SimpleHTTPServer in C#

SimpleHTTPServer.cs

// MIT License - Copyright (c) 2016 Can Güney Aksakalli
// https://aksakalli.github.io/2014/02/24/simple-http-server-with-csparp.html

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Net;
using System.IO;
using System.Threading;
using System.Diagnostics;


class SimpleHTTPServer
{
    private readonly string[] _indexFiles = { 
        "index.html", 
        "index.htm", 
        "default.html", 
        "default.htm" 
    };
    
    private static IDictionary<string, string> _mimeTypeMappings = new Dictionary<string, string>(StringComparer.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase) {
        #region extension to MIME type list
        {".asf", "video/x-ms-asf"},
        {".asx", "video/x-ms-asf"},
        {".avi", "video/x-msvideo"},
        {".bin", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".cco", "application/x-cocoa"},
        {".crt", "application/x-x509-ca-cert"},
        {".css", "text/css"},
        {".deb", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".der", "application/x-x509-ca-cert"},
        {".dll", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".dmg", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".ear", "application/java-archive"},
        {".eot", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".exe", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".flv", "video/x-flv"},
        {".gif", "image/gif"},
        {".hqx", "application/mac-binhex40"},
        {".htc", "text/x-component"},
        {".htm", "text/html"},
        {".html", "text/html"},
        {".ico", "image/x-icon"},
        {".img", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".iso", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".jar", "application/java-archive"},
        {".jardiff", "application/x-java-archive-diff"},
        {".jng", "image/x-jng"},
        {".jnlp", "application/x-java-jnlp-file"},
        {".jpeg", "image/jpeg"},
        {".jpg", "image/jpeg"},
        {".js", "application/x-javascript"},
        {".mml", "text/mathml"},
        {".mng", "video/x-mng"},
        {".mov", "video/quicktime"},
        {".mp3", "audio/mpeg"},
        {".mpeg", "video/mpeg"},
        {".mpg", "video/mpeg"},
        {".msi", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".msm", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".msp", "application/octet-stream"},
        {".pdb", "application/x-pilot"},
        {".pdf", "application/pdf"},
        {".pem", "application/x-x509-ca-cert"},
        {".pl", "application/x-perl"},
        {".pm", "application/x-perl"},
        {".png", "image/png"},
        {".prc", "application/x-pilot"},
        {".ra", "audio/x-realaudio"},
        {".rar", "application/x-rar-compressed"},
        {".rpm", "application/x-redhat-package-manager"},
        {".rss", "text/xml"},
        {".run", "application/x-makeself"},
        {".sea", "application/x-sea"},
        {".shtml", "text/html"},
        {".sit", "application/x-stuffit"},
        {".swf", "application/x-shockwave-flash"},
        {".tcl", "application/x-tcl"},
        {".tk", "application/x-tcl"},
        {".txt", "text/plain"},
        {".war", "application/java-archive"},
        {".wbmp", "image/vnd.wap.wbmp"},
        {".wmv", "video/x-ms-wmv"},
        {".xml", "text/xml"},
        {".xpi", "application/x-xpinstall"},
        {".zip", "application/zip"},
        #endregion
    };
    private Thread _serverThread;
    private string _rootDirectory;
    private HttpListener _listener;
    private int _port;
 
    public int Port
    {
        get { return _port; }
        private set { }
    }
 
    /// <summary>
    /// Construct server with given port.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="path">Directory path to serve.</param>
    /// <param name="port">Port of the server.</param>
    public SimpleHTTPServer(string path, int port)
    {
        this.Initialize(path, port);
    }
 
    /// <summary>
    /// Construct server with suitable port.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="path">Directory path to serve.</param>
    public SimpleHTTPServer(string path)
    {
        //get an empty port
        TcpListener l = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Loopback, 0);
        l.Start();
        int port = ((IPEndPoint)l.LocalEndpoint).Port;
        l.Stop();
        this.Initialize(path, port);
    }
 
    /// <summary>
    /// Stop server and dispose all functions.
    /// </summary>
    public void Stop()
    {
        _serverThread.Abort();
        _listener.Stop();
    }
 
    private void Listen()
    {
        _listener = new HttpListener();
        _listener.Prefixes.Add("http://*:" + _port.ToString() + "/");
        _listener.Start();
        while (true)
        {
            try
            {
                HttpListenerContext context = _listener.GetContext();
                Process(context);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
 
            }
        }
    }
 
    private void Process(HttpListenerContext context)
    {
        string filename = context.Request.Url.AbsolutePath;
        Console.WriteLine(filename);
        filename = filename.Substring(1);
 
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(filename))
        {
            foreach (string indexFile in _indexFiles)
            {
                if (File.Exists(Path.Combine(_rootDirectory, indexFile)))
                {
                    filename = indexFile;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
 
        filename = Path.Combine(_rootDirectory, filename);
 
        if (File.Exists(filename))
        {
            try
            {
                Stream input = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Open);
                
                //Adding permanent http response headers
                string mime;
                context.Response.ContentType = _mimeTypeMappings.TryGetValue(Path.GetExtension(filename), out mime) ? mime : "application/octet-stream";
                context.Response.ContentLength64 = input.Length;
                context.Response.AddHeader("Date", DateTime.Now.ToString("r"));
                context.Response.AddHeader("Last-Modified", System.IO.File.GetLastWriteTime(filename).ToString("r"));
 
                byte[] buffer = new byte[1024 * 16];
                int nbytes;
                while ((nbytes = input.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
                    context.Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, nbytes);
                input.Close();
                
                context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.OK;
                context.Response.OutputStream.Flush();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError;
            }
 
        }
        else
        {
            context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.NotFound;
        }
        
        context.Response.OutputStream.Close();
    }
 
    private void Initialize(string path, int port)
    {
        this._rootDirectory = path;
        this._port = port;
        _serverThread = new Thread(this.Listen);
        _serverThread.Start();
    }
 
 
}

It's a nice implementation, one point I would generally change - getting of the MIME-type. This should be done each time or on start at/from Registry. Extensions there registered and MIME type is available most times from value Content Type (with space between both words). There you can add also other MIME types or provide a static functionality at your class to add new custom MIME types to this you find on the Registry. A dynamic solution would be to lookup at Registry on demand and store found in static dictionary. All other with no registered MIME type should become application/octet-stream.

if you want to make sure videos (larger files) are working properly:
context.Response.SendChunked = input.Length > 1024 * 16;

Note that this solution does not work if your website needs more than 1 concurrent request like it does if it streams a video and the user clicks a link for example. The request following the click will not be processed because the server is busy serving the video. To solve this problem it is necessary to process requests decoupled from the listener thread. Here it gets quite complicated. It has been done, for example: https://github.com/JamesDunne/aardwolf

A very comfortable alternative solution (if you dont mind >200 dlls) which works in all cases is using Microsoft.AspNetCore (does not require IIS): https://www.meziantou.net/2017/05/02/starting-a-http-file-server-from-the-file-explorer-using-net-core

Its simple and clear. Thanks... But how to resize request header length? How can I increase?

Is there a way to run this without administrator privileges?

@ricardo85x Use these links:

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4019466/httplistener-access-denied
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/wcf/feature-details/configuring-http-and-https
  Basically use netsh -command to allow particular URL to particular user. Another option is to use localhost URL which is by default allowed to everybody.

Any idea why JavaScript files are not working? Trying to load a html template with JQuery and other simple JS files, but they won't run.

What about https support?

This works for what I need. Thanks a lot.

If you don't know what to use for the "user=DOMAIN\user" parameter shown in the netsh command given by @therealpappy, you can use "everyone" instead:

netsh http add urlacl url=http://+:80/ user=everyone

Note, everyone is language dependent so Spanish is "todos", German is 'alles", etc.

Just do http add urlacl url=http://+:80/ sddl=D:(A;;GX;;;S-1-1-0)

sddl=D:(A;;GX;;;S-1-1-0) = "everyone" in all languages

I was trying this and noticed it was having trouble serving up multiple requests at a time. Turns out this line was throwing exceptions occasionally for modifying the status code after headers were sent. I moved it up before anything was send to the output stream and things started working more smoothly, but I wonder why it works sometimes if that's really as problematic as it looks.

Hi, after creating a local server using the code above, I need to open a local file from that server. I have used the following code:

string myFolder = "D:\flower.jpg";
SimpleHTTPServer myServer = new SimpleHTTPServer(myFolder, 8084);

Now, when I try to access the link: http://localhost:8084/, the page isn't loaded. What needs to be done so that I can access the file in my path from localhost?

string myFolder = "D:\flower.jpg";
SimpleHTTPServer myServer = new SimpleHTTPServer(myFolder, 8084);

Your 'myFolder' variable is a file('..flower.jpg') not a folder.

Hi all I'm using
public void StartServer() { myServer = new SimpleHTTPServer(Path.Combine(Application.streamingAssetsPath, "PDF")); Application.OpenURL("http:/localhost:" + myServer.Port + "/" + FirstIndexPath); }
from this link https://answers.unity.com/questions/1245582/create-a-simple-https-server-on-the-streaming-asset.html

and I can't get anything to work. I keep getting localhost page can't be found. I've tried using html files pdfs and jpegs and nothing works. I tried using a folder on the my android to house the pdfs at file:/// thinking it was a streaming asset Unity issue but that didn't help either. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello, while using with .mp4 or .mpeg , video link starts to download mode, but i want it not download in browser, want it stream, can you show how to do it?

hi , how to get list of files in the directory?

@Reza805

for listing the files in the current directory as json, you can add a code block after line 159 like:

if (filename=="getfiles"){
  files = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(_rootDirectory, @"*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly);
  var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
  var jsonContent = serializer.Serialize(files);
  context.Response.Write(jsonContent);
  context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.OK;
  return;
}

also add this to the top

using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

Ps. I didn't run this snippet but it should work.

@aksakalli Thanks for the project. I just wanted to report a potential bug and ask if anybody has encountered it. I've found that the HTTPServer cannot seem to host files that are "Read only".

I have tested your Http Server, why to run my application I have to leave it as an administrator?

I asked the wrong question:

why must run my application with your http server only as an administrator?

I know this is a very old gist and might not be active anymore, but does anyone know how to serve mp4 media files? Not to download but to play within the browser window.

{".mp4","video/mp4"},

I added this to the MIME type list to support mp4 files, but when i then request a file with mp4 format i get a GET http://localhost:8084/video.mp4 500 (Internal Server Error) with no further information of what the issue is.

My updated process method

private void Process(HttpListenerContext context)
        {
            string filename = WebUtility.UrlDecode(context.Request.Url.AbsolutePath.Substring(1));
            Console.WriteLine(filename);

            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(filename))
            {
                foreach (string indexFile in _indexFiles)
                {
                    if (File.Exists(Path.Combine(_rootDirectory, indexFile)))
                    {
                        filename = indexFile;
                        break;
                    }
                }
            }

            filename = Path.Combine(_rootDirectory, filename);

            if (File.Exists(filename))
            {
                try
                {
                    Stream input = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Open);

                    context.Response.ContentType = _mimeTypeMappings.TryGetValue(Path.GetExtension(filename), out string mime) ? mime : "application/octet-stream";
                    context.Response.ContentLength64 = input.Length;

                    if (context.Request.HttpMethod != "HEAD")
                    {
                        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024 * 16];
                        int nbytes;
                        while ((nbytes = input.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
                        {
                            context.Response.SendChunked = input.Length > 1024 * 16;
                            context.Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, nbytes);
                        }
                    }

                    context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.OK;
                    context.Response.OutputStream.Flush();
                }
                catch
                {
                    context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.NotFound;
            }

            context.Response.OutputStream.Close();
        }

if (filename=="getfiles"){
  files = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(_rootDirectory, @"*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly);
  var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
  var jsonContent = serializer.Serialize(files);
  context.Response.Write(jsonContent);
  context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.OK;
  return;
}

Ps. I didn't run this snippet but it should work.

This snippet does not work, HTTPListenerResponse does not contain a method called Write, 'files' has no variable declared, and consider using JsonConvert.Serialize(files) instead of JavaScripSerializer as it's not included in the latest version .NET framework.

My version of get all files (somewhat the same).

if (filename == "*")
            {
                try
                {
                    string responseString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(Directory.GetFiles(_rootDirectory, @"*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories));
                    byte[] buffer = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(responseString);
                    context.Response.ContentLength64 = buffer.Length;
                    Stream output = context.Response.OutputStream;
                    output.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);

                    context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.OK;
                    context.Response.OutputStream.Flush();
                }
                catch
                {
                    context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError;
                }
            }

made quite a few improvements to this and it exits cleanly now. Can't seem to find where to submit a pull request check my fork.

I have a HTML page where we need to access a .xml and a .json file. However, they aren't loaded by the web server. Any ideas on why this isn't working??

it might because there's no ".json" in "_mimeTypeMappings" .