HTTP stack used for flexible HTTP platform

In the last few days, I was working hard to finish a first working version of my "cwapd" (totally uninspired name, I know, it's supposed to mean "C++ Web Application Platform Daemon"). It is based on my previously-mentioned HTTP stack.

The basic concept of cwapd is that one or several base URLs can be mapped to so-called "contexts". As soon as a URL that begins with one of the registered base URLs is called, the "action" (i.e. the part of the URL after the base URL) is handed over to the registered context. This context then handles the request, and returns the result. As a feature, methods can be easily associated with actions (see my previous posting), which means that no manual dispatching is necessary. Alternatively, actions can also be handled manually, e.g. for cases where the "action" actually represents something like a filename (think of a context that delivers static files like a "normal" web server).

As a simple example, I also created a "wallpaper_context" class that automatically scales images to the optimal wallpaper size of the respective client, employing Magick++ and WURFL. This could be e.g. useful for people who want to deliver mobile phone wallpapers via WAP. The code itself is really simple, the wallpaper_context class contains nothing more than 77 SLOCs, showing that writing custom contexts is extremely simple.

The only "big" thing that is still missing from it is proper handling of configuration. Currently, many things that are actually supposed to be stored in configuration files are hard-coded in the source code. So, if anybody could recommend me a flexible configuration engine with an interface to C++, I'd be happy about it.

Anyway, if you're interested in the code, simply have a look at the SVN repository.