A client (rather a developer) want me to develop a tool, where he could call
that from his C# app.
Can he call an Xbase++ EXE file or an xBase ++ DLL (am sure this isnt
possible)...

Which could be the best way to go about it ?

Anand

Hello Anand,

have a look at the Aerver Demo that can be downloaded at
 www.comparcomputer.com/download.

Kind regards,

Michael.

Anand,

> A client (rather a developer) want me to develop a tool, where he could call
> that from his C# app.
> Can he call an Xbase++ EXE file or an xBase ++ DLL (am sure this isnt
> possible)...
> 
> Which could be the best way to go about it ?

It depends on what you want to happen.

You could set an Xbase++ app running somewhere (possibly as a service), and
the client application can connect to it via tcp/ip or SOAP, and pass a
request to perform an action on some data.

A SOAP server is designed specifically with this in mind, and C# can handle
SOAP messages, so that sounds like an ideal mix.  The SOAP server can then
pass it's results back to the client application as the SOAP response
message.

The easiest way to setup a SOAP server is using Boris' Xb2.NET library.

If you don't want to use SOAP, you can create an application which listens
on a port for a connection and retrieves data somewhat similar to the way
dbfServer does it:

Incoming data packet structure:
    Len (N)   - Length of rest of data packet
    FName (C) - Name of function to call (fixed length right padded e.g.
                25 chars)
    PCount (N)- number of parameters
    PBlock    - one block per parameter

PBlock structure:
    Type (C)  - 1 byte stating type of parameter (LONG,CHAR etc.)
    Len  (N)  - length of parameter data
    data (X)  - parameter data

Note that vars of type (N) are LONG numerics converted to binary format
(that's not base2) using L2Bin().

Using this method, you can pass in an indefinite number of parameters.

Using SOAP would bemuch easier 

Regards

Phil Ide

***************************************
* Xbase++ FAQ, Libraries and Sources: *
* goto: http://www.idep.org.uk/xbase  *
***************************************

Ultimate oxymoron: "Cash Surplus"

Hi Phil

Thanks much for this reply. Will try to convince the client both ways.
However, the problem is that the client is running his webapp on a Linux
Box. Am yet to speak to client (waiting for US to wake up 

All they wrote that they want a C# class to interface with a Client (written
in Xbase) developed by us, which is interfaced (majorly thru LoadFromUrl())
to a Server side application (written in FlagShip, as their webserver was a
Linux one)....

Lets hope I manage to convince them to set up a Windows server. Atleast I
would be able to take handson with SOAP, finalllllly 

But still, (as am completely unaware on how a .NET program work), can a .NET
program call an usual binary (.EXE file, typically an xbase++ exe file?)

Anand

"Phil Ide" <phil@idep.org.uk> wrote in message
news:17ayavyjlb14b$.dlg@idep.org.uk...
> Anand,
>
> > A client (rather a developer) want me to develop a tool, where he could
call
> > that from his C# app.
> > Can he call an Xbase++ EXE file or an xBase ++ DLL (am sure this isnt
> > possible)...
> >
> > Which could be the best way to go about it ?
>
> It depends on what you want to happen.
>
> You could set an Xbase++ app running somewhere (possibly as a service),
and
> the client application can connect to it via tcp/ip or SOAP, and pass a
> request to perform an action on some data.
>
> A SOAP server is designed specifically with this in mind, and C# can
handle
> SOAP messages, so that sounds like an ideal mix.  The SOAP server can then
> pass it's results back to the client application as the SOAP response
> message.
<snip>

"Anand Gupta" <ag@coralindia.com> wrote in news:3fc360e5@asgcom.alaska-
software.com:

> Thanks much for this reply. Will try to convince the client both ways.
> However, the problem is that the client is running his webapp on a Linux
> Box.

It makes no difference where your client is running his webapp or the C# 
app. The only thing that is important is for the C# app to be able to 
connect to your Xbase++ SOAP app using TCP/IP. 

In this particular case, I don't think there is any need for your client to 
convert his webapp to Xbase++. You can just write a new Xbase++ app that 
exposes the required functions through SOAP.

Best regards,
Boris Borzic

http://www.Xb2.NET
http://www.SQLExpress.net
industrial strength Xbase++ development tools

THanks Boris for replying. I was little skeptical earlier, but now pretty
clear. Will be submitting a proposal to the client today. I hope it gets
thru.

Thanks once again.

Anand

"Boris Borzic" <boris@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Xns943E67F6A9D51SQLExpress@195.125.199.77...
> "Anand Gupta" <ag@coralindia.com> wrote in news:3fc360e5@asgcom.alaska-
> software.com:
>
> > Thanks much for this reply. Will try to convince the client both ways.
> > However, the problem is that the client is running his webapp on a Linux
> > Box.
>
> It makes no difference where your client is running his webapp or the C#
> app. The only thing that is important is for the C# app to be able to
> connect to your Xbase++ SOAP app using TCP/IP.
<snip>

Anand,

> But still, (as am completely unaware on how a .NET program work), can a .NET
> program call an usual binary (.EXE file, typically an xbase++ exe file?)

There is a slight confusion here.  Xb2.NET is definitely NOT a .NET library
- it is a NETworking library.  From the docs:

xbSocket
  Complete object-oriented sockets library that provides a
  protocol-independent
  base for developing virtually any kind of communications software.

xbServer   (derived from: xbSocket, Thread)
  A generic protocol-independent server that can be easily configured for a
  variety of Telnet applications.
  
xbHTTPServer   (derived from: xbServer) 
  A powerful object-oriented HTTP 1.1 web and SOAP server that is build
  right into your Xbase++ application. No need to configure and manage
  complex 3P web servers, gateways and CGI scripts. Your Xbase++ program is
  the server!

xbSocketThread   (derived from: xbSocket, Thread) 
  This is the client thread that is spawned by xbServer when a connection
  with a peer is accepted. This "worker" thread will handle the request and
  send a response back to the connected client.

xbHTTPThread   (derived from: xbSocket, Thread) 
  This is the client thread that is spawned by xbHTTPServer when a 
  connection is accepted from a user agent (a browser). This "worker"
  thread is responsible for handling the client request and generating an
  appropriate xbHTTPResponse that will be sent back to the client.

xbHTTPMessage
  An abstract class for composing and parsing HTTP messages.

xbHTTPRequest   (derived from: xbHTTPMessage, xbURI)
  Client side: Compose HTTP request and send to HTTP server.
  Server side: Parse HTTP request received from client.

xbHTTPResponse   (derived from: xbHTTPMessage)
  Client side: Parse HTTP response received from server.
  Server side: Compose HTTP response and send to client.

xbSession
  HTTP by nature is stateless and in itself provides limited session
  management capability. This class simplifies session management and 
  provides the ability of saving persistent data across multiple HTTP
  requests. Sessions are automatically managed by the xbHTTPServer class.

xbURI
  Create, parse, encode and decode RFC compliant URI and URL strings.

xbFORM
  This class represents a url-encoded form. The form typically contains
  data expressed as "name=value" pairs, encoded for safe transport over the
  net. This class allows you to parse an existing form as well as create a
  brand new form.

xbSOAPEnvelope
  This class provides the code necessary to generate and parse SOAP
  messages. SOAP is a remote procedure calling protocol that encodes
  requests and responses in XML format. Using SOAP a client can execute
  methods or functions on a server and receive an XML response containing
  the return values.

	

Phil Ide

***************************************
* Xbase++ FAQ, Libraries and Sources: *
* goto: http://www.idep.org.uk/xbase  *
***************************************

Dumb terminal, eh? Well, kiss my parallel port!

Hi Phil

"Phil Ide" <phil@idep.org.uk> wrote in message
news:9mi9q9dkq6ty$.dlg@idep.org.uk...
> Anand,
>
> > But still, (as am completely unaware on how a .NET program work), can a
.NET
> > program call an usual binary (.EXE file, typically an xbase++ exe file?)
>
> There is a slight confusion here.  Xb2.NET is definitely NOT a .NET
library
> - it is a NETworking library.  From the docs:
Hehehe good clarification. I always had this assumption. Got it clarified
yesterday only, after reading XXP's minutes/doc file (posted on another NG
yday...having your Pic as-well )

Anand

>
> xbSocket
>   Complete object-oriented sockets library that provides a
>   protocol-independent
<snip>

Anand,

> yesterday only, after reading XXP's minutes/doc file (posted on another NG
> yday...having your Pic as-well )

Yeah, sorry about that, but that's the way I look.

Regards,

Phil Ide

***************************************
* Xbase++ FAQ, Libraries and Sources: *
* goto: http://www.idep.org.uk/xbase  *
***************************************

ERROR LPT1 not found.. use backup - PENCIL & PAPER

Hey didnt meant that way. Am sorry if I sounded otherwise.

Anand

"Phil Ide" <phil@idep.org.uk> wrote in message
news:1qswksqor4oix.dlg@idep.org.uk...
> Anand,
>
> > yesterday only, after reading XXP's minutes/doc file (posted on another
NG
> > yday...having your Pic as-well )
>
> Yeah, sorry about that, but that's the way I look.
>
> Regards,

Anand,

>> Yeah, sorry about that, but that's the way I look.
>>
> Hey didnt meant that way. Am sorry if I sounded otherwise.

Naa, it was me that was kidding 

Regards,

Phil Ide

***************************************
* Xbase++ FAQ, Libraries and Sources: *
* goto: http://www.idep.org.uk/xbase  *
***************************************

What's all this about hell fire and dalmations?