A failed request could reach the client's error logger twice: once from the step that failed, without a request when that was the TLS setup or the proxy CONNECT, and again from send_() with the request. A content receiver or progress callback that canceled was reported twice too, a CONNECT answered with 407 only without a request, and a stream that failed to open not at all unless TLS failed. Report a failure in one place instead. The outermost send() reports the request's error once, with the request the caller made, also when the failure happened on a redirect (a redirect client no longer gets the error logger) and when an answer carries an error, such as a proxy's 407. open_stream() reports a stream that fails to open the same way. Only an upload body compressed before send() still reports where it fails.
5.1 KiB
SSEClient - Server-Sent Events Client
A simple, EventSource-like SSE client for C++11.
Features
- Auto-reconnect: Automatically reconnects on connection loss or an error status (except 204, 403 and 404)
- Last-Event-ID: Sends last received ID on reconnect for resumption
- retry field: Respects server's reconnect interval
- Event types: Supports custom event types via
on_event() - Async support: Run in background thread with
start_async() - C++11 compatible: No C++14/17/20 features required
Quick Start
httplib::Client cli("http://localhost:8080");
httplib::sse::SSEClient sse(cli, "/events");
sse.on_message([](const httplib::sse::SSEMessage &msg) {
std::cout << "Event: " << msg.event << std::endl;
std::cout << "Data: " << msg.data << std::endl;
});
sse.start(); // Blocking, with auto-reconnect
API Reference
SSEMessage
struct SSEMessage {
std::string event; // Event type (default: "message")
std::string data; // Event payload
std::string id; // Event ID
};
SSEClient
Constructor
// Basic
SSEClient(Client &client, const std::string &path);
// With custom headers
SSEClient(Client &client, const std::string &path, const Headers &headers);
Event Handlers
// Called for events whose type has no on_event() handler
sse.on_message([](const SSEMessage &msg) { });
// Called for specific event types
sse.on_event("update", [](const SSEMessage &msg) { });
sse.on_event("delete", [](const SSEMessage &msg) { });
// Called when connection is established
sse.on_open([]() { });
// Called on connection errors
sse.on_error([](httplib::Error err) { });
Configuration
// Set reconnect interval (default: 3000ms, minimum: 100ms)
sse.set_reconnect_interval(5000);
// Set max reconnect attempts (default: 0 = unlimited)
sse.set_max_reconnect_attempts(10);
// Update headers at any time (thread-safe)
sse.set_headers({{"Authorization", "Bearer new_token"}});
The client reconnects when it cannot connect or the stream ends. A status other than 200 calls on_error(Error::Connection); a 204, 403 or 404 then stops the client, and any other status, 401 included, reconnects, so an on_error handler can refresh credentials with set_headers(). set_max_reconnect_attempts() counts reconnect attempts in a row: the count starts over after each successful connection. Each attempt that fails to connect is also reported to the Client's error logger.
An event, or a line still waiting for its end, longer than CPPHTTPLIB_SSE_MAX_EVENT_LENGTH (16MB by default, 0 for no limit) ends the connection with Error::ExceedMaxPayloadSize, and the client stops rather than reconnect to the same event. The client's set_payload_max_length() does not apply to the stream as a whole, which has no end.
Control
// Blocking start with auto-reconnect
sse.start();
// Non-blocking start (runs in background thread)
sse.start_async();
// Stop the client (thread-safe)
sse.stop();
State
bool connected = sse.is_connected();
const std::string &id = sse.last_event_id();
Examples
Basic Usage
httplib::Client cli("http://localhost:8080");
httplib::sse::SSEClient sse(cli, "/events");
sse.on_message([](const httplib::sse::SSEMessage &msg) {
std::cout << msg.data << std::endl;
});
sse.start();
With Custom Event Types
httplib::sse::SSEClient sse(cli, "/events");
sse.on_event("notification", [](const httplib::sse::SSEMessage &msg) {
std::cout << "Notification: " << msg.data << std::endl;
});
sse.on_event("update", [](const httplib::sse::SSEMessage &msg) {
std::cout << "Update: " << msg.data << std::endl;
});
sse.start();
Async with Stop
httplib::sse::SSEClient sse(cli, "/events");
sse.on_message([](const httplib::sse::SSEMessage &msg) {
std::cout << msg.data << std::endl;
});
sse.start_async(); // Returns immediately
// ... do other work ...
sse.stop(); // Stop when done
With Custom Headers (e.g., Authentication)
httplib::Headers headers = {
{"Authorization", "Bearer token123"}
};
httplib::sse::SSEClient sse(cli, "/events", headers);
sse.start();
Refreshing Auth Token on Reconnect
httplib::sse::SSEClient sse(cli, "/events",
{{"Authorization", "Bearer " + get_token()}});
// Preemptively refresh token on each successful connection
sse.on_open([&sse]() {
sse.set_headers({{"Authorization", "Bearer " + get_token()}});
});
// Or reactively refresh on auth failure (401 triggers reconnect)
sse.on_error([&sse](httplib::Error) {
sse.set_headers({{"Authorization", "Bearer " + refresh_token()}});
});
sse.start();
Error Handling
sse.on_error([](httplib::Error err) {
std::cerr << "Error: " << httplib::to_string(err) << std::endl;
});
sse.set_reconnect_interval(1000);
sse.set_max_reconnect_attempts(5);
sse.start();
SSE Protocol
The client parses SSE format according to the WHATWG HTML Living Standard:
event: custom-type
id: 123
data: {"message": "hello"}
data: simple message
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