ESP32 AsyncWebServer with softAP does not serve pages

Question

I'm trying to create a AsyncWebServer after enabling the SoftAP:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPIFFS.h>
#include <WiFi.h>
#include <WiFiAP.h>
#include <AsyncTCP.h>
#include <ESPAsyncWebServer.h>
WebApp webapp;
void setup() 
{
 Serial.begin(115200);
 SPIFFS.begin();
 File f = SPIFFS.open("/index.html");
 String s = f.readString();
 Serial.println(s);
 f.close();
 WiFi.softAP("ssid", NULL);
 WiFi.softAPsetHostname("ssid");
 Serial.println(WiFi.softAPIP());
 webapp.Begin();
}
void loop()
{
}
class WebApp
{
public:
 WebApp();
 void Begin();
private:
 AsyncWebServer _server;
};
#include "webapp.h"
WebApp::WebApp() : _server(80)
{
}
void WebApp::Begin()
{
 _server.on("/", HTTP_GET, [this](AsyncWebServerRequest *request)
 {
 Serial.println("GET request");
 _server.serveStatic("/", SPIFFS, "/").setDefaultFile("/index.html");
 });
 _server.onNotFound([](AsyncWebServerRequest *request){
 request->send(404);
 });
 _server.begin();
 Serial.println("[WEB] HTTP server started");
}

The SoftAP brings up the network and I can connect to it (softAPgetStationNum() tells me that 1 client is connected). It answers to pings. The index.html is stored into the flash (the contents is printed out correctly).

But when I try to open the root page (192.168.4.1) it prints out "GET request" but the browser request timeouts and nothing is received.

Am I missing anything in the code?

Answer 1

I don't have enough rep to make a comment on your post, but is it possible that when you give the parameter for the function setDefaultFile() that the forward slash on /index.html is causing the path of the file to be //index.html instead of /index.html.

Because serveStatic is probably appending the filename of setDefaultFile() to the root directory of / (the third parameter of serveStatic()), you're probably getting an extra character you don't want in your filepath.

TL;DR you don't need the / in index.html for setDefaultFile().

See https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncWebServer#serving-files-in-directory for the example.

• Mark: I'll try this as soon as possible. But in that case should not just fall into a 404?
• Mark: Tried. It changes nothing. I can reach the page using the complete address (i.e. 192.168.4.1/index.html) but often the wdt triggers and the ESP32 reboots. The pages are very light, less than 6 kBytes
• Mark: Reloading the page usually leads to 404
• Mark: I confirm the issue is still there.

Answer 2

The usage of serveStatic() is wrong. It's not intended to be used inside a callback. Just place the call in the setup of the webserver, i.e.:

void WebApp::Begin()
{
 _server.serveStatic("/", SPIFFS, "/").setDefaultFile("/index.html");
 _server.onNotFound([](AsyncWebServerRequest *request)
 {
 request->send(404);
 });
 _server.begin();
 Serial.println("[WEB] HTTP server started");
}