Rails - Feb 2006 - Newbie Question: I want to open a socket on another server

Help!
I need someone to get me in the right ballpark.  I''ve been going around
in circles for the last 24 hours.

I want to open a TCPsocket on another server and eventually send and 
receive XML which is what the other servers speaks.

I have both "Agile Web...with Ruby" and "Programming Ruby"
but can find
no examples.  I''ve poured over the forum list, too.

I''ve played with examples such as:
<!--    Section that displays search box example -->
        <label for="search">Search term:</label>
        <%= text_field_tag :search %>
        <%= observe_field(  :search,
                            :frequency  => 0.5,
                            :update     => :results,
                            :url        => { :action => :search }) %>
        <div id="results"></div>
and I have changed this and that parameter and I know how and where to 
put the elements to WRITE some HTML, but I''m still clueless about 
getting some real work done, i.e., opening a socket, sending XML, 
receiving XML, sending, receiving, etc.  Then I can write.

I suspect I have to use these statements, but I''m lost regarding
whether
they go in views, models, layouts   are they actions, or modules or 
helpers

require "socket"
STDOUT.flush
s = TCPSocket.open("nnn.nnn.nnn.n", 9000)

Just a little guidance or pointing me to an example and I bet I can work 
it out.

Basically, I need to:
1. When a button is pushed [link_to_remote?? ]
2.  Open a socket to another server (eventually I guess I''ll do this 
once ahead of time) Hmmm...I will do it ahead of time now (but where 
does the code go (this is really my major stumbling block)?  Does it go 
in my index (but that''s all HTML, is it a helper that is called at the 
beginning of index?)

3.  Send XML command that other server understands

4.  Listen for response

5.  Unwrap the response and print data on page

6.  Once I have this figured out, I will substitute file contents for 
the returned data, but just getting the data will be a real victory.

Thanks...again, I don''t expect anyone to write my code, just help me 
with a map of how one creates actions that are not HTML builders.

Dave


-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

David-

	I do something similar on one of my sites. I actually use standard  
http to fetch data from remote servers on the backend though, but you  
could easily use sockets instead. You should make a model class that  
doesn''t inherit from ActiveRecord and put the socket connection code  
in there. For example:

class SockServ

   def self.transact(xml)
       # open a socket here and send the data in the xml var
       # read from the socket the response and use it as the return  
value for this method
   end

end

	Then you can use this just like any other model. So say you have  
some xml to send to your socket server in params[:xml]. You can use  
it in your controller like so:

def some_action
    @response = SockServ.transact(params[:xml])
end


	And thats all there is to it. You can just use it like any other  
data model by abstracting away the socket connection stuff. The key  
is to write your methods in the SockServ model with the self prefix  
so you can call them with SockServ.my_method syntax.


Cheers-
-Ezra


On Feb 14, 2006, at 4:52 PM, David T-L wrote:
> Help!
> I need someone to get me in the right ballpark.  I''ve been going  
> around
> in circles for the last 24 hours.
>
> I want to open a TCPsocket on another server and eventually send and
> receive XML which is what the other servers speaks.
>
> I have both "Agile Web...with Ruby" and "Programming
Ruby" but can
> find
> no examples.  I''ve poured over the forum list, too.
>
> I''ve played with examples such as:
> <!--    Section that displays search box example -->
>         <label for="search">Search term:</label>
>         <%= text_field_tag :search %>
>         <%= observe_field(  :search,
>                             :frequency  => 0.5,
>                             :update     => :results,
>                             :url        => { :action => :search })
%>
>         <div id="results"></div>
> and I have changed this and that parameter and I know how and where to
> put the elements to WRITE some HTML, but I''m still clueless about
> getting some real work done, i.e., opening a socket, sending XML,
> receiving XML, sending, receiving, etc.  Then I can write.
>
> I suspect I have to use these statements, but I''m lost regarding  
> whether
> they go in views, models, layouts   are they actions, or modules or
> helpers
>
> require "socket"
> STDOUT.flush
> s = TCPSocket.open("nnn.nnn.nnn.n", 9000)
>
> Just a little guidance or pointing me to an example and I bet I can  
> work
> it out.
>
> Basically, I need to:
> 1. When a button is pushed [link_to_remote?? ]
> 2.  Open a socket to another server (eventually I guess I''ll do
this
> once ahead of time) Hmmm...I will do it ahead of time now (but where
> does the code go (this is really my major stumbling block)?  Does  
> it go
> in my index (but that''s all HTML, is it a helper that is called at
the
> beginning of index?)
>
> 3.  Send XML command that other server understands
>
> 4.  Listen for response
>
> 5.  Unwrap the response and print data on page
>
> 6.  Once I have this figured out, I will substitute file contents for
> the returned data, but just getting the data will be a real victory.
>
> Thanks...again, I don''t expect anyone to write my code, just help
me
> with a map of how one creates actions that are not HTML builders.
>
> Dave
>
>
> -- 
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
-Ezra Zygmuntowicz
WebMaster
Yakima Herald-Republic Newspaper
ezra@yakima-herald.com
509-577-7732