[Nhproxy-discuss] Re: slashem proxy interface

[J. Ali Harlow]

On 2007-01-25 07:45:43 PM, m m wrote:
> Hi Ali,
>
>   Thanks for that. To give a bit of background, my initial thought  
> was to develop a javascript rougue-like - I have already written a  
> simple worm game and see no reason that it wouldn't work (speed is  
> possibly an issue, but I think it could be overcome). Then I decided  
> 'why reinvent the wheel', and thought about writting a intermediatary  
> between slashem and the browser - the client side script would be  
> limited to simply sending user input and refreshing the parts of the  
> screen needing it via xml messages, the server side doing all the  
> sending and recieving of the messages and piecing it together. After  
> digging around the source I came across the proxy interface, and it  
> looks like the way to go (my initial thought, and a possible fall  
> back, was just to capture and translate the tty output).
>
>  Something like this -
>
>   javascript --- [user input] ---> php --- [user input message] --->  
> slashem ---[window messages] ---> php ---[display updates] --->  
> javascript
>
>   From what you are saying, and from what I have been piecing  
> together from the proxy docs and tests, a further intermediatory  
> might be needed between slashem and php.

If you go for the simple case of a PHP app that uses the nhproxy  
library to do the communication with slashem and the re-encodes the  
requests into XML for the javascript client, then "all" you need is to  
design XML equivalents for the NhExt protocol and implement them.

>   There are quite a few issues that will need addressed, but  
> primarily I'm aiming to get a proof of concept done, to make sure it  
> is technically possible (I see no reason why not atm). Once that is  
> done, the practicalities can be addressed. This is mainly as a  
> learning project for me, so I'm not too worried if it turns out to be  
> unfeasible and needs to be dropped :)
>
>   My first set of steps is to get familar with the proxy code, so my  
> tasks are
>
>   [1] compile slashem with the proxy interface - done
>   [2] run the proxy interface tests - done
>   [3] Write a quick C app to show it working (launch slashem and  
> demonstrate it has recieved and sent a message)
>
>   [3] is the bit I am stuck at at the minute, though I think by  
> hammering away at the test code for the proxy module I may be able to  
> piece it together. However, any suggestions are very welcome :)

First, make sure you're using the development branch of slashem and  
either cvs nhproxy or at the very least version 0.9.

I'll see if I can find some time to write a complete trivial example.  
The existing one in the nhproxy manual is a little _too_ trivial!  
Alternatively, you could look at gtkhack as a rather non-trivial  
example.

Cheers,

Ali.