Http Server for file handling

Python Based File Sever

Watch the demo of the Application here

The server is implemented using Python's HTTPServer class. It implements do_GET and do_POST methods to handle requests from client. The server supports following operations

• Display list of available files
• Read file contents
• Update file
• Delete file

The client gets an interface for connecting to sever using Browser. I have hosted the server on localhost of my machine at PORT=8888. But this application can be configured to run on any machine by changing the HOST and PORT in configure.py file.

The client sends GET/POST requests from browser. The working flow of read,list,update,delete opertations is given below:

• read : This is used to display contents of a specified file. The client sends a POST request and filename is accessed at the server end using cgi FieldStorage api with the help of form elements names.
• list : list is used to list the files that are available at the sever.
• update : This is used to update the contents of a file at the server. The client sends the file to be updated and the new contents using POST request. At the server side the file is opened and write mode is modified with the new contents.
• delete : This feature lets you to delete a file.

Implementation Details

The serverside is developed using python. First HTTPServer(('HOST', PORT), requestHandler) creates a server that runs forever and accepts requests until it is stopped manually.

#####def do_GET(self) This method uses path.endswith() to check for the data files to serve to the client. This check is kept so that only data files are served and source code is hidden from the user.

#####def do_POST(self) This method handles POST requests. It checks whether it is read,delete or update requests and handles the requests accordingly. Html reaponse is created using following code snippet.

self.send_response(200)
self.end_headers()

wfile.write() function is used to write html file. Errors are handled and appropriate 404 reaponse is sent using send_error(404).

Version

1.0

Code Structure

• HttpServer.py - The heart of the app, python server.
• index.html - Frontend interface for the client.
• configure.py - configuration file to chnage host,port

Installation

$ git clone https://github.com/rohanbharadwaj/File-Sever.git
$ cd server
$ python HTTPServer.py

Configuration

To chnage the Host and Port of the Server edit the file configure.py

$ vim configure.py

PORT = 8888         #The port where the server runs
HOST = 'localhost'  # The host address where the server is hosted.

Screenshots

Requirements

• Python 2.7
• Browser