Create a webpage to demonstrate C code

Question

I have a C code which takes a file as input, processes it and gives a number as output. I want to build a html webpage which takes the file path as input, gives it to the C code. C code processes it and output(integer) is displayed in browser. Can you please suggest me how to go about this? Are there are any prebuilt softwares to do this?

If it's for a homework, read your textbook. If it's for private use, just don't do that. You will need to use an HTTP library and cope with all the tedium of low-level protocol handling to achieve the equivalent of a couple of lines of PHP. — kuroi neko, Feb 19 '14 at 10:03
@kuroineko: there is nothing wrong with calling an external subprocess (the C code) or invoking it as a library to generate data for a web page (you could use any language to implement this part, including php). — jfs, Feb 19 '14 at 10:08
@J.F.Sebastian Well given the imprecision of the question you could expect anything from CGI-bin to a full fledged HTTP client. My point is, unless you know exactly what you're doing, better not start tackling network programming problems with the wrong tool. — kuroi neko, Feb 19 '14 at 10:12
Would the file be a local file or a file on the server? Do you want the C program to run on the client or server (there are security implications if you want to run it on the client). — Klas Lindbäck, Feb 19 '14 at 10:15
hmmm, programming something that reads a file, process its contents and sends a response back via HTTP. If only such a thing existed: a server-side scripting language would be a very useful thing indeed. Stuff like asp, Perl, Python, PHP, node.js, ... [The list really is quite long](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-side_scripting#Languages). Yes, [C + CGI](https://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/forms/cgic.html) works, too, but really: save yourself some time, and write script — Elias Van Ootegem, Feb 19 '14 at 10:37

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 19 '14 at 11:25

If C code is used to produce a command line utility then you could call it while generating a web page:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import subprocess
from bottle import request, route, run, template # http://bottlepy.org/

command = ['wc', '-c'] # <-- XXX put your command here

@route('/')
def index():
    filename = request.query.filename or 'default' # query: /?filename=<filename>
    output = subprocess.check_output(command + [filename]) # run the command
    return template("""<dl>
        <dt>Input</dt>
            <dd>{{filename}}</dd>
        <dt>Output</dt>
            <dd>{{output}}</dd></dl>""", filename=filename, output=output)

run(host='localhost', port=8080)

Run this script or paste it into a Python console, then open your browser and pass a filename (a path on the server) as a query parameter:

$ python -mwebbrowser http://localhost:8080/?filename=/etc/passwd

wc -c prints number of bytes for each input file. It is executed on the server.

If C code is available as a library; you could use ctypes module to call a C function from Python e.g., to call printf() C function from libc library:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import ctypes
from ctypes.util import find_library

try:
    libc = ctypes.cdll.msvcrt # Windows
except OSError:
    libc = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(find_library('c'))

n = libc.printf("abc ")
libc.printf("%d", n)

Create a webpage to demonstrate C code

1 Answers1