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307 lines
9.0 KiB
HTML
307 lines
9.0 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>XML-RPC Message Builder</title>
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<style type="text/css">
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.code {
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font-family:courier,monospace;
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font-size:12px;
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}
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body,td {
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font-family: verdana;
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font-size:12px;
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}
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h2 {
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border-bottom:1px solid #c0c0c0;
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}
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</style>
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</head>
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<body>
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<p><a href="http://www.scottandrew.com">s c o t t a n d r e w . c o m</a></p>
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<p><i>Last updated: 08/20/2001</i></p>
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<h2>What is this?</h2>
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<p>It's an XML-RPC message builder, written in JavaScript. It takes JavaScript data objects and converts them into an XML-RPC message.</p>
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<p>There are actually two components available here. One is the message builder, the other a PHP gateway called <strong>xmlrpc-socket</strong> that forwards XML-RPC requests to remote servers over the Internet. Together they turn your browser into an XML-RPC client.</p>
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<p>You can see a live demo of it <a href="test-rs.html">here</a>.</p>
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<p>Download the library <a href="#rpc-download">here</a>.</p>
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<p>You can read more about the XML-RPC specification <a href="http://www.xmlrpc.com">here</a>.</p>
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<p><a href="mailto:xmlrpc@scottandrew.com">Comments?</a></p>
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<p>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#rpc-create">Creating an XML-RPC Message</a></li>
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<ol type="A">
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<li><a href="#rpc-methods">Object Methods</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rpc-dtypes">Supported Data Types</a></li>
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</ol>
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<li><a href="#rpc-sample">A Sample XML-RPC Message</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rpc-use">Making the Procedure Call</a></li>
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<ol type="A">
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<li><a href="#rpc-socket">Using xmlrpc-socket</a></li>
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</ol>
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<li><a href="#rpc-download">Download</a></li>
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</ol>
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</p>
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<a name="rpc-create"></a>
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<h2>Creating an XML-RPC Message</h2>
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<p>First, create a new instance of the XMLRPCMessage object. The syntax is:</p>
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<p><code>var msg = new XMLRPCMessage([string methodName]);</code></p>
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<p><code>methodName</code> is the name of the method you wish to call on the remote server. This parameter is optional. If left out, the default requested method is <code>system.listMethods</code></p>
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<a name="rpc-methods"></a>
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<h3>Object Methods</h3>
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<p>The XMLRPCMessage object has three methods:</p>
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<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" border="1" width="600">
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<tr>
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<td class="code" valign="top">void addParameter(object variant)</td>
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<td valign="top">Accepts a JavaScript data type and adds a matching XML-RPC data type to the message</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td class="code" valign="top">void setMethod(string methodName)</td>
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<td valign="top">Declares the XML-RPC method you wish to call on the remote server. You only need to use this if you haven't specified a method name when creating the XMLRPCMessage object.</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td class="code" valign="top">string xml()</td>
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<td valign="top">Returns a string of XML containing the message contents.</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<h3>Supported Data Types</h3>
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<a name="rpc-dtypes"></a>
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<p>The XMLRPCMessage object is designed to take any JavaScript data type and convert it into the proper XML-RPC data type. Simply pass the JS data thingy to the <code>addParameter</code> method and it will be converted to the proper format and value.</p>
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<p>The following data types are supported:</p>
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<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6" border="1" width="600">
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<tr>
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<th>JavaScript Data Type</th>
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<th>Example</th>
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<th>XML-RPC equivalent</th>
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<th>Notes</th>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Boolean</td>
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<td>true</td>
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<td><xmp><boolean>1</boolean></xmp></td>
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<td> </td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>four-byte signed integer</td>
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<td>7</td>
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<td><xmp><i4>7</i4></xmp></td>
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<td> </td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>double-precision signed floating point number</td>
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<td>-3.14</td>
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<td><xmp><double>-3.14</double></xmp></td>
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<td>The script automagically determines whether a number is an integer or double.</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>string</td>
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<td><xmp>"scottandrew"</xmp></td>
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<td>
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<xmp>
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<string>
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scottandrew
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</string>
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</xmp></td>
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<td> </td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>Date object</td>
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<td><xmp>d = new Date();</xmp></td>
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<td>
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<xmp>
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<dateTime.iso8601>
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20010716T18:16:18
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</dateTime.iso8601>
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</xmp></td>
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<td>Date objects are automatically converted into the ISO8601 format. You cannot pass date strings here; those will remain strings. Instead create a new Date object and use that.</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>array</td>
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<td>
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<xmp>
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a = [
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"one",
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"two",
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"three"
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];</xmp></td>
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<td>
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<xmp>
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<array>
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<data>
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<value>
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<string>one</string>
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</value>
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<value>
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<string>two</string>
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</value>
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<value>
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<string>three</string>
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</value>
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</data>
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</array>
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</xmp></td>
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<td rowspan="2">You don't have to worry if an Array or Object has a variety of data types as members; the script identifies the data type of each member and includes it in the message.<br /><br />Both arrays and structs can contain other arrays and structs as members, so it's possible to take a complex Object and describe it in XML by passing it to addParameter (this recursive feature is still being tested, though).</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td>object</td>
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<td>
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<xmp>
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obj = new Object();
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obj.a = "hello";
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obj.b = 7.22;
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obj.c = 100;
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</xmp></td>
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<td>
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<xmp>
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<struct>
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<member>
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<name>a</name>
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<value>
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<string>hello</string>
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</value>
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</member>
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<member>
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<name>b</name>
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<value>
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<double>7.22</double>
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</value>
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</member>
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<member>
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<name>c</name>
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<value>
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<i4>100</i4>
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</value>
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</member>
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</struct>
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</xmp></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<p>This library does not currently support the base64 data type.</p>
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<a name="rpc-sample"></a>
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<h2>A Sample Message</h2>
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<p>Here is an example of using the XMLRPCMessage object to create a message:</p>
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<p><pre>
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var a = ["chicken","duck","goose"];
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var obj = new Object();
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obj.x = 20;
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obj.y = "cow";
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obj.z = 3.14;
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var date = new Date();
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var msg = new XMLRPCMessage("system.myMethod");
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msg.addParameter("mississippi");
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msg.addParameter(7);
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msg.addParameter(false);
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msg.addParameter(a);
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msg.addParameter(obj);
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msg.addParameter(date);
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</pre>
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</p>
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<p>This will create the following XML-RPC message:</p>
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<p>
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<xmp>
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<?xml version="1.0"?>
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<methodCall>
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<methodName>system.myMethod</methodName>
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<params>
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<param>
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<value><string>mississippi</string></value>
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</param>
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<param>
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<value><i4>7</i4></value>
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</param>
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<param>
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<value><boolean>0</boolean></value>
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</param>
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<param>
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<value>
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<array><data>
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<value><string>chicken</string></value>
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<value><string>duck</string></value>
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<value><string>goose</string></value>
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</data></array>
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</value>
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</param>
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<param>
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<value>
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<struct>
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<member>
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<name>x</name>
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<value><i4>20</i4></value>
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</member>
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<member>
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<name>y</name>
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<value><string>cow</string></value>
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</member>
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<member>
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<name>z</name>
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<value><double>3.14</double></value>
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</member>
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</struct>
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</value>
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</param>
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<param>
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<value><dateTime.iso8601>20010720T14:48:10</dateTime.iso8601></value>
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</param>
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</params>
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</methodCall>
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</xmp>
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</p>
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<a name="rpc-use"></a>
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<h2>Making The Procedure Call</h2>
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<p>Now that you have the XML message, you need to post it to an RPC server. There are a number of ways to do this. The xmlrpc-socket PHP script allows you to post a message to a remote server and return the response as a JavaScript string to the browser.</p>
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<p>Depending upon your implementation, you may need to remove line breaks from, escape or otherwise encode the content of the message before posting it.</p>
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<p>The response is also XML-formatted. Once you receive the response string, you can parse it or load it into a DOM object to walk through its elements.</p>
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<a name="rpc-socket"></a>
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<h3>Using xmlrpc-socket</h3>
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<p>xmlrpc-socket utilizes Brent Ashley's <a href="http://www.ashleyit.com/rs">JavaScript Remote Scripting</a> library to facilitate communication between the browser and the PHP script, and a modified version of Alan van den Bosch's HTTP Post utility to create the POST request from your server to a remote XML-RPC server via PHP.</p>
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<p>You can see it in action <a href="test-rs.html">here</a>.</p>
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<p>Because xmlrpc-socket serves as a proxy between your browser and the remote RPC server, it helps sidestep JavaScript security in the browser and allow the response to be returned as a JavaScript string. What you decide to do with this string depends on your web application. xmlrpc-socket strips the header information, leaving only the XML response.</p>
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<a name="rpc-download"></a>
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<h2>Download</h2>
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<p>The download is avaliable as a <a href="xml-rpc.zip">ZIP file</a> (9K) which contains:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>index.html - this about page.</li>
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<li>xmlrpc.js - the XML-RPC message builder script</li>
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<li>xmlrpc-socket.php - the PHP proxy</li>
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<li>http_post.util - the modifed version of http_post needed by xmlrpc-socket.</li>
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<li>all three demo pages</li>
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</ul>
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<p>You'll also need to grab a copy of the JavaScript Remote Scripting library from <a href="http://www.ashleyit.com/rs">http://www.ashleyit.com/rs</a></p>
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<p><a href="mailto:xmlrpc@scottandrew.com">Comments?</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.scottandrew.com">s c o t t a n d r e w . c o m</a></p>
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</body>
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</html>
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