W3C Sample Code Library libwww Transport Class

# The Transport Class

    /*
    **	(c) COPYRIGHT MIT 1995.
    **	Please first read the full copyright statement in the file COPYRIGH.
    */

The Transport Class defines a transport as used by the HTChannel class to communicate with the network, the local file system etc. New transport objects may be registered at any time. This allows the application to easily hook in its own transport layers. The purpose of the HTTransport object is to contain transport dependent methods for opening and closing a connection to the transport and also to get an input stream and an output strean for reading and writing to the transport respectively.

Note: The library core does not define any default transport objects - they are all considered part of the application. The library comes with a default set of transports which can be initiated using the function `HTTransportInit()` in HTInit module

This module is implemented by HTTrans.c, and it is a part of the W3C Sample Code Library.

    #ifndef HTTRANS_H
    #define HTTRANS_H

## Creation and Deletion Methods

All transport interfaces are registered dynamically in libwww. This means that libwww is independent of the transport being used (TCP, for example), and you can therefore use libwww in any context you like. You have to specify a set of parameters in order for libwww to be able to use it. The transport class is defined as follows:

    typedef struct _HTTransport HTTransport;

    typedef enum _HTTransportMode {
        HT_TP_SINGLE	= 0,		/* One single request at a time */
        HT_TP_PIPELINE	= 1,		/* Use pipelined requests */
        HT_TP_INTERLEAVE	= 2		/* Can we interleave requests? */
    } HTTransportMode;

    #include "HTIOStream.h"
    #include "HTReq.h"

### Add a Transport

A new transport can be registered at any time in the Library. You must specify a name ad the supported channel mode that the transport supports. Then you must also register two creation methods of an input and an output stream respectively. You can find the definition of the I/O streams in the HTIOStream module.

    extern BOOL HTTransport_add (const char *		name,
    			     HTTransportMode		mode,
    			     HTInput_new *		get_input,
    			     HTOutput_new *		get_output);

### Delete a Transport

This functions deletes a registered protocol module so that it can not be used for accessing a resource anymore.

    extern BOOL HTTransport_delete (const char * name);

### Remove ALL Registered Transports

This is the garbage collection function. It is called by HTLibTerminate()

    extern BOOL HTTransport_deleteAll (void);

## Transport Class Methods

### Find a Transport Protocol Object

You can search the list of registered protocol objects as a function of the access acheme. If an access scheme is found then the protocol object is returned.

    extern HTTransport * HTTransport_find (HTRequest * request, const char * name);

### Supported Transort Modes

A transport object is registered with the flow control mode that it supports. This mode describes whether we can issue multiple requests at the same time.

    extern HTTransportMode HTTransport_mode (HTTransport * tp);
    extern BOOL HTTransport_setMode (HTTransport * tp, HTTransportMode mode);

### Input and Output Stream Creation Methods

    struct _HTTransport {
        char *		name;
        HTTransportMode	mode;			      /* Flow mode supported */
        HTInput_new *	input_new; 	     /* Input stream creation method */
        HTOutput_new *	output_new;	    /* Output stream creation method */
    };

    #endif /* HTTRANS_H */