A minimal HTTP server in Python

Now how do we write a server in Python that can recognize and respond to these methods? Here's the code for a minimal server. It doesn't actually serve anything, but it does respond to all four request types (GET, PUT, POST and DELETE) and displays the type of the request it has received.

# object_server.py
#
# HTTP server that provides CRUD operations for Python objects.
#
# Version 1
#
# - Tidied up a bit.
#
# Version 0 (archived as object_server_0.py)
#
# - Initial roughing out to demonstrate HTTP concepts in practice.

HTML5_template = '''<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<!-- Minimal valid HTML5 document.
     Illustrates the necessary DOCTYPE declaration to be recognized as HTML5.
-->
<html>

<head>
    <title>%s</title>
</head>

<body>
    %s
</body>

</html>
'''

test_form = '''<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>

<head>
    <title>Test form</title>
</head>

<body>

    <form name="GET test" action="" method="GET">
        <fieldset><legend>GET</legend>
            UID: <input type="text" name="fname" value="123" /><br />
            <input type="submit" name="action" value="GET" />
        </fieldset>
    </form>

    <form name="POST test" action="" method="POST">
        <fieldset><legend>POST</legend>
            UID: <input type="text" name="fname" value="123" /><br />
            First name: <input type="text" name="fname" value="Mickey" /><br />
            Last name:<input type="text" name="lname" value="Mouse" /><br />
            <input type="submit" value="POST" />
        </fieldset>
    </form>

    <form name="PUT test" action="" method="PUT">
        <fieldset><legend>PUT</legend>
            UID: <input type="text" name="fname" value="123" /><br />
            First name: <input type="text" name="fname" value="Mickey" /><br />
            Last name:<input type="text" name="lname" value="Mouse" /><br />
            <input type="submit" value="PUT" />
        </fieldset>
    </form>

    <form name="DELETE test" action="" method="DELETE">
        <fieldset><legend>DELETE</legend>
            UID: <input type="text" name="fname" value="123" /><br />
            <input type="submit" value="DELETE" />
        </fieldset>
    </form>
</body>

</html>
'''

# This will not be a CGI app, but we will use the CGI module's
# facilities for parsing incoming form data.
import cgi

# We will modify BaseHTTPServer to create our server.
import BaseHTTPServer

class HTTPHandler(BaseHTTPServer.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    # BaseHTTPRequestHandler will call do_XXX when receiving
    # a request specifying method XXX.
    #
    # The do_XXX methods do not take any arguments because
    # self contains all the request information in its instance attributes.
    def do_GET(self):
        title = 'GET response'
        if self.path != '/':
            body = '<h1>Got a GET request.</h1><p>' + self.path + '</p>'
            self.wfile.write( HTML5_template % (title, body))
        else:
            self.wfile.write( test_form )
            
    def do_POST(self):
        title = 'POST response'
        body = '<h1>Got a POST request.</h1>'
        self.wfile.write( HTML5_template % (title, body))
        
    def do_PUT(self):
        title = 'PUT response'
        body = '<h1>Got a PUT request.</h1>'
        self.wfile.write( HTML5_template % (title, body))
        
    def do_DELETE(self):
        title = 'DELETE response'
        body = '<h1>Got a DELETE request.</h1>'
        self.wfile.write( HTML5_template % (title, body)) 
    
if __name__ == '__main__':
    server_address= ('', 80)
    httpd = BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer(server_address, HTTPHandler)
    httpd.serve_forever()