It's easy to create a little web server using
HttpListener, but it must run as administrator to listen to anything but the localhost. It can also be
done with TcpListener, but it's somewhat trickier. The firewall will prompt to allow network access though, which the
HttpListener won't, because it uses HTTP.SYS that listens on behalf of the application.
HttpServer class
private TcpListener Listener { get; set; }
public void Listen()
{
Listener = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Any, 2000);
Listener.Start();
while (true)
{
var client = Listener.AcceptTcpClient();
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem((state) => Handle(client)); //Handle each request on it's own thread.
}
}
private void Handle(TcpClient client)
{
using (var io = client.GetStream())
using (var reader = new StreamReader(io))
using (var writer = new StreamWriter(io))
{
//Request
string[] line = reader.ReadLine()?.Split(); //Do not read to end! It would hang.
string method = line[0]; //GET, POST, ...
string url = line[1]; //The requested URL.
//Response
string content = "<html><body>EGS</body></html>";
writer.WriteLine("HTTP/1.1 200 OK");
writer.WriteLine("Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8");
writer.WriteLine($"Content-Length: {content.Length}");
writer.WriteLine("Connection: close");
writer.WriteLine();
writer.WriteLine(content);
}
client.Close();
}
Start the server
Server = new HttpServer();
new Thread(new ThreadStart(Server.Listen)).Start(); //On a separate thread, so the UI doesn't hang.
