Annotation of libwww/Library/src/HTHost.html, revision 2.6

2.1       frystyk     1: <HTML>
                      2: <HEAD>
2.4       frystyk     3:   <!-- Changed by: Henrik Frystyk Nielsen,  2-Jul-1996 -->
2.3       frystyk     4:   <TITLE>W3C Reference Library libwww Host Class</TITLE>
2.1       frystyk     5: </HEAD>
                      6: <BODY>
2.3       frystyk     7: <H1>
                      8:   The Host Class
                      9: </H1>
2.1       frystyk    10: <PRE>
                     11: /*
                     12: **     (c) COPYRIGHT MIT 1995.
                     13: **     Please first read the full copyright statement in the file COPYRIGH.
                     14: */
                     15: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk    16: <P>
                     17: The Host class manages what we know about a remote host. This can for example
                     18: be what type of host it is, and what version it is using. Notice that a host
                     19: object can be used to describe both a server or a client - all information
                     20: in the Host object can be shared regardless of whether it is to be used in
                     21: a server application or a client application.
                     22: <P>
                     23: This module is implemented by <A HREF="HTHost.c">HTHost.c</A>, and it is
                     24: a part of the <A HREF="http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Library/"> W3C Reference
                     25: Library</A>.
2.1       frystyk    26: <PRE>
                     27: #ifndef HTHOST_H
                     28: #define HTHOST_H
                     29: 
                     30: typedef struct _HTHost HTHost;
                     31: 
                     32: #include "HTChannl.h"
                     33: #include "HTReq.h"
2.2       frystyk    34: #include "HTEvent.h"
2.1       frystyk    35: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk    36: <P>
                     37: The Host class contains information about the remote host, for example the
                     38: type (HTTP/1.0, HTTP/1.1, FTP etc.) along with information on how the connections
                     39: can be used (if it supports persistent connections, interleaved access etc.)
                     40: <H2>
                     41:   Creation and Deletion Methods
                     42: </H2>
                     43: <P>
                     44: We keep a cache of information that we know about a remote host. This allows
2.5       frystyk    45: us to be much more detailed in generating requests. Search the host info
                     46: cache for a host object or create a new one and add it. Examples of host
                     47: names are
2.1       frystyk    48: <UL>
2.3       frystyk    49:   <LI>
                     50:     www.w3.org
                     51:   <LI>
                     52:     www.foo.com:8000
2.1       frystyk    53: </UL>
2.3       frystyk    54: <H3>
                     55:   Add a Host Object
                     56: </H3>
2.1       frystyk    57: <PRE>
                     58: extern HTHost * HTHost_new (char * host);
                     59: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk    60: <H3>
                     61:   Delete a Host Object
                     62: </H3>
                     63: <P>
                     64: The Host Class contains an automatic garbage collection of Host objects so
                     65: that we don't keep information around that is stale.
2.6     ! frystyk    66: <H3>
        !            67:   Find a Host Object
        !            68: </H3>
        !            69: <P>
        !            70: Searches the cache of known hosts to see if we already have information about
        !            71: this host. If not then we return NULL.
        !            72: <PRE>extern HTHost * HTHost_find (char * host);
        !            73: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk    74: <H2>
                     75:   Host Class Methods
                     76: </H2>
                     77: <P>
2.1       frystyk    78: This is what we know about the remote host
2.3       frystyk    79: <H3>
2.5       frystyk    80:   Remote Host Name
                     81: </H3>
                     82: <P>
                     83: Get the name of the remote host. This is set automatically when a new Host
                     84: object and can be asked for at any point in time. You can not change the
                     85: host name but must create a new Host object instead.
                     86: <PRE>
                     87: extern char * HTHost_name      (HTHost * host);
                     88: </PRE>
                     89: <H3>
                     90:   Remote Host Protocol Class and Version
2.3       frystyk    91: </H3>
                     92: <P>
                     93: Define the <EM>host class</EM> of the host at the other end. A class is a
                     94: generic description of the protocol which is exactly like the access method
                     95: in a URL, for example "http" etc. The <EM>host version</EM> is a finer
                     96: distinction (sub-class) between various versions of the host class, for example
                     97: HTTP/0.9, HTTP/1.1 etc. The host version is a bit flag that the protocol
                     98: module can define on its own. That way we don't have to change this module
                     99: when registering a new protocol module. The <EM>host type</EM> is a description
                    100: of whether we can keep the connection persistent or not.
2.1       frystyk   101: <PRE>
                    102: extern char * HTHost_class     (HTHost * host);
                    103: extern void HTHost_setClass    (HTHost * host, char * s_class);
                    104: 
                    105: extern int  HTHost_version     (HTHost * host);
                    106: extern void HTHost_setVersion  (HTHost * host, int version);
                    107: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk   108: <H3>
2.4       frystyk   109:   Remote host Options and Services
                    110: </H3>
                    111: <P>
2.5       frystyk   112: We keep track of the capabilities of the remote host. In many cases the
2.4       frystyk   113: information that we get is specific to servers but this doesn't <I>have</I>
                    114: to be the case.
                    115: <H4>
2.5       frystyk   116:   Public Methods accessible on This Host
2.4       frystyk   117: </H4>
                    118: <P>
                    119: A server can inform a client about the supported methods using the
                    120: <CODE>Public</CODE> header.
                    121: <PRE>extern HTMethod HTHost_publicMethods      (HTHost * me);
                    122: extern void HTHost_setPublicMethods    (HTHost * me, HTMethod methodset);
                    123: extern void HTHost_appendPublicMethods (HTHost * me, HTMethod methodset);
                    124: </PRE>
                    125: <H4>
                    126:   Server Name of Remote Host
                    127: </H4>
                    128: <P>
                    129: A server can send its server application name and version in a HTTP response.
                    130: We pick up this information and add it to the Host object
                    131: <PRE>extern char * HTHost_server       (HTHost * host);
                    132: extern BOOL HTHost_setServer   (HTHost * host, const char * server);
                    133: </PRE>
                    134: <H4>
                    135:   User Agent Name of Remote Host
                    136: </H4>
                    137: <P>
                    138: A client can send the name of the client application in a HTTP request. We
2.5       frystyk   139: pick up this information and add it to the Host Object
2.4       frystyk   140: <PRE>extern char * HTHost_userAgent    (HTHost * host);
                    141: extern BOOL HTHost_setUserAgent        (HTHost * host, const char * userAgent);
                    142: </PRE>
                    143: <H3>
2.3       frystyk   144:   Register a Persistent Channel
                    145: </H3>
                    146: <P>
                    147: We don't want more than MaxSockets-2 connections to be persistent in order
                    148: to avoid deadlock.
2.1       frystyk   149: <PRE>
2.5       frystyk   150: extern BOOL HTHost_setChannel (HTHost * host, HTChannel * channel,
                    151:                                HTTransportMode mode);
                    152: extern BOOL HTHost_clearChannel (HTHost * host, int status);
2.1       frystyk   153: 
                    154: extern HTChannel * HTHost_channel (HTHost * host);
                    155: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk   156: <H3>
                    157:   Is this host Persistent?
                    158: </H3>
                    159: <P>
2.1       frystyk   160: Check whether we have a persistent channel or not
                    161: <PRE>
                    162: extern BOOL HTHost_isPersistent (HTHost * host);
                    163: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk   164: <H3>
2.5       frystyk   165:   Is the Host Idle
                    166: </H3>
                    167: <P>
                    168: Before we can start a new connection to the host we must be sure that the
                    169: host is idle. That is, if it can accept a new connection. We have several
                    170: modes describing how and when a host is idle. This is a function of the Transport
                    171: Object
                    172: <PRE>
                    173: extern BOOL HTHost_isIdle (HTHost * host);
                    174: </PRE>
                    175: <H3>
                    176:   Handling the Transport Mode
                    177: </H3>
                    178: <P>
                    179: Handle the connection mode. The mode may change mode in the middle of a
                    180: connection If the new mode is lower than the old mode then adjust the pipeline
                    181: accordingly. That is, if we are going into single mode then move all entries
                    182: in the pipeline and move the rest to the pending queue. They will get launched
                    183: at a later point in time.
                    184: <PRE>extern HTTransportMode HTHost_mode (HTHost * host, BOOL * active);
                    185: extern BOOL HTHost_setMode (HTHost * host, HTTransportMode mode);
                    186: </PRE>
                    187: <H3>
2.3       frystyk   188:   Timing Persistent Channels
                    189: </H3>
                    190: <P>
                    191: Normally we wait for the peer process to close persistent connections but
                    192: in order not to use up our own resources, we have a timeout on our own. The
                    193: default value is 1 hour, but you can modify the value using the following
                    194: methods:
2.1       frystyk   195: <PRE>
                    196: extern time_t HTHost_persistTimeout (time_t timeout);
                    197: extern void HTHost_setPersistTimeout (time_t timeout);
                    198: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk   199: <P>
                    200: Each persistent connection has an absolute value of when this connection
                    201: most likely will expire. If the peer process does not inform us, we use our
                    202: own timeout.
2.1       frystyk   203: <PRE>
                    204: extern void HTHost_setPersistExpires (HTHost * host, time_t expires);
                    205: extern time_t HTHost_persistExpires (HTHost * host);
                    206: </PRE>
2.5       frystyk   207: <H2>
                    208:   Queuing Requests
                    209: </H2>
                    210: <P>
                    211: Requests are queued in the Host object until we have resources to start them.
                    212: The request is in the form of a Net object as we may have multiple socket
                    213: requests per <A HREF="HTReq.html">Request object</A>. This is for example
                    214: the case with <A HREF="WWWFTp.html">FTP</A> which uses two connections.
                    215: <PRE>extern int HTHost_addNet     (HTHost * host, HTNet * net);
                    216: extern BOOL HTHost_deleteNet (HTHost * host, HTNet * net);
                    217: extern HTList * HTHost_net   (HTHost * host);
                    218: </PRE>
                    219: <H3>
                    220:   Is the Host Idle
                    221: </H3>
                    222: <P>
                    223: Before we can start a new connection to the host we must be sure that the
                    224: host is idle. That is, if it can accept a new connection. We have several
                    225: modes describing how and when a host is idle. This is a function of the
                    226: <A HREF="HTTrans.html">Transport Object</A>
                    227: <PRE>extern BOOL HTHost_isIdle (HTHost * host);
                    228: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk   229: <H3>
2.5       frystyk   230:   Handling Pending Requests
2.3       frystyk   231: </H3>
                    232: <P>
2.5       frystyk   233: There are two ways we can end up with pending reqyests:
                    234: <OL>
                    235:   <LI>
                    236:     If we are out of sockets then register new host objects as pending.
                    237:   <LI>
                    238:     If we are pending on a connection then register new net objects as pending
                    239: </OL>
                    240: <P>
                    241: This set of functions handles pending host objects and can start new requests
                    242: as resources get available. The first function checks the host object for
                    243: any pending <A HREF="HTNet.html">Net objects</A> and return the first of
                    244: these Net objects.
2.3       frystyk   245: <PRE>
2.5       frystyk   246: extern HTNet * HTHost_nextPendingNet (HTHost * host);
                    247: </PRE>
                    248: <P>
                    249: The second checks the list of pending host objects waiting for a socket and
                    250: returns the first of these Host objects.
                    251: <PRE>
                    252: extern HTHost * HTHost_nextPendingHost (void);
                    253: </PRE>
                    254: <P>
                    255: Start the next pending request if any. First we look for pending requests
                    256: for the same host and then we check for any other pending hosts. If nothing
                    257: pending then register a catch close event handler to have something catching
                    258: the socket if the remote server closes the connection, for example due to
                    259: timeout.
                    260: <PRE>extern BOOL HTHost_launchPending (HTHost * host);
2.3       frystyk   261: </PRE>
2.1       frystyk   262: <PRE>
                    263: #endif /* HTHOST_H */
                    264: </PRE>
2.3       frystyk   265: <P>
                    266:   <HR>
2.1       frystyk   267: <ADDRESS>
2.6     ! frystyk   268:   @(#) $Id: HTHost.html,v 2.5 1996/08/19 18:30:37 frystyk Exp $
2.1       frystyk   269: </ADDRESS>
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