Chunked transfer encoding is a streaming data transfer mechanism available in HTTP/1.1. In chunked transfer encoding, the data stream is divided into a series of non-overlapping "chunks". The chunks are sent out and received independently of one another. No knowledge of the data stream outside the currently-being-processed chunk is necessary for both the sender and the receiver at any given time.
The chunked keyword in the Transfer-Encoding header is used to indicate chunked transfer.
HTTP/2 uses DATA frames to carry message payloads. The "chunked" transfer encoding defined in MUST NOT be used in HTTP/2.
As we read above, the Transfer-Encoding: "chunked" header is required:
ctx.Header("Transfer-Encoding", "chunked")
Then, define the response content type (when we use the ctx.Write methods), e.g.
ctx.ContentType("text/html")
And we write the contents:
ctx.Writef("A message here")
Finally, we must flush the contents with:
ctx.ResponseWriter().Flush()
And repeat.
Iris gives you a helper method which sends streaming data until connection close or error returned:
StreamWriter(func(w io.Writer) error) error
The second way for streaming data is with ctx.XXX response methods (as we've seen previously, e.g. ctx.JSON) following by a ctx.ResponseWriter().Flush()).
Example
Let's say that you want to send number messages from 1 to 29.
var errDone = errors.New("done")
func handler(ctx iris.Context) {
ctx.ContentType("text/html")
ctx.Header("Transfer-Encoding", "chunked")
i := 0
ints := []int{1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 23, 29}
// Send the response in chunks and
// wait for half a second between each chunk,
// until connection closed.
err := ctx.StreamWriter(func(w io.Writer) error {
ctx.Writef("Message number %d<br>", ints[i])
time.Sleep(500 * time.Millisecond) // simulate delay.
if i == len(ints)-1 {
return errDone // ends the loop.
}
i++
return nil // continue write
})
if err != errDone {
// Test it by canceling the request before the stream ends:
// [ERRO] $DATETIME stream: context canceled.
ctx.Application().Logger().Errorf("stream: %v", err)
}
}
JSON Example
Let's do the same using JSON.
type messageNumber struct {
Number int `json:"number"`
}
func handler(ctx iris.Context) {
ctx.Header("Transfer-Encoding", "chunked")
i := 0
ints := []int{1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 23, 29}
// Send the response in chunks and wait
// for half a second between each chunk,
// until connection close.
notifyClose := ctx.Request().Context().Done()
for {
select {
case <-notifyClose:
// err := ctx.Request().Context().Err()
ctx.Application().Logger().Infof("Connection closed, loop end.")
return
default:
ctx.JSON(messageNumber{Number: ints[i]})
ctx.WriteString("\n")
time.Sleep(500 * time.Millisecond) // simulate delay.
if i == len(ints)-1 {
ctx.Application().Logger().Infof("Loop end.")
return
}
i++
ctx.ResponseWriter().Flush()
}
}
}
Result
That's all. As you've noticed, the client receives messages while loading. Check the next chapter (Server-Sent Events) to see an alternative way of sending messages to the client with connection-alive and loaded page.
