VAST.Common.Ext.ASP

The VAST.Common.Ext.ASP assembly provides ASP.NET Core integration for VASTreaming applications, enabling you to host streaming servers (RTSP, SRT, HLS, WebRTC) within ASP.NET Core web applications using Kestrel or other ASP.NET Core hosting models.

Overview

Feature	Description
HTTP Context Adapter	Bridges ASP.NET Core HttpContext to VASTreaming interfaces
WebSocket Support	Enables WebSocket-based streaming protocols
Request/Response Abstraction	Unified HTTP handling for streaming servers
Kestrel Integration	Run streaming servers alongside ASP.NET Core APIs

Purpose

This library serves as an integration layer between ASP.NET Core and VASTreaming's streaming infrastructure. It allows you to:

Host streaming servers within existing ASP.NET Core applications
Share ports between REST APIs and streaming endpoints
Leverage ASP.NET Core's middleware pipeline for streaming
Use Kestrel's high-performance HTTP handling for media delivery

Note

This library provides HTTP integration only. For media encoding, decoding, and capture functionality, you must also reference a platform-specific extension library (such as VAST.Common.Ext.ASP.Win32 on Windows or VAST.Common.Ext.ASP.Linux on Linux).

Requirements

ASP.NET Core: 6.0 or later
Platform: Any platform supported by ASP.NET Core
.NET: .NET 6.0 or later
Dependencies: VAST.Common

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   ASP.NET Core Application                  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Kestrel / IIS / Other Host                                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ASP.NET Core Middleware Pipeline                           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  VAST.Common.Ext.ASP (HTTP Context Adapter)                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  VASTreaming Servers (HLS, DASH, WebRTC, etc.)              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

HTTP Context Integration

The library provides AspHttpRequestContext which adapts ASP.NET Core's HttpContext to VASTreaming's IHttpRequestContext interface.

Features

Feature	Support
HTTP Methods	GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS, etc.
Request Headers	Full access via NameValueCollection
Response Headers	Add custom headers
Request Body	Stream-based access
Response Body	Stream-based output
WebSocket Upgrade	Native support
Redirects	301/302 redirects
Keep-Alive	Connection persistence

Request Properties

The HTTP request adapter provides access to:

HttpMethod - The HTTP method (GET, POST, etc.)
Url - The full request URL
PathBase - The base path for the request
Headers - Request header collection
Body - Request body stream
ContentLength - Content length header value
RemoteEndPoint - Client IP address and port

Response Properties

The HTTP response adapter provides:

StatusCode - HTTP status code
ContentType - Response content type
ContentLength - Response content length
Body - Response output stream
KeepAlive - Connection persistence setting
RedirectLocation - Redirect URL for 3xx responses

WebSocket Support

The library fully supports WebSocket connections, enabling WebSocket-based streaming protocols.

WebSocket support must be enabled to utilize this function:

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ...
        app.UseWebSockets(new WebSocketOptions());
        ...
    }
}

Usage with Streaming Servers

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ...
		
        builder.WebHost.UseKestrel(options =>
        {
            // synchronous operations must be enabled because the HTTP based servers use them
            options.AllowSynchronousIO = true;
            ...
        });

        ...

        MultiProtoServer multiProtoServer = new();
        app.Run(async (context) =>
        {
            // dispatch unprocessed HTTP requests to the VASTreaming engine
            await multiProtoServer.HttpDispatcher.DispatchRequest(new VAST.HTTP.AspHttpRequestContext(context));
        });

        ...
    }
}

See the server demo for the details of MultiProtoServer class.

Limitations

The ASP extension provides HTTP integration only. The following features are not supported directly by this library:

Feature	Status	Solution
Video Encoding	Not supported	Use platform-specific library
Video Decoding	Not supported	Use platform-specific library
Audio Encoding	Not supported	Use platform-specific library
Audio Decoding	Not supported	Use platform-specific library
Camera Capture	Not supported	Use platform-specific library
Audio Capture	Not supported	Use platform-specific library
Screen Capture	Not supported	Use platform-specific library
OpenGL Processing	Not supported	Use platform-specific library

To enable these features, reference the appropriate platform-specific library alongside VAST.Common.Ext.ASP:

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue	Cause	Solution
Request times out	Long-running streaming	Disable request timeout in Kestrel
WebSocket fails	Missing WebSocket middleware	Add `app.UseWebSockets()`
Large uploads fail	Request size limit	Set `MaxRequestBodySize = null`
Connection drops	Rate limiting	Disable `MinResponseDataRate`

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