Hi Scott, On 4/16/07, Scott Woods <scottw@qbik.com> wrote:
Just a bullet-point review of your example of marshalling in case I'm missing something; * a register of return type+parameter list, keyed on small, unique integer, * generate portable image (string) of a call, i.e. "marshall", * call the registered function using one of several available conventions.
Yep, you got it. That's it so far :-) The key is templated so theoretically it could be something other than an int (I used int because that was in the original example by Hans).
In any case, I'd be interested in getting some marshalling into boost because that allows for distributed signal networks that can not only pass signals from one computer to another but also execute RPCs.
That would be inherent, i.e. the ability to execute RPCs is a freebie once distributed signaling is working? I dont mean literally, more that an RPC would be achieved through an exchange of a particular set of signals.
Yeah, what I have right now in the signal network library prototype is a little pair of objects which serve as a trans-socket signal. One of them receives a signal / function call locally, serializes the arguments via Boost.Serialization into a string, and sends the string through an asio socket. On the other end, the other object receives the packet, de-serializes it, and generates an identical signal/function call on that side. Marshalling would work the same way except the packet would also carry the function id/key, and on the other end a function would be called from a function registry. Neither of these mechanisms handle returning of the data from the function call right now, and even if they did I'm sure there's a lot of other marshalling/RPC issues to be considered... not an expert. Stjepan