JSON-RPC service introspection

[panyasan]

Hello,

I just committed a change to the RpcPhp server trunk that allows service
introspection similar to the one found in XMLRPC:

http://xmlrpc-c.sourceforge.net/introspection.html

In contrast to the XMLRPC standard, the methods "listMethods",
"methodSignature" and "methodHelp" are not methods of a virtual service
"system", but are made available as parts of the service class itself. In
PHP, this is achieved by extending the ServiceIntrospection class (which is
automatically included by the server) or by implementing methods that
forward to the API methods like so:

function method_methodSignature( $method )
{
   return new ServiceIntrospection( $this )->method_methodSignature( $method
);
}

Thus, you have full control over whether to allow introspection or not. The
details of the implementation can be viewed here:

http://qooxdoo-contrib.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/qooxdoo-contrib/trunk/qooxdoo-contrib/RpcPhp/trunk/services/server/ServiceIntrospection.php?view=markup

You can see a demo of the three methods here:

http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcConsole/trunk/demo/default/build/?serverUrl=http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcPhp/trunk/services/&runTest=listMethods

http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcConsole/trunk/demo/default/build/?serverUrl=http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcPhp/trunk/services/&runTest=methodSignature

http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcConsole/trunk/demo/default/build/?serverUrl=http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcPhp/trunk/services/&runTest=methodHelp

I would like to propose that the other backends implement this simple
introspection as well. Of course, I am open to changes to the introspection
API in order to achieve interoperability.

Best,

Christian


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[Derrell Lipman]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 05:05, panyasan <info@...> wrote:

Hello,

I just committed a change to the RpcPhp server trunk that allows service
introspection

...

I would like to propose that the other backends implement this simple
introspection as well. Of course, I am open to changes to the introspection
API in order to achieve interoperability. 

Chrisitan, this looks really nice. Based on the very few issues that have been raised regarding the PHP trunk server, I believe that it is getting to the point of being pretty stable (or maybe it's just that few are using it?), so I'm not going to enhance the 1.0.x server with this functionality unless you are less certain about the stability of trunk.

Derrell

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[Gene Amtower]

Christian,

So this new introspection functionality is completely contained within the updated RPCPHP contrib code and doesn't require anything special in the remote service classes themselves? 

I looked through the materials you provided, and it's not clear but appears that way to me.  I think the code you added uses PHP methods to gather knowledge about the called PHP code, or am I misinterpreting how the service introspection will function?

Thanks,

   Gene

On Fri, 2009-10-30 at 02:05 -0700, panyasan wrote:

Hello,

I just committed a change to the RpcPhp server trunk that allows service
introspection similar to the one found in XMLRPC:

http://xmlrpc-c.sourceforge.net/introspection.html

In contrast to the XMLRPC standard, the methods "listMethods",
"methodSignature" and "methodHelp" are not methods of a virtual service
"system", but are made available as parts of the service class itself. In
PHP, this is achieved by extending the ServiceIntrospection class (which is
automatically included by the server) or by implementing methods that
forward to the API methods like so:

function method_methodSignature( $method )
{
   return new ServiceIntrospection( $this )->method_methodSignature( $method
);
}

Thus, you have full control over whether to allow introspection or not. The
details of the implementation can be viewed here:

http://qooxdoo-contrib.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/qooxdoo-contrib/trunk/qooxdoo-contrib/RpcPhp/trunk/services/server/ServiceIntrospection.php?view=markup

You can see a demo of the three methods here:

http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcConsole/trunk/demo/default/build/?serverUrl=http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcPhp/trunk/services/&runTest=listMethods

http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcConsole/trunk/demo/default/build/?serverUrl=http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcPhp/trunk/services/&runTest=methodSignature

http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcConsole/trunk/demo/default/build/?serverUrl=http://www.qxtransformer.org/qooxdoo/RpcPhp/trunk/services/&runTest=methodHelp

I would like to propose that the other backends implement this simple
introspection as well. Of course, I am open to changes to the introspection
API in order to achieve interoperability.

Best,

Christian

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[Derrell Lipman]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 09:01, Gene Amtower <gene@...> wrote:

Christian,

So this new introspection functionality is completely contained within the updated RPCPHP contrib code and doesn't require anything special in the remote service classes themselves? 

I looked through the materials you provided, and it's not clear but appears that way to me.  I think the code you added uses PHP methods to gather knowledge about the called PHP code, or am I misinterpreting how the service introspection will function?

Although I haven't inspected Christian's implementation in detail, it looks like the service class simply needs to be changed to extend his introspection class. It appears no other changes are required.

Derrell
 

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[panyasan]

Gene Amtower wrote:

>
> Christian,
>
> So this new introspection functionality is completely contained within
> the updated RPCPHP contrib code and doesn't require anything special in
> the remote service classes themselves?  
>
> I looked through the materials you provided, and it's not clear but
> appears that way to me.  I think the code you added uses PHP methods to
> gather knowledge about the called PHP code, or am I misinterpreting how
> the service introspection will function?
>
>

Hi Gene,

have a look at

http://qooxdoo-contrib.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/qooxdoo-contrib/trunk/qooxdoo-contrib/RpcPhp/trunk/services/class/qooxdoo/test.php?view=markup

Your class doesn't need to do anything except extend the
ServiceIntrospection class (which is loaded automatically by the server
script - no need to include it manually).

If this isn't possible becaus your inheritance chain doesn't allow it, you
can "mixin" the methods by defining proxy methods (see the first posting in
this thread).

Cheers,

Christian
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[panyasan]

Derrell Lipman wrote:

>
> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 05:05, panyasan <info@...> wrote:
>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I just committed a change to the RpcPhp server trunk that allows service
>> introspection
>>
> ...
>
>> I would like to propose that the other backends implement this simple
>> introspection as well. Of course, I am open to changes to the
>> introspection
>> API in order to achieve interoperability.
>
> Chrisitan, this looks really nice. Based on the very few issues that have
> been raised regarding the PHP trunk server, I believe that it is getting
> to
> the point of being pretty stable (or maybe it's just that few are using
> it?), so I'm not going to enhance the 1.0.x server with this functionality
> unless you are less certain about the stability of trunk.
>
> Derrell
>
>

Hi Derrell, I am all in favor of releasing the trunk as the next stable -
has worked for me without any issues. It would also be good to release it as
the last version that supports PHP4 - then we can drop support for that and
can get rid of the wierd coding style that is required when one tries to
support PHP4-5.3. So what about releasing it as 1.5 and then a PHP5.0-only
2.0?

Thanks,

Christian

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[Derrell Lipman]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 09:57, panyasan <info@...> wrote:

Hi Derrell, I am all in favor of releasing the trunk as the next stable -

has worked for me without any issues. It would also be good to release it as
the last version that supports PHP4 - then we can drop support for that and
can get rid of the wierd coding style that is required when one tries to
support PHP4-5.3. So what about releasing it as 1.5 and then a PHP5.0-only
2.0?

I'd prefer not to skip from 1.0 to 1.5. Instead, I'd release it as 1.1.0 (keeping the existing 3-level numbering that allows for bug fixes with no change of functionality). If we never release a 1.2.x and go right to 2.0.0 for the PHP5-only version, that's fine too.

I've still not had a chance to work with the trunk PHP server, but based (again) on the lack of bug reports, if you're satisfied that it's stable, go ahead and release it.

Derrell

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[Stefan Volbers]

...which reminded me of my promise some month ago that I would test the
PHP4 backend and report my experiences...

So hi there, I just got trunk and packed it onto my PHP4 test server
(W2K with PHP4.4.8), this is what came out (used FF3.5.4 with firebug):


1. The first rpc threw:
{  error:  {    "origin":1,    "code":-1,    "message":"Fatal PHP Error:
   Call to undefined function: json_decode() in
C:\\Inetpub\\wwwroot\\rpctestproj\\rpc\\services\\server\\lib\\JsonWrapper.php
on line 63 "}}

I was able to fix this by changing line 19 in JsonWrapper.php to
   function JsonWrapper()
so that the method becomes a PHP4 constructor, thus $this->_json gets
created.

2. After the json issue got fixed, next issue was:
{"error":{"origin":2,"code":2,"message":"Service `rpctestproj.testclass`
not found."},"id":1}

This got me stuck; needless to say, the service is there (testclass.php
in rpctestproj directory, within the rpc/services dir); I left the
directory structure untouched for this test, so I wonder if I forgot
some step? Is there some additional configuration necessary for the new
server?

Christian, I would appreciate if you could help me get started with
RpcPHP trunk (the only version I tested before was Derrell's server,
which I use a lot, sometimes in the php4-hacked version).

Apart from that, I think service introspection is a great idea, will
make bigger projects way easier, esp. when frontend and backend are
developed independently.

Greetings,
Stefan


Derrell Lipman wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 05:05, panyasan <info@...
> <mailto:info@...>> wrote:
>
>
>     Hello,
>
>     I just committed a change to the RpcPhp server trunk that allows service
>     introspection
>
> ...
>
>     I would like to propose that the other backends implement this simple
>     introspection as well. Of course, I am open to changes to the
>     introspection
>     API in order to achieve interoperability.
>
>
> Chrisitan, this looks really nice. Based on the very few issues that
> have been raised regarding the PHP trunk server, I believe that it is
> getting to the point of being pretty stable (or maybe it's just that few
> are using it?), so I'm not going to enhance the 1.0.x server with this
> functionality unless you are less certain about the stability of trunk.

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[panyasan]

Hi Stefan,

thanks for taking time to test the trunk.


Stefan Volbers wrote:

>
>
> ...which reminded me of my promise some month ago that I would test the
> PHP4 backend and report my experiences...
>
> So hi there, I just got trunk and packed it onto my PHP4 test server
> (W2K with PHP4.4.8), this is what came out (used FF3.5.4 with firebug):
>
> 1. The first rpc threw:
> {  error:  {    "origin":1,    "code":-1,    "message":"Fatal PHP Error:
>    Call to undefined function: json_decode() in
> C:\\Inetpub\\wwwroot\\rpctestproj\\rpc\\services\\server\\lib\\JsonWrapper.php
> on line 63 "}}
>
> I was able to fix this by changing line 19 in JsonWrapper.php to
>    function JsonWrapper()
> so that the method becomes a PHP4 constructor, thus $this->_json gets
> created.
>

Thanks, this was indeed a bug, fixed in rev. 19458


Stefan Volbers wrote:

>
>
> 2. After the json issue got fixed, next issue was:
> {"error":{"origin":2,"code":2,"message":"Service `rpctestproj.testclass`
> not found."},"id":1}
>
> This got me stuck; needless to say, the service is there (testclass.php
> in rpctestproj directory, within the rpc/services dir); I left the
> directory structure untouched for this test, so I wonder if I forgot
> some step? Is there some additional configuration necessary for the new
> server?
>

In the trunk version, the service classes go into the "class" directory, so
that they are cleanly separated from the services. You can also specify a
different location with the "servicePathPrefix" constant in the
global_settings.php file. So if your namespace is on the services folder,
setting it to "" should do the trick (untested).

/*
 * if the service classes are not in the class/ folder,
 * customize the service path prefix here (trailing slash required)
 */
define( "servicePathPrefix", "/your/custom/location/" );

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[Stefan Volbers]

Hi Christian,

thanks for your answer. Actually moving the folder of the rpc class into
the "class" directory did it, while the empty servicePathPrefix config
var didn't (and yes, I did remove the comment slashes...;-)

So regarding this quick test, I got the backend running. Haven't yet had
time to test the new introspection feature though.

Seems like we both were the only sad ones who still have to support php4
server systems.. in my case, I'm happy at least one of my customers'
servers will probably soon be updated to php5; having a stable backend
which is able to serve php4 AND php5 is invaluable in my case.

Thanks again for your workings on the php backend,

greetings,
Stefan

panyasan wrote:

> Hi Stefan,
>
> thanks for taking time to test the trunk.
>
>
> Stefan Volbers wrote:
>>
>> ...which reminded me of my promise some month ago that I would test the
>> PHP4 backend and report my experiences...
>>
>> So hi there, I just got trunk and packed it onto my PHP4 test server
>> (W2K with PHP4.4.8), this is what came out (used FF3.5.4 with firebug):
>>
>> 1. The first rpc threw:
>> {  error:  {    "origin":1,    "code":-1,    "message":"Fatal PHP Error:
>>    Call to undefined function: json_decode() in
>> C:\\Inetpub\\wwwroot\\rpctestproj\\rpc\\services\\server\\lib\\JsonWrapper.php
>> on line 63 "}}
>>
>> I was able to fix this by changing line 19 in JsonWrapper.php to
>>    function JsonWrapper()
>> so that the method becomes a PHP4 constructor, thus $this->_json gets
>> created.
>>
>
> Thanks, this was indeed a bug, fixed in rev. 19458
>
>
> Stefan Volbers wrote:
>>
>> 2. After the json issue got fixed, next issue was:
>> {"error":{"origin":2,"code":2,"message":"Service `rpctestproj.testclass`
>> not found."},"id":1}
>>
>> This got me stuck; needless to say, the service is there (testclass.php
>> in rpctestproj directory, within the rpc/services dir); I left the
>> directory structure untouched for this test, so I wonder if I forgot
>> some step? Is there some additional configuration necessary for the new
>> server?
>>
>
> In the trunk version, the service classes go into the "class" directory, so
> that they are cleanly separated from the services. You can also specify a
> different location with the "servicePathPrefix" constant in the
> global_settings.php file. So if your namespace is on the services folder,
> setting it to "" should do the trick (untested).
>
> /*
>  * if the service classes are not in the class/ folder,
>  * customize the service path prefix here (trailing slash required)
>  */
> define( "servicePathPrefix", "/your/custom/location/" );
>

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