Use WebService between Server and Client (2 Viewers)

[richbayliss]

Started on: 2007-01-25
last update: 2007-01-25

Summary:
Instead of using a direct connection to the SQL server for information (EPG etc), why not use a series of remote methods (WebService) to access the functionality.

Description:
By using a webservice to comunicate, there doesnt have to be any configuration of SQL Server. Also, the TVengine can be updated functionality-wise - without requiring a newer TVclient plugin (assuming the same WS methods are intact)

Examples:

1) Start Timeshifting
-- StartTimeshift(Channel); returns stream details

2) Schedule a Recording
-- RecordChannel(Channel,StartTime,EndTime) returns true/false depending on a clash etc

3) Getting the EPG
-- GetEPG() returns a DataSet/XML data etc

Obviously this adds the requirement of IIS to the TVserver - but since we have SQL Server anyway, I don't see this as an issue.

 

[wortelsoft]

XP home doesn't have IIS as an instalable option.
Better sollution would be apache as the mp webinterface is already ussing that.

 

[richbayliss]

Good Point (I hadn't thought of XP Home, since I thought XP Pro was required for the TVengine)

I think there is a way to expose a WebService directly from a .NET application (as opposed to using IIS) which I will look into.

 

[richbayliss]

Having looked into it - I think it would be possible to use Remoting to do this.

This would remove the IIS requirement, which means XP Home is back in the frame.

 

[thechad]

Search for a thread called "New Web Interface"

Some people were looking into hosting ASP.Net in mediaportal but there were some issues. Cassini webserver is an example of hosting a ASP.Net in a .Net application without the need for IIS.

Remoting is already used to control the TVServer, however remoting is an MS only thing that can not be used from clients on other operating systems.

 

[richbayliss]

hmmm, certainly worth a look.

Maybe a simple "telnet" based interface would suit then.

I just think exposing functionality over fixed methods is better than direct SQL server access.

 

[Bagal]

You can host Web Services directly in your app without IIS as long as you use Microsoft's web service enhancements which supports a Soap TCP interface, however the disadvantage is that both client and server both have to use WSE3.
See here for more details.

It's also possible to host the ASP.NET runtime in your app, hook into the HTTP stack and serve requests for a web service or webpages without the need for IIS.
See here for an excellent example.
However having played around with this with a process plugin for media portal there are problems as have been said which I believe is to do with AppDomains and process boundaries, but didn't look into it in any real detail.

 

[chrispi]

What about WCF (former Indigo)? It is included in the .NET Framework 3.0 and is based on Web Services.

I am currently developing a big software system based in Indigo an it works very well.

 

[richbayliss]

I will research into this "Indigo" framework.

It would be nice if we could stay standards complient (hopefully allowing multiplatform clients) but one step at a time hey.

 

[chrispi]

It would be nice if we could stay standards complient (hopefully allowing multiplatform clients) but one step at a time hey.

This should be the case for Indigo/WCF (= Windows Communication Foundation). You can choose between SOAP for compatibility or binary format for speed. This can be configured in the config file. No code changes are required.

Hosting can be done in IIS or in a Executable.

Christoph