HTTP Server API Overview

The following list identifies a typical sequence of operations that use the HTTP Server API:

In operations that use URLs, note that it is the processed URL contained in the CookedUrl member of the HTTP_REQUEST_V1 structure that should be used. Do not use the unprocessed URL in the pRawUrl member, which is solely for tracking and statistical purposes.

Each application creates its own request queue. An application obtains its request queue handle from HttpCreateHttpHandle. It passes this handle to the HttpAddUrl function to add a URL to the request queue. The application receives notification of an incoming request, and retrieves it from the request queue by calling the HttpReceiveHttpRequest function with the request queue handle. You can use this function to receive either the request headers or both the headers and entity body. HttpReceiveHttpRequest also returns a request identifier (RequestId) for the received request that is unique to the request handle.

Note

It is the application's responsibility to examine all relevant request headers, including content-negotiation headers if they are being used, and fail requests as appropriate based on header content. The HTTP Server API ensures only that each header line is properly terminated, and does not contain illegal characters.

 

Use the HttpReceiveRequestEntityBody function with the request queue handle to retrieve subsequent portions of a request's entity body, if any.

Note

The HTTP Server API decodes chunked messages on the receive side, but does not perform chunked encoding on the send side. If chunking is required on the send side, the application must implement it. For more information about chunked encoding, see RFC 2616.

 

Use the HttpReceiveClientCertificate function with applications that serve URLs by using a secure scheme ("https") to optionally retrieve the client's certificate information.

Responses are sent with the HttpSendHttpResponse function. This function uses the RequestId from the corresponding request to send the response. A response can be sent in several API calls over time by calling the HttpSendResponseEntityBody function with the RequestId from the originally received request.

Note

By default, HttpSendHttpResponse uses "Microsoft-HTTPAPI/1.0" as the "Server:" header. If an application specifies a server header in a response, that value is placed as the first part of the server header, followed by a space and then "Microsoft-HTTPAPI/1.0".

 

In general, the HTTP Server API hides details of connection management and their establishment and teardown from applications. However, an application can optionally detect termination of a connection by calling HttpWaitForDisconnect.

Applications must clean-up by using the following steps:

  • When the application is not listening or responding to a URL, the URL is removed by using the HttpRemoveURL function.
  • When the application is finished using the request queue, close the request queue handle by using the CloseHandle function.
  • When the application is finished using the HTTP Server API, call the HttpTerminate function.