This Scala library is convenient for creating network server and client, useful for quickly writing server and client tests. This library doesn't try to be robust. If you want long running robust server or client, you should try other things.

This library is small, the only dependency is Netty.

Features

HTTP:

• Server. Server can start at random open port, very useful for tests. It also automatically handles "Expect 100 Continue" requests.
• Client.
• Can handle chunks up to 16 MB.
• HTTPS.

TCP:

• Server.
• Client.

Be familiar with Netty

Netcaty Scaladoc

To create and inspect requests/responses, you should be familiar with things in package io.netty.handler.codec.http and io.netty.buffer in Netty Javadoc.

req and res in the examples below are:

• req: FullHttpRequest
• res: FullHttpResponse

HTTP server

Start server at port 9000:

netcaty.Http.respondOne(9000, { case (req, res) =>
  // res is an empty 200 OK response.
  // Modify it to respond what you want.
})

respondOnce returns after the port has been bounded so you don't need to manually call Thread.sleep(someTime) to wait for the server to be started. The server runs on a separate thread. It sends only one response and after that stops immediately.

If you don't want to stop the server after one response:

val server = netcaty.Http.respond(9000, { case (req, res) =>
  // res is an empty 200 OK response.
  // Modify it to respond what you want.
})

// Later:
server.stop()

Port 0 means Netcaty will start server at a random open port. This is very useful for writing tests. To get the real port, call server.getPort.

HTTP client

Sync mode:

// Create a FullHttpRequest
import io.netty.handler.codec.http.{DefaultFullHttpRequest, HttpMethod, HttpVersion}
val req = new DefaultFullHttpRequest(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1, HttpMethod.GET, "/path")

// req will be automatically released
val res = netcaty.Http.request("localhost", 9000, req)

// Use res
...

// Must manually release after using
res.release()

Async mode:

// Create a FullHttpRequest
import io.netty.handler.codec.http.{DefaultFullHttpRequest, HttpMethod, HttpVersion}
val req = new DefaultFullHttpRequest(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1, HttpMethod.GET, "/path")

// req and res will be automatically released
netcaty.Http.request("localhost", 9000, req, { res =>
  ...
})

TCP server

You must know beforehand the length of the request. In a controlled environment like tests, that's not a big drawback.

To listen on port 9000, receive exactly 123 bytes, then respond:

netcaty.Tcp.respondOne(9000, 123, { requestBytes =>
  // Return bytes to respond
  "Hello World".getBytes
})

val server = netcaty.Http.respond(9000, 123, { requestBytes =>
  // Return bytes to respond
  "Hello World".getBytes
})

// Later:
server.stop()

TCP client

You must know beforehand the length of the response. In a controlled environment like tests, that's not a big drawback.

Sync mode:

val responseBytes = netcaty.Tcp.request("localhost", 9000, requestBytes)

Async mode:

netcaty.Tcp.request("localhost", 9000, requestBytes, { responseBytes =>
  ...
})

HTTPS and TCP over SSL

In the above examples, just replace netcaty.Http and netcaty.Tcp with netcaty.Https and netcaty.Tcps.

• Server: uses dummy certificate.
• Client: acepts all certificates.

Use with SBT

Supported Scala versions: 2.10.x, 2.11.x

libraryDependencies += "tv.cntt" % "netcaty" %% "1.4"

Netcaty uses Netty 4. Javassist can boost Netty 4 speed. Optionally, you can add:

libraryDependencies += "org.javassist" % "javassist" % "3.18.2-GA"

Netcat

For more simple problems, maybe you don't need to use additionaly library. You can use Netcat, like this:

import scala.sys.process._

object Http {
  def async(fun: => Unit) {
    val t = new Thread(new Runnable { def run { fun } })
    t.start()
  }

  //----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  def serveRaw(port: Int, lines: Seq[String]) {
    val raw = lines.mkString("\r\n")
    (Seq("echo", "-n", raw) #| Seq("sh", "-c", "nc -l " + port)).!
  }

  def serveContent(port: Int, contentType: String, content: String) {
    val contentLength = content.getBytes.length
    serveRaw(port, Seq(
      "HTTP/1.1 200 OK",
      s"Content-Type: $contentType",
      s"Content-Length: $contentLength",
      "",
      content
    ))
  }

  def asyncServeRaw(port: Int, lines: Seq[String]) {
    async { serveRaw(port, lines) }
  }

  def asyncServeContent(port: Int, contentType: String, content: String) {
    async { serveContent(port, contentType, content) }
  }

  //----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  def requestRaw(host: String, port: Int, lines: Seq[String]): String = {
    val raw = lines.mkString("", "\r\n", "\r\n\r\n")
    // "-i 1" delays 1s, slowering the tests.
    // But without it the result will be empty.
    (Seq("echo", "-n", raw) #| s"nc -i 1 $host $port").!!
  }

  def get(host: String, port: Int, path: String): String = {
    requestRaw(host, port, Seq(
      s"GET $path HTTP/1.1",
      s"Host: $host:$port"
    ))
  }
}