Mongoose Embedding Guide

Embedding Mongoose is done in two steps:

Copy mongoose.c and mongoose.h to your application's source tree and include them in the build.
Somewhere in the application code, call mg_create_server() to create a server, configure it with mg_set_option() and loop with mg_poll_server() until done. Call mg_destroy_server() to cleanup.

Here's a minimal application app.c that embeds mongoose:

#include "mongoose.h"

int main(void) {
  struct mg_server *server = mg_create_server(NULL);
  mg_set_option(server, "document_root", ".");      // Serve current directory
  mg_set_option(server, "listening_port", "8080");  // Open port 8080
  for (;;) mg_poll_server(server, 1000);            // Infinite loop, Ctrl-C to stop
  mg_destroy_server(&server);
  return 0;
}

To compile it, put mongoose.c, mongoose.h and app.c into one folder, start terminal on UNIX or Visual Studio command line prompt on Windows, and run the following command:

cc app.c mongoose.c -pthread -o app    # on Unix
cl app.c mongoose.c /TC /MD            # on Windows

When run, this simple application opens port 8080 and serves static files, CGI files and lists directory content in the current working directory.

Mongoose can call user-defined functions when certain URIs are requested. These functions are called uri handlers. mg_add_uri_handler() registers an URI handler, and there is no restriction exist on the number of URI handlers. Also, mongoose can call a user-defined function when it is about to send HTTP error back to client. That function is called http error handler and can be registered by mg_set_http_error_handler(). Handlers are called by Mongoose with struct mg_connection * pointer as a parameter, which has all information about the request: HTTP headers, POST or websocket data buffer, etcetera.

Let's extend our minimal application example and create an URI that will be served by user's C code. The app will handle /hello URI by showing a hello message. So, when app is run, http://127.0.0.1:8080/hello will say hello, and here's the code:

#include <string.h>
#include "mongoose.h"

static int handle_hello(struct mg_connection *conn) {
  static const char *reply = "Hello world!\n";
  mg_write_data(conn, reply, strlen(reply));
  return 1;
}

int main(void) {
  struct mg_server *server = mg_create_server(NULL);
  mg_set_option(server, "document_root", ".");
  mg_set_option(server, "listening_port", "8080");
  mg_add_uri_handler(server, "/hello", &handle_hello);
  for (;;) mg_poll_server(server, 1000);  // Infinite loop, Ctrl-C to stop
  mg_destroy_server(&server);
  return 0;
}

Below is the list of compilation flags that enable or disable certain features. By default, some features are enabled, and could be disabled by setting appropriate NO_* flag. Features that are disabled by default could be enabled by setting appropriate USE_* flag. Bare bones Mongoose is quite small, about 30 kilobytes of compiled x86 code. Each feature adds a couple of kilobytes to the executable size, and also has some runtime penalty.

-DMONGOOSE_NO_AUTH          Disable MD5 authorization support
-DMONGOOSE_NO_CGI           Disable CGI support
-DMONGOOSE_NO_DAV           Disable WebDAV support
                            (PUT, DELETE, MKCOL, PROPFIND methods)
-DMONGOOSE_NO_DIRECTORY_LISTING  Disable directory listing
-DMONGOOSE_NO_FILESYSTEM    Disables all file IO, serving from memory only
-DMONGOOSE_NO_LOGGING       Disable access/error logging
-DMONGOOSE_NO_THREADS
-DMONGOOSE_NO_WEBSOCKET     Disable WebSocket support

-DMONGOOSE_USE_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=X Idle connection timeout, default is 30
-DMONGOOSE_USE_IPV6         Enable IPv6 support
-DMONGOOSE_USE_LUA          Enable Lua scripting
-DMONGOOSE_USE_LUA_SQLITE3  Enable sqlite3 binding for Lua
-DMONGOOSE_USE_SSL          Enable SSL
-DMONGOOSE_USE_POST_SIZE_LIMIT=X      POST requests larger than X will be
                                      rejected, not set by default
-DMONGOOSE_USE_EXTRA_HTTP_HEADERS=X   Append X to the HTTP headers
                                      for static files, empty by default
-DMONGOOSE_USE_STACK_SIZE=X           Let mg_start_thread() use stack
                                      size X, default is OS default
-DMONGOOSE_ENABLE_DEBUG     Enables debug messages on stdout, very noisy
-DMONGOOSE_HEXDUMP=\"XXX\"  Enables hexdump of sent and received traffic
                            to the text files. XXX must be a prefix of the
                            IP address whose traffic must be hexdumped.

Mongoose source code contains a well-commented example code, listed below:

hello.c a minimalistic hello world example
post.c shows how to handle form input
upload.c shows how to upload files
websocket.c demonstrates websocket usage
auth.c demonstrates API-controlled Digest authorization

5.5 KiB Raw Blame History

Mongoose Embedding Guide

5.5 KiB

Raw Blame History