How to handle query parameters with no "=" separator?

[jpbro]

Thought I pose this as a question in case anyone out there had an insights/preferences.

Consider the following URL:

http://localhost/myapp.fcgi?test

Where test is the query string.

In the current VbFcgi implementation, test is treated as a default parameter value. Calling CHttpQueryParams.DefaultValue returns test, and calling CHttpQueryParams.ValuesByKey("") returns a CHttpQueryParamValues object with a single value of test.

I'm thinking it might be better to treat test as a "flag" and use it as a key instead of a value. So calling CHttpQueryParams.Exists("test") would return True and calling CHttpQueryParams.ValuesByKey("test") would return a CHttpQueryParamValues object with zero values.

Perhaps the best of both worlds would be an option property to let users decide which approach to take based on the needs of their FCGI applications?

[skacurt]

Both ASP Classic and PHP treats ?test as a key with a zero length string value.

PHP:

<?php
echo $_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"]."<br>";
if(isset($_GET["test"]) && gettype($_GET["test"]) == "string" && $_GET["test"] == "")
	echo "OK";

ASP Classic:

<%
Response.Write Request.ServerVariables("QUERY_STRING") & "<br>"
If Request.QueryString("test").Count = 1 And VarType(Request.QueryString("test")) = vbString And Request.QueryString("test") = "" Then
	Response.Write "OK"
End If
%>

Both prints:

test
OK

I would go with this approach by default, but providing an option to change the behavior would also be good.

[woeoio]

I developed a dll component called vbman, which allows any vb6/vba project to embed it. With just a few lines of code, you can have your own web server.

' A complete web server in just a few lines of code

' === 1. Create Business Class (bDemo.cls) ===
Public Sub Hello(ctx As cHttpServerContext)
    Dim id As Long: id = ctx.Request.QueryString("id")
    ctx.Response.Text "Hello VBMAN! id=" & id
End Sub

' === 2. Start Server (Form1.frm) ===
Dim HttpServer As New cHttpServer

With HttpServer
    .Router.Reg "Demo", New bDemo    ' Register business class
    .Router.AutoRoute = True          ' Enable auto-routing
    .Start 800                        ' Start server, listen on port 800
End With

MsgBox "Server running at http://localhost:800"
' Visit: http://127.0.0.1:800/demo/hello?id=123

It has advanced capabilities such as routing and SSE. The issue mentioned in the current issue is called routing parameter passing in php frameworks (such as laravel)

Route::get('/user/{id}', function ($id) {
    return 'User ID: ' . $id;
});

Our vbman also supports this feature. For more information, please visit the documentation: https://doc.vb6.pro/en/

Vbman is now open source in the warehouse: https://github.com/woeoio/vbman

[woeoio]

VB6 HTTP Server — Now with Route Parameters & Path Segments

I've been building an HTTP server in VB6 and just added two features that make it feel a lot more like a modern web framework:

🚀 Parameter Routes ({param})

Define dynamic URL segments just like Laravel, Express, or Flask:

' Register routes with parameters
Router.Add "/api/user/{id}", "UserController@Show", OnlyGet
Router.Add "/api/user/{userId}/post/{postId}", "PostController@Show", OnlyGet
Router.Add "/api/group/{groupId}/user/{userId}", "GroupCtrl@Detail", OnlyGet

Retrieve them in your controller via RouteParams:

Public Sub Show(ctx As cHttpServerContext)
    Dim id As String
    id = ctx.Request.RouteParams("id")   ' e.g. "123"
    ctx.Response.Json Array("userId" & id)
End Sub

Matching rules:

• Fixed segments match exactly (case-insensitive)
• {name} matches any non-empty segment
• Segment count must match
• Exact routes are matched first (O(1) dict lookup), then parameter routes are tried

📋 PathInfoList — Quick Access to URL Segments

Every request now has a PathInfoList collection that splits the URL path into indexed, keyed segments:

' Request: GET /api/user/list?page=1

ctx.Request.PathInfoList(1)          ' → "api"
ctx.Request.PathInfoList(2)          ' → "user"
ctx.Request.PathInfoList(3)          ' → "list"
ctx.Request.PathInfoList.Count       ' → 3

' Check if a segment exists
If ctx.Request.PathInfoList.Exists("api") Then ...

' Iterate all segments
Dim i As Long
For i = 1 To ctx.Request.PathInfoList.Count
    Debug.Print ctx.Request.PathInfoList(i)
Next i

Full RESTful Example

' Routes
Router.Reg "Product", New cProductController
Router.Add "/products", "Product@List", OnlyGet
Router.Add "/products/{id}", "Product@Detail", OnlyGet
Router.Add "/products/{id}/reviews", "Product@Reviews", OnlyGet
Router.Add "/products", "Product@Create", OnlyPost
Router.Add "/products/{id}", "Product@Update", OnlyPut
Router.Add "/products/{id}", "Product@Delete", OnlyDelete

' Controller
Public Sub Detail(ctx As cHttpServerContext)
    Dim id As String
    id = ctx.Request.RouteParams("id")
    ' ... fetch from DB ...
    ctx.Response.Json product
End Sub

What's New in Code

File	Change
cHttpServerRouteItem.cls	NEW — Parses {param} patterns, matches paths, extracts params
cHttpServerRouter.cls	Updated matching: exact match first, then parameter route traversal
cHttpServerRequest.cls	Added RouteParams (Dictionary) and PathInfoList (cCollection)

100% backward compatible — existing exact-match routes work exactly as before.

---

Open source at: https://github.com/woeoio/vbman
Docunmet: https://doc.vb6.pro/en/vbman/httpserver/overview.html