HttpRequest>

Adds a subscription to this stream.

inherited
map(dynamic convert(T event)) Stream

Creates a new stream that converts each element of this stream to a new value using the convert function.

inherited
noSuchMethod(Invocation invocation) → dynamic

Invoked when a non-existent method or property is accessed.

inherited
pipe(StreamConsumer<HttpRequest> streamConsumer) Future

Pipe the events of this stream into streamConsumer.

inherited
reduce(HttpRequest combine(T previous, T element)) Future<HttpRequest>

Reduces a sequence of values by repeatedly applying combine.

inherited
singleWhere(bool test(T element)) Future<HttpRequest>

Finds the single element in this stream matching test.

inherited
skip(int count) Stream<HttpRequest>

Skips the first count data events from this stream.

inherited
skipWhile(bool test(T element)) Stream<HttpRequest>

Skip data events from this stream while they are matched by test.

inherited
take(int count) Stream<HttpRequest>

Provides at most the first n values of this stream.

inherited
takeWhile(bool test(T element)) Stream<HttpRequest>

Forwards data events while test is successful.

inherited
timeout(Duration timeLimit, { void onTimeout(EventSink<T> sink) }) Stream<HttpRequest>

Creates a new stream with the same events as this stream.

inherited
toList() Future<List<HttpRequest>>

Collects the data of this stream in a List.

inherited
toSet() Future<Set<HttpRequest>>

Collects the data of this stream in a Set.

inherited
toString() String

Returns a string representation of this object.

inherited
transform(StreamTransformer<HttpRequest, dynamic> streamTransformer) Stream

Chains this stream as the input of the provided StreamTransformer.

inherited
where(bool test(T event)) Stream<HttpRequest>

Creates a new stream from this stream that discards some data events.

inherited