The simppl/dbus C++ library provides a high-level abstraction layer for DBus messaging by using solely the C++ language and compiler for the definition of remote interfaces. No extra tools are necessary to generate the binding glue code.
Setup
For building the library and tests from source code you need cmake and gtest. I use cmake 2.8 and gtest-1.7. You may need some changes in the setup for environment variables in the contributed script file update.sh. Development libraries of libdbus-1 are also needed for a successful build.
Compilers
I only developed on GCC >=4.9. The code uses features of upto C++14 and g++ specific demangling functions for class symbols. Therefore, I do not expect the code to work on any other compiler family without appropriate code adaptions.
For structure serialization boost::fusion can be used. See benchmark example for more information how to serialize structures when sending remote messages. The boost way is the formal and correct way to serialize structures. The old way of defining serializer_type's typdefs within structures is no longer recommended since that one makes heavy use of C++ language to memory mappings and will definitely not work with complex data types containing virtual functions or containing multiple inheritence.
Status
The library is used in a production project and but it still can be regarded as 'proof of concept'. Interface design may still be under change. Due to the simplicity of the glue layer and the main functionality provided by libdbus I would recommend to give it a try in real projects.
CopyLeft
Feel free to do with the code whatever you want. It's free open-source code.
First steps
DBus uses an XML document for interface definition. This is rather tricky to read and typically source code is generated in order to provide these interfaces in the native programming language of a project. simppl/dbus does provide a binding written entirely in C++ itself. DBus provides many possibilities to map services (interfaces) to busnames and objectpaths. Simppl currently makes some assumptions and therefore looses some generality which is no problem for pure simppl projects but currently may provide trouble with accessing existing services which do not share these simplifications. But let's go on and see how a simppl service is defined. We will recall these facts later.
Defining an interface
Let's start with a simple echo service. See the service description:
namespace test
{
INTERFACE(EchoService)
{
Method<in<std::string>, out<std::string>> echo;
};
} // namespaceRemember, this is pure C++. You see a method named 'echo' taking a string as 'in' argument and a string as 'out' argument. The header file with this definition can be included by the server and by the client. A complete interface definition also needs some hand-written glue code, but it's very simple. The full interface looks like this:
namespace test
{
INTERFACE(EchoService)
{
Method<in<std::string>, out<std::string>> echo;
// constructor
EchoService()
: INIT(echo)
{
}
};
} // namespaceNow the interface is complete C++. You need the implement the constructor to correctly initialize the members. For oneway methods, you just add the keyword oneway to the method definition. oneway, in and out are part of the C++ namespace simppl::dbus.
But, how is the service mapped to dbus? Well, have you seen the namespace definition? Then you can already imagine how the service is mapped, can't you? Services are typically instantiated and each instance will have its own instance name. For now, let's say the instance name was 'myEcho'. With this information provided in the constructor of the service instance, the dbus busname requested will be
test.EchoService.myEcho
The objectpath of the service is build accordingly so the service is provided under
/test/EchoService/myEcho
This mapping is done automatically by simppl, for servers this is currently fix. But clients may connect to any bus/objectpath layout in order to connect any DBus service. This also means that only one interface can be provided by a distinct objectpath, at least other than the properties interface needed for providing service properties. But we will ignore signals and properties for now and continue with our EchoService. Let's instantiate the service server by inheriting our implementation class from simppl's Skeleton:
class MyEcho : simppl::dbus::Skeleton<EchoService>
{
MyEcho(simppl::dbus::Dispatcher& disp)
: simppl::dbus::Skeleton<EchoService>(disp, "myEcho")
{
}
};This service instance did not implement a handler for the echo method yet. But you have seen how the service's instance name is provided. Let's provide an implementation for the echo method:
class MyEcho : simppl::dbus::Skeleton<EchoService>
{
MyEcho(simppl::dbus::Dispatcher& disp)
: simppl::dbus::Skeleton<EchoService>(disp, "myEcho")
{
echo >> [](const std::string& echo_string)
{
std::cout << "Client says '" << echo_string << "'" << std::endl;
};
}
};Now, simppl will receive the echo request, unmarshall the argument and forward the request to the provided lambda function (of course, you may also bind any other function via std::bind). But there is still no response yet. Let's send a response back to the client:
class MyEcho : simppl::dbus::Skeleton<EchoService>
{
MyEcho()
: simppl::dbus::Skeleton<EchoService>("myEcho")
{
echo >> [this](const std::string& echo_string)
{
std::cout << "Client says '" << echo_string << "'" << std::endl;
respond_with(echo(echo_string));
};
}
};That's simppl, isn't it? Setup the eventloop and the server is finished:
int main()
{
simppl::dbus::Dispatcher disp("bus::session");
MyEcho instance(disp);
disp.run();
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}Now it's time to implement a client. Clients are implemented by instantiation of a stub. One can either write blocking clients which is only recommended for simple tools or write a full featured event-driven client. Let's start with a simple blocking client:
int main()
{
simppl::dbus::Dispatcher disp("bus:session");
simppl::dbus::Stub<EchoService> stub(disp, "myEcho");
std::string echoed = stub.echo("Hello world!");
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}That's it. The method call blocks until the response is received and stored in the echoed variable. In case of an error, an exception is thrown. Note that the underlying DBus implementation will block on the fd correlated with the request and therefore a blocking client can never be running on the same connection as the server (ok, that's only a test setup, in real world client and server typically reside in different applications.
But have a look on the message loop driven client. The best way to implement such a client is to derive from the stub base template and delegate the callbacks to member functions. Note that the method is called via the async(...) member function.
class MyEchoClient : simppl::dbus::Stub<EchoService>
{
MyEchoClient(simppl::dbus::Dispatcher& disp)
: simppl::dbus::Stub<EchoService>(disp, "myEcho")
{
connected >> std::bind(&MyEchoClient::handle_connected, this, _1);
}
void handle_connected(simppl::dbus::ConnectionState st)
{
if (st == simppl::dbus::ConnectionState::Connected)
{
echo.async("Hello World!") >> [](const simppl::dbus::Callstate st, const std::string& echo_string)
{
if (st)
{
std::cout << "Server says '" << echo_string << "'" << std::endl;
respond_with(echo(echo_string));
}
else
std::cout << "Got error: " << st.what() << std::endl;
};
}
}
};Event loop driven clients always get callbacks called from the dbus runtime when any event occurs. The initial event for a client is the connected event which will be emitted when the server registers itself on the bus (remember the busname). After being connected, the client may start an asynchronous method like in the example above. The method response callbacks can be any function object fullfilling the response signature, the preferred way nowadays in a C++ lambda. The main program is as simple as in the blocking example:
int main()
{
simppl::dbus::Dispatcher disp("bus:session");
MyEchoClient client(disp);
disp.run();
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}Easy, isn't it? But with simppl/dbus it is also possible to model signals and properties. Moreover, any complex data can be passed between client and server. See the following example:
namespace test
{
struct Data
{
typedef make_serializer<int, std::string, std::vector<std::tuple<int, double>>>::type serializer_type;
int i;
std::string str;
std::vector<std::tuple<int, double>> vec;
};
INTERFACE(ComplexTest)
{
Method<in<Data>, out<int>, out<std::string>> eval;
Signal<std::map<int,int>> sig;
Property<Data> data;
ComplexTest()
: INIT(eval)
, INIT(sig)
, INIT(data)
{
}
};
}The Data structure is any C/C++ struct but must not include virtual functions. For structures with complexer memory layout it is adviced to use boost::fusion to map the struct to a template-iteratable type sequence. For simpler types like above, the make_serializer generates an adequate serializing code for the structure, i.e. the structure can be used as any simple data type:
int main()
{
simppl::dbus::Dispatcher disp("bus:session");
simppl::dbus::Stub<ComplexTest> teststub(disp, "test");
Data d({ 42, "Hallo", ... });
int i_ret;
std::string s_ret;
std::tie(i_ret, s_ret) = teststub.eval(d);
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}Have you noticed how methods with more than one return value are mapped to a tuple out parameter which can be tie'd to the local variables in this blocking call? Isn't that cool?
The signal in the example above is only sensefully usable in an event loop driven client. There is a slight difference between the properties concepts of simppl and dbus for now: the changed notification will not be part of the Properties interface so only get and set may currently be used to access properties of non-simppl services. But this is nothing that cannot be changed in future. See how a client will typically register for update notifications in order to receive changes on the properties on server side. See the clients connected callback:
class MyComplexClient : simppl::dbus::Stub<ComplexTest>
{
MyComplexClient(simppl::dbus::Dispatcher& disp)
: simppl::dbus::Stub<ComplexTest>(disp, "test")
{
connected >> [this](simppl::dbus::ConnectionState st)
{
if (st == simppl::dbus::ConnectionState::Connected)
{
sig.attach() >> [](const std::map<int,int>& m)
{
...
};
data.attach() >> [](const Data& d)
{
// first callback is due to the attach!
...
};
}
else
{
sig.detach();
data.detach();
}
};
}
};Properties on server side can be either implemented by providing a callback function to be called whenever the property is requested by a client or the property value can be stored within the server instance. Therefore, you have to decide and initialize the property within the server's constructor. Let's see the difference:
class MyComplexServer : simppl::dbus::Skeleton<ComplexTest>
{
MyComplexServer(simppl::dbus::Dispatcher& disp)
: simppl::dbus::Skeleton<ComplexTest>(disp, "test")
{
// either using the callback version...
data.on_read([](){
return Data({ 42, "Hallo", ... });
});
// ... or keep a copy in the server instance
data = Data({ 42, "Hallo", ... });
}
};The notification of property changes is either done by calling the properties notify(...) method in case the property is initialized for callback access or by just assigning a new value to the stored property instance. The version of property access to be used in your server is completely transparent for the client and depends on your use-case.
Simppl properties also support the GetAll interface. See unittest for an example.
User-defined exceptions may also be transferred. This feature is currently restricted to method calls. To define an error you have to use the boost fusion binding:
namespace test
{
class MyError : simppl::dbus::Error
{
public:
// needed for client side code generation
MyError() = default;
// used to throw error on server side
MyError(int rc)
: simppl::dbus::Error("My.Error") // make a DBus appropriate error name
, result(rc)
{
// NOOP
}
int result;
};
} // namespace
BOOST_FUSION_ADAPT_STRUCT(
test::MyError,
(int, result)
)In the interface definition the exception class has to be added:
namespace test
{
INTERFACE(HelloService)
{
Method<in<std::string>, _throw<MyError>> hello;
// constructor
HelloService()
: INIT(hello)
{
}
};
} // namespaceYou may now throw the error in a server's method callback:
class MyHello : simppl::dbus::Skeleton<HelloService>
{
MyHello(simppl::dbus::Dispatcher& disp)
: simppl::dbus::Skeleton<HelloService>(disp, "myHello")
{
hello >> [](const std::string& hello_string)
{
if (hello_string == "idiot")
respond_with(MyError(EINVAL));
respond_with(hello());
};
}
};This was a short introduction to simppl/dbus. I hope you will like developing client/server applications with the means of C++ and without the need of a complex tool chain for glue-code generation.