Re: [gnome-db] [Fwd: Re: Communications in Projects...]

[Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org>]

On Wed, 2001-12-05 at 21:28, Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
> >>>>I've been a bit from gnome-db development, but, based on my future
> >>>>I'll be keeping both eyes on it, very closely... So, if this honor
> >>>>can be delegated to me, I'd be glad to help.
> >>>Surely, I won't be chopping so many words in the report. ;)
> >>>I meant 'been a bit far from'... and 'based on my future plans
> >I'll'
> >>I'm certainly not qualified to comment on development issues (way over
> >>my head).  But I'm re-doing my "Data Access tools for Linux" presention
> >>(the one linked to from the gnome-db doc page) and after I finish that I 
> >>hope to actually try writting an app using gnome-db.  So I'll offer to help 
> >>in any "documentation" tasks someone want's to throw my way.
> >>I have been pounding the merits of gnome-db on other developement
> >>lists I'm subscribed to.  I really wish there was PHP bindings as that is 
> >>what I spend 4~6 hours a day writting.
> >it would be very nice to have PHP bindings.
> >>Theoretical question:
> >>GDA is a CORBA object, yes?  So I don't really *need* Bonobo to access
> >>a GDA provider,  I could do it directly via CORBA. (?)  Or does GDA need
> >>Bonobo as it is activated by OAF?
> >well, I think you'll need Bonobo bindings, although it might be
> >possible to just use PHP-ORBit (ORBit bindings for Python) to access the 
> >CORBA objects. The only problem on using only ORBit is, as you say, the
> >activation, which will be more problematic than using OAF directly.
> >But I think this is something that can be done perfectly. 
> 
> Here is what I understand -
> 1. gnome-session starts gnome-name-service.  
> 2. gnome-name-service puts its own IOR in a root X property so other
> applications can find it
>
no, those 2 steps are no longer true. They were when GNOME was using
libgnorba, but not anymore. Bonobo/CORBA clients now communicate
directly with oaf

> 3. something (?) starts oafd
> 4. oafd registers itself with gnome-name-service
> 5. application looks up the components they want via gnome-name-service (using
> the IOR in the X property).
> 6. application asks OAF to create component XYZ
> 7. application receives IOR of new component
> 8. subsequent application<->component chatter is via "pure" CORBA (?)
> 
it is:

1. client contacts oaf and asks it to load a component
2. oaf looks for the component
3. oaf returns the loaded component to the client

> If this is correct I'd need to create some way for a gnome-name-server to get
> started without an X session and in the security context of the httpd process.
> 
as I said, it's not correct. You have to talk to OAF, or add tou GDA the
code to save the IOR in some known place so that you can pick it up
from  PHP. But this will make the PHP bindings only work if a GDA
provider is up and running.

> Just wondering if I am near the mark.
> 
> >>If I have XML-RPC/SOAP/CORBA bridging middle-ware,  I should then be
> >>able to access the GDA provider via XML-RPC?  (I'm currently using XML-RPC 
> >>for other stuff).
> >oops, that is a very nice idea. In theory, you should just have a
> >gda-xmlrpc-srv component which listens to a SOAP/XML-RPC port and maps
> >XML requests/responses to GDA CORBA calls.
> >Or, another way would be to have this gda-xmlrpc-srv a client thing
> >and have a SOAP/XML-RPC server respond to the calls (via HTTP+XML) from
> >the gda-xmlrpc-srv.
> >That would be a really nice thing to experiment on. Please keep us
> >informed if you start working on something like this
> 
> I was thinking of it a the other way around.  I have an application (written in
> PHP, but that doesn't really matter), that supports XML-RPC.  I have middle-ware
> that supports XML-RPC, CORBA, etc... protocols,  either in a messaged format or
> a "through" persistant connection.    So if I can get the CORBA object up and
> running, and acquire it's IOR, I hopefully won't have to bother GDA at all as  
> I'm hopeless as a C programmer. (Performance may stink in such an arrangement,
> but this is just an experiment).
> 
yeah, sounds nice also. A SOAP/XML-RPC server that translates the XML to
GDA calls. Maybe you won't need to deal at all with the IOR, since we
could make that server just a plain SOAP/XML-RPC thing, and you, from
PHP, just talk SOAP to it.

cheers
-- 
Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org> - <rodrigo ximian com>
http://www.gnome-db.org/ - http://www.ximian.com/