Crystal: A C++ Framework

C++ Web Application Framework created from scratch. Inspired by Express and Django.

Home Page

Motivation

In the beginning, it was a simple HTTP server built using sockets in C++, but it evolved into a flexible and minimal framework for building web applications.

My C++, DSA, and Networking skills were honed by developing this project and I gained a deep understanding of how servers operate.

Features

• Dynamic Router
• URL Path Params and Query String Support
• Response Status Codes
• JSON Parser and Creator
• JSON Body Support in Requests and Responses
• Cookies Support
• Automatic Public File Indexing and Parsing
• Routing and Controller Structure Similar to Express
• Request Redirect
• HTML Page Support
• Static Fields
• ETags for Client Side Caching
• Monitor for Live Restart ./monitor/DOCUMENTATION.md

Note

Currently, this project only runs on Linux, but I plan to add support for Windows and Mac in the future.

Run Locally

Dependencies

• Linux Operating System
• C++ Compiler
• cmake
• Git

Clone the project

  git clone https://github.com/Suhaan-Bhandary/Crystal-Web-Framework

Go to the project directory

  cd Crystal-Web-Framework

Install Dependencies

  sudo ./ubuntu_setup.sh # select option 1 for install

Compile the Server

  rm -rf ./build
  ./scripts/debug_configure.sh
  ./scripts/build.sh

Run the Server

  ./scripts/run_example.sh

You will see the below output after running

Listening on Address: 127.0.0.1
Port: 8080

Running with Live Restart

To use live restart functionality use the monitor bash script. Before running the monitor file uncomment the #CUSTOM_MACROS = -DDEVELOPMENT_ENVIRONMENT in the Makefile

  ./monitor/monitor.sh

Running on Docker

To run the server on Docker

  docker build -t http-server-cpp .
  docker run -p 8080:8080 -t http-server-cpp

Running Tests

To run tests, run the following command

  rm -rf ./build
  ./scripts/debug_configure.sh
  ./scripts/build.sh
  ./scripts/run_test.sh

Usage/Examples

To Create a Web Application user can edit the app/ folder in the project.

User Folders

• app/Router: Define the routes of the Web Application.
• app/Controller: Stores the controllers for each route.
• app/public: Store all the files which are to be made public to the internet.
• app/templates: It is used to store all the html template.

Authors

• @Suhaan-Bhandary

🔗 Links

FAQ

Support for Windows and Linux

Currently, it only supports Linux, but other platforms will be supported incrementally in the future.

How It is structured

It uses the MVC model to structure the Web Application.

Does it has all features of a Web Application Framework

It supports main features and in future new features like Template Engine, Database, Session and many more.

Acknowledgements

• HTTP Server Socket Setup
• Resource on Cookie

Feedback

If you have any feedback, please reach out to us at [email protected]

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