Allow for coexistence with other servers

[probonopd]

I think this is better because multiple different servers can coexist this way. I am using it together with an over-the-air update mechanism (OTA) like this:

void loop() {
  // Handle REST calls
  WiFiClient client = server.available();
  if (client) {
    while (!client.available()) {
      delay(1);
    }
  }
  rest.handle(client);
  checkOTA();
}

With the OTA function being:

void checkOTA() {
  if (OTA.parsePacket()) {
    IPAddress remote = OTA.remoteIP();
    int cmd  = OTA.parseInt();
    int port = OTA.parseInt();
    int size   = OTA.parseInt();
    Serial.printf("Update Start: %d\n", size);
    if (!Update.begin(size)) {
      Update.printError(Serial);
      return;
    }
    WiFiClient client;
    if (client.connect(remote, port)) {
      Serial.setDebugOutput(true);
      uint32_t written;
      while (!Update.isFinished()) {
        written = Update.write(client);
        if (written > 0) client.print(written, DEC);
      }
      Serial.setDebugOutput(false);
      if (Update.end()) {
        client.print("OK");
        Serial.printf("Update Success\n");
      } else {
        Update.printError(client);
        Update.printError(Serial);
      }
    } else {
      Serial.printf("Connect Failed\n");
    }
  }
}

Note that the OTA mechanism is scheduled to change soon anyway, but I think the change in the loop()of the example would make sense anyway.

[marcoschwartz]

Hello, could you develop a bit about what this would allow to do? Like sending messages between aREST devices ?

[probonopd]

The example I posted above is a slight change from the example sketch and allows for the esp8266 over-the-air update mechanism to co-exist with aREST. But the same also applies if you want to run, e.g., a HTTP server for serving web pages, a telnet server, and aREST all in one sketch.