JSONRPC over TCP/IP

mouser58907 · 2012-04-28 20:01

I'm working on implementing a JSON RPC connection over TCP/IP in C# and I have one fundamental issue. Currently I'm using a synchronous approach, which works well.

I can send

Code:

{"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"Input.Home"}

and receive

Code:

{"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":true}

This works with no problems. The issue arises when I receive notifications. These can arrive unpredictably and at any time. If a notification has been sent by XBMC, I receive multiple JSON requests at once. E.g.

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"GUI.OnScreensaverActivated","params":{"data":null,"sender":"xbmc"}}{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"GUI.OnScreensaverDeactivated","params":{"data":null,"sender":"xbmc"}}

This causes a crash in JSON.NET, and understandably so. My first instinct is I need to asynchronously receive these notifications so that I don't have to wait until the next method is called to receive them. However this complicates the simple example I showed above because I can no longer utilize the synchronous calls. i.e.

Code:

SendJson(json);

result = ReceiveJson();

Is there a clean way to implement this without over complicating it? Any/All advice is appreciated.

**Montellese** · 2012-04-28 20:24

I wrote a C# based JSON-RPC library a year or so ago and it was completely asynchronous over TCP and I didn't find it really complicating at all. If you don't want notifications you could use HTTP as a protocol. There you send a request and receive a response for that request.

mouser58907 · 2012-04-28 20:32

Thanks Montellese, I saw your open source code based on HTTP. Would I need something along the lines of this for asynchronous?

Code:

public void Play()

{

    SendJson(PLAY_ID, Player.PlayPause(), activePlayer.id)

}

private void PlayResponse(JObject JSON)

{

    //Handle response here

}

mouser58907 · 2012-05-03 17:47

Well, I switched to HTTP for now. I'd still like to implement a TCP based connection. If you'd be able to show me some of your code it would help out a lot. I think I have a pretty good idea of how to implement it, but I'd like to do it right the first time.My code will be open-source.

**Montellese** · 2012-05-03 18:07

See https://github.com/Montellese/xbmc-jsonrpc-sharp but the API itself is very outdated but as that's not what you are interested in, feel free to take a look at the implementation of XbmcJsonRpcConnection.

mouser58907 · 2012-05-04 01:27

Thanks, Montellese. That is very helpful. I hadn't considered using HTTP for function calls and TCP for Notifications.

willsmannar · 2012-09-09 21:01

It is better go through TCP/IP basic socket communication http://vb.net-informations.com/communica...amming.htm hope this will help you in basic level.

wills.

mouser58907 Junior Member Posts: 6 Joined: Apr 2012 Reputation: 0	2012-04-28 20:32 Post: #3 Thanks Montellese, I saw your open source code based on HTTP. Would I need something along the lines of this for asynchronous? Code: `public void Play() { SendJson(PLAY_ID, Player.PlayPause(), activePlayer.id) } private void PlayResponse(JObject JSON) { //Handle response here }`
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mouser58907 Junior Member Posts: 6 Joined: Apr 2012 Reputation: 0	2012-05-03 17:47 Post: #4 Well, I switched to HTTP for now. I'd still like to implement a TCP based connection. If you'd be able to show me some of your code it would help out a lot. I think I have a pretty good idea of how to implement it, but I'd like to do it right the first time.My code will be open-source.
	find quote

mouser58907 Junior Member Posts: 6 Joined: Apr 2012 Reputation: 0	2012-05-04 01:27 Post: #6 Thanks, Montellese. That is very helpful. I hadn't considered using HTTP for function calls and TCP for Notifications.
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willsmannar Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: Sep 2012 Reputation: 0	2012-09-09 21:01 Post: #7 It is better go through TCP/IP basic socket communication http://vb.net-informations.com/communica...amming.htm hope this will help you in basic level. wills.
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