XmlRpc

Last edit November 21, 2005

RemoteProcedureCalling using the HyperTextTransferProtocol as the transport and the ExtensibleMarkupLanguage as the encoding. XML-RPC is designed to be as simple as possible, while allowing complex data structures to be transmitted, processed and returned.

: -- From http://www.xmlrpc.org

DaveWiner, the creator of the protocol, complained about people that called it XML RPC, and not XML-RPC. Now some people call it XML-TPC.

Contrast with: SimpleObjectAccessProtocol

XML-RPC is somewhat older and more limited than SOAP. Especially the support of datatypes in the XML payloads is stronger in SOAP.

or, to spin it the other way:

XML-RPC is somewhat more solidified and simpler than SOAP. Especially the support of datatypes in the XML payloads is more complicated in SOAP ;)

For more:

http://www.xml.com/pub/1999/10/open/index.html -- A good general read on "XML Inter-Application Protocols".
http://www.oreillynet.com/seek/xml_search -- try the keywords "xml-rpc soap".
http://www.perisic.com/xmlrpc -- some material teaching XML-RPC in a distributed computing lecture; contains also examples on how to use XML-RPC with Java.
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2002/12/18/endpoints.html -- migration from XmlRpc to SimpleObjectAccessProtocol, using "profile" on SOAP. It also discussed a schema for XML-RPC, and pecularities of the protocol (e.g. does not use attributes).

XmlRpc Implementation on Various Platforms

On DotNet, an example is http://www.xml-rpc.net/faq/xmlrpcnetfaq.html
On DistributedInternetArchitecture COM world
- I cannot find examples. Help
In Python, client and server support is included in the standard library:
- Client: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-xmlrpclib.html
- Simple server: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-SimpleXMLRPCServer.html
- Self-documenting server: http://docs.python.org/lib/module-DocXMLRPCServer.html

"XML-RPC was a "pre-release" of SOAP because DaveWiner got tired of waiting for MSFT to allow their folks to sign-off on SOAP" Above sourced from XML RPC http://mail.python.org/pipermail/xml-sig/2003-March/009227.html

Also it was claimed SOAP 1.2 is much worse than SOAP 1.1 due to the TooManyCooksPattern.

As a cook on SOAP/1.1 and barely on 1.2, I can say with some authority that SOAP/1.2 has way fewer errors and ambiguities than 1.1. Moreover, SOAP/1.2 took several of the "dumber" features we put into SOAP/1.1 and annexed them out and/or radically simplified them. --DonBox

Above has been one of WikiVipVisits on 7Jul04, by 65-101-142-22.tukw.qwest.net. This entry made for benefit of QuickDiff users

See also: FormEncodingOverHttp

Yeah, I think XML-RPC is cool. Simpler than SOAP but unfortunately not as popular. I am building a distributed software framework where I plan on selling an "XML Integration" product that includes both SOAP and XML-RPC adapters. In essence, each node runs a lightweight web server that uses a thread pool to serve requests. Multiple forms of internode communication can occur simultaneously. XML-RPC and SOAP are nifty ways to do that. I'm hip on (and agree with) all the points made above. --PhilipEskelin

XML-RPC is cool when you control both sides of the wire and want to do rpc simply and easily. It doesn't support x-language runtime 'discovery' of interfaces and so doesn't have the complex typing baggage required to provide this (compare to soap/xmlschema/wsdl/uddi). - PhilDawes

I like XML-RPC for teaching the basics of distributed computing. The easy learning curve allows a quick creation of simple applications. - Marc Conrad (see the perisic link in the link list)

So, does anyone know of any XmlRpcWikiProtocol project? I mean, you get XmlRpc apis for blogging so why not for wikis? -- MilkMiruku

Yes, kind of. http://www.flyingmeat.com/vpwikispec-0.1.txt has been implemented in TWikiWiki and in a couple of others. There is an updated spec at http://flyingmeat.com/vpwiki_api.html , but I don't know of anyone that has used it (other than VoodooPad itself) (oh, and the .NET client I was playing with for testing :) ) I am mucking around with making a dotNET clone of VoodooPad, and hope that more wiki's support some kind of programatic interface --SvenDowideit
All other major WikiEngines however negotiated more or less on MeatBall:XmlRpcToWiki, which originated in JspWiki.

QuickQuestions

Q Two questions from an IwannaLearnWebServices beginner -- dl

1 - Any net resources and links and forums for persons wanting to do XmlRpc for VbClassic or VbDotNet? 2 - Statement made in XmlRpcVsCobra which implied XmlRpc unsuited for nontext streams. PleaseComment 3 - How is XmlRpc compared to the new Microsoft "RPC over HTTP" which seems to be associated with Exchange?

CategoryXml