Huygens 1.5.0

NOTE Huygen does not support running sites hosted with Microsoft.Owin

Huygens

Cut down CassiniDev server for internally hosting IIS sites

https://www.nuget.org/packages/Huygens https://github.com/i-e-b/Huygens

Derived from https://archive.codeplex.com/?p=cassinidev and released under the same license.

Library to load, host and run ASP.Net websites inside your own process. Has functionality equivalent to the IIS Developer server. Can expose IP ports or keep sites internal to your process. Supports .Net MVC and Web APIs

The library contains a set of interfaces and wrappers under the Huygens.Compatibility namespace, to help convert between the many different HTTP request and response types in the .Net ecosystem.

NOTE Huygen does not support running sites hosted with Microsoft.Owin

To do:

• Decode HTTP chunked responses?
• Add OWIN rq/tx to the compatibility classes
• Allow DirectCall to use IRequest/IResponse or IContext

Internal hosting

You can host a site without exposing on an IP port like this:

using (var server = new DirectServer(@"C:\inetpub\wwwroot\PublishSample")) // a published site
{
    var request = new SerialisableRequest{
        Method = "GET",
        RequestUri = "/values",
        Headers = new Dictionary˂string, string˃{
            { "Content-Type","application/json" }
        },
        Content = null
    };

    var result = server.DirectCall(request);

    var resultString = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(result.Content);
    Console.WriteLine(resultString);
}

Creating a new DirectServer takes a few seconds, but it can handle an unlimited number of DirectCall requests. More than one site can be hosted in a parent process.

External hosting

You can expose the site to a port like this:

using (var server = new SocketServer(32768, "/", @"C:\inetpub\wwwroot\PublishSample"))
{
    server.Start();

    // accessible to web browsers etc.

    server.ShutDown();
}

Creating a new SocketServer takes a few seconds, but it can handle an unlimited number of calls. Note that if you want to host more than one SocketServer in your process, each must have its own IP address.

Self-hosting

Huygens can be used as a small socket server for testing and selfhosting (much as .Net's HttpListener).

var host = new TestHost();
using (var subject = new SocketSelfHostServer(8082, host)) {
    subject.Start();
    while (true) { Thread.Sleep(2000); }
}

public class TestHost : IHost {
    public void ProcessRequest(IConnection conn)
    {
        conn.WriteEntireResponseFromString(200, null, "Hello, world", false);
    }
// . . .
}

Azure hosting

You can't use the SocketServer on Azure, due to permissions limitations. The DirectServer is usable as long as you have a B1 or higher application service plan, and your host app has the Application Setting WEBSITE_LOAD_USER_PROFILE = 1 You can also host the DirectServer in a 'Web Job', 'Worker Role' or 'Service Fabric' resource.