Serving web apps

This tutorial was generated using Literate.jl. Download the source as a .jl file.

This tutorial demonstrates how to setup and serve JuMP models via a REST API.

In the example app we are building, we solve a trivial mixed-integer program, which is parameterized by the lower bound of a variable. To call the service, users send an HTTP POST request with JSON contents indicating the lower bound. The returned value is the solution of the mixed-integer program as JSON.

First, we need JuMP and a solver:

using JuMP
import HiGHS

We also need HTTP.jl to act as our REST server, and JSON.jl to marshal data.

import HTTP
import JSON

The server side

The core components of our REST server are endpoints. These are functions which accept a Dict{String,Any} of input parameters, and return a Dict{String,Any} as output. The types are Dict{String,Any} because we're going to read these to and from JSON.

Here's a very simple endpoint: it accepts params as input, formulates and solves a trivial mixed-integer program, and then returns a dictionary with the result.

function endpoint_solve(params::Dict{String,Any})
    if !haskey(params, "lower_bound")
        return Dict{String,Any}(
            "status" => "failure",
            "reason" => "missing lower_bound param",
        )
    elseif !(params["lower_bound"] isa Real)
        return Dict{String,Any}(
            "status" => "failure",
            "reason" => "lower_bound is not a number",
        )
    end
    model = Model(HiGHS.Optimizer)
    set_silent(model)
    @variable(model, x >= params["lower_bound"], Int)
    optimize!(model)
    ret = Dict{String,Any}(
        "status" => "okay",
        "terminaton_status" => termination_status(model),
        "primal_status" => primal_status(model),
    )
    # Only include the `x` key if it has a value.
    if primal_status(model) == FEASIBLE_POINT
        ret["x"] = value(x)
    end
    return ret
end

endpoint_solve (generic function with 1 method)

When we call this, we get:

endpoint_solve(Dict{String,Any}("lower_bound" => 1.2))

Dict{String, Any} with 4 entries:
  "status"            => "okay"
  "x"                 => 2.0
  "primal_status"     => FEASIBLE_POINT
  "terminaton_status" => OPTIMAL

endpoint_solve(Dict{String,Any}())

Dict{String, Any} with 2 entries:
  "status" => "failure"
  "reason" => "missing lower_bound param"

For a second function, we need a function that accepts an HTTP.Request object and returns an HTTP.Response object.

function serve_solve(request::HTTP.Request)
    data = JSON.parse(String(request.body))
    solution = endpoint_solve(data)
    return HTTP.Response(200, JSON.json(solution))
end

serve_solve (generic function with 1 method)

Finally, we need an HTTP server. There are a variety of ways you can do this in HTTP.jl. We use an explicit Sockets.listen so we have manual control of when we shutdown the server.

function setup_server(host, port)
    server = HTTP.Sockets.listen(host, port)
    HTTP.serve!(host, port; server = server) do request
        try
            # Extend the server by adding other endpoints here.
            if request.target == "/api/solve"
                return serve_solve(request)
            else
                return HTTP.Response(404, "target $(request.target) not found")
            end
        catch err
            # Log details about the exception server-side
            @info "Unhandled exception: $err"
            # Return a response to the client
            return HTTP.Response(500, "internal error")
        end
    end
    return server
end

setup_server (generic function with 1 method)

server = setup_server(HTTP.ip"127.0.0.1", 8080)

Sockets.TCPServer(RawFD(24) active)

The client side

Now that we have a server, we can send it requests via this function:

function send_request(data::Dict; endpoint::String = "solve")
    ret = HTTP.request(
        "POST",
        # This should match the URL and endpoint we defined for our server.
        "http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/$endpoint",
        ["Content-Type" => "application/json"],
        JSON.json(data),
    )
    if ret.status != 200
        # This could happen if there are time-outs, network errors, etc.
        return Dict(
            "status" => "failure",
            "code" => ret.status,
            "body" => String(ret.body),
        )
    end
    return JSON.parse(String(ret.body))
end

send_request (generic function with 1 method)

Let's see what happens:

send_request(Dict("lower_bound" => 0))

Dict{String, Any} with 4 entries:
  "status"            => "okay"
  "x"                 => 0.0
  "primal_status"     => "FEASIBLE_POINT"
  "terminaton_status" => "OPTIMAL"

send_request(Dict("lower_bound" => 1.2))

Dict{String, Any} with 4 entries:
  "status"            => "okay"
  "x"                 => 2.0
  "primal_status"     => "FEASIBLE_POINT"
  "terminaton_status" => "OPTIMAL"

If we don't send a lower_bound, we get:

send_request(Dict("invalid_param" => 1.2))

Dict{String, Any} with 2 entries:
  "status" => "failure"
  "reason" => "missing lower_bound param"

If we don't send a lower_bound that is a number, we get:

send_request(Dict("lower_bound" => "1.2"))

Dict{String, Any} with 2 entries:
  "status" => "failure"
  "reason" => "lower_bound is not a number"

Finally, we can shutdown our HTTP server:

close(server)

[ Info: Server on 127.0.0.1:8080 closing

Next steps

For more complicated examples relating to HTTP servers, consult the HTTP.jl documentation.

To see how you can integrate this with a larger JuMP model, read Design patterns for larger models.