I wrote an OLE automation server (using Delphi). I usually start the OLE server manually and use it as a normal application. From time to time I start a client, which
automatically connect to the existing OLE Server.
When I terminate the client, the server does not terminate (at least when it was started manually before the client) but it won't accept any other OLE connection. Starting another client will trigger a new server instead of reusing the first one.
How can I reuse the same server with the second client?
(Question edited to reformulate it correctly. In the original version I was asking how to prevent the server from terminating, which wasn't a good formulation)
There is a setting "Instancing" in the COM Object Wizard in Delphi. Allowed values are "internal", "Multiple Instance", "Single Instance".
I wanted to reuse the same COM server with multiple clients. That is why I chose "single Instance" and though that I would have a single instance of my server application for all the clients. But I was wrong. "Single Instance" means that there will be only one instance of a COM connection in my server. I should have chosen "Multiple Instance" to allow multiple COM connection (but one after the other, not simultaneous) in the same server.
I think that the words used in the COM Object Wizard in Delphi are not really clear. Instead of "multiple instance", "single instance", it would be better to have "multiuse" and "single use" like in this article about OLE Server and VB.
In the client, use
ConnectKind := ckRunningOrNew
and an existing server should be used instead of starting a new one.
You should be able to increment the reference counter of the automation server when you start the server as a normal application. What you want to achieve is two-fold: Let the server not terminate when the client exits, and also let the server not terminate when you close your main form while the client is still running.
Create the COM object as Singleton. And also to keep the object running even after the Client goes, put extra reference count. To do this call QI once inside the COM object.
A note about the previous post 'There is a setting "Instancing" in the COM Object Wizard in Delphi.' : At least in C++ builder, this option can simply be changed afterwards in the project settings, item "ATL". This item only appears there for an EXE-ole-server after you have added the first automation object to it.
(I have also asked author of This fine page to mention this in item 18.).
You can also try changing the identity of the user that launches the OLE server, if it is an Exe and not a dll, by running dcomcnfg and choosing Component Services/Computers/My Computer/DCOM Config and selecting your server.
You might have to play around with it, I can't remember the differences between them all but I think "Interactive User" should do it.
Related
Here is my need:
I have to displays some information from a web page.
The web browser is actually on the same machine (localhost).
I want the data to be updated dynamically by the server initiative.
Since HTTP protocol is actually a request/response protocol, I know that to get this functionality, the connection between the server and the client (which is local here) should be kept open in some way (Websocket, Server-Sent Events, etc..)
Yes, "realtime" is really a fashion trend nowadays and there are many frameworks out there to do this (meteor, etc...)
And indeed, it seems that Rails supports this functionnality too in addition to using Websockets (Server-Sent Events in Rails 4 and ActionCable in Rails 5)
So achieving this functionnality would not be a big deal, I guess...
Nevertheless what I really want is to trigger an update of the webpage (displayed here locally) from a request made by another client..
This picture will explain that better :
At the beginning, the browser connects to the (local) server (green arrows).
I guess that a thread is executed where all the session data (instance variables) are stored.
In order to use some "realtime" mechanisms, the connection remains open and therefore the thread Y is not terminated. (I guess this is how it works)
A second user is connecting (blue arrows) to the server (could be or not be the same web page) and make some actions (eg. posting a form).
Here the response to that external client does not matter. Just an HTTP OK response is fine. But a confirmation web page could also be returned.
But in anyway the thread X (and/or the connection) has no particular reason to be kept.
Ok, here is my question (BTW thank you for reading me thus far).
How can I echo this new data on the local web browser ?
I see 2 differents ways to do this :
Path A: Before terminating, the thread X passes the data (its instance variables) to the thread Y which has its connection still open. Thus the server is able to update the web browser.
Path B: Before terminating the thread X sends a request (I mean a response since it is the server) directly to the web browser using a particular socket.
Which mechanisms should I use in either method to achieve this functionnality ?
For method A, how can I exchange data between threads ?
For method B, how can I use an already opened socket ?
But which of these two methods (or another one) is actually the best way to do that?
Again thank you for reading me thus far, and sorry for my bad english.
I hope I've been clear enough to expose my need.
You are overthinking this. There is no need to think of such low-level mechanisms as threads and sockets. Most (all?) pub-sub live-update tools (ActionCable, faye, etc.) operate in terms of "channels" and "events".
So, your flow will look like this:
Client A (web browser) makes a request to your server and subscribes to events from channel "client-a-events" (or something).
Client B (the other browser) makes a request to your server with instructions to post an event to channel "client-a-events".
Pub-sub library does its magic.
Client A gets an update and updates the UI accordingly.
Check out this intro guide: Action Cable Overview.
How do I access my Remote Data Module(RDM)'s instance from another unit at runtime? (The RDM is single instance). When I create a normal Data Module descendant Delphi creates a variable for it in the same unit (ex: MyDM: TMyDM), but when I create a RDM's descendant there's no variable.
I'm trying to set the provider of a TClientDataSet created at runtime in another unit to a TDataSetProvider in my RDM, but I can't find a reference to my RDM's instance.
I also tried to do it at design time but while I have no problems to set the connection property of a TSQLQuery from the same unit to a TSQLConnection in that RDM, I wasn't able to set the TClientDataSet's provider, because no providers from the RDM appears in the TClientDataSet's provider list.
First you need to set the RemoteServer property of your client dataset, assign it an instance of TLocalConnection component (which should be placed on your remote data module since you are not using it remotely). The remote data module unit has to be in the uses clause of the unit with the client dataset, of course.
Then you can assign the ProviderName property of your client dataset.
I did some study on TRemoteDataModule and learned that it is dedicated to support COM application servers.
The fact you don´t have a variable to your RDM is because you are not supposed to access it like a regular DM. The application server will instantiate the RDM in response to a remote call, just like any COM application. It will be destroyed when no more references exist to that RDM.
Since the life-cicle of that object depends on the client, not the server, having a reference to it in the server is highly dangerous. You never know when it´s valid or not. Besides, more than one instance will exist, one for each client that is accessing that object in a given moment.
Considering that, I believe is very reasonable to tell you that it´s impossible to access the RDM after it is created to perform the correction you intend to do.
If you really need to put the TDatasetProvider in a different unit, then my best suggestion is to make the RDM look for that provider in some kind of Provider poll service. Doing like this will enable you to find the provider you need everytime a new RDM is instantiated and only when it is instantiated.
In your place I would add a handler to the OnCreate event of the RDM and in that handler I would call a method like TProviderPool.GetProvider. That method would give me a provider and I would assign its name to the ProviderName property of the CDS.
I have a SOAP server/client application written in Delphi XE working fine for some time until a user who runs it on Windows 7 x64 behind a corporate proxy/firewall. The application sends and receives TSOAPAttachment object in the request.
The Problem:
Once the first request from this user is received and processed, the server could not process any request (from any user) successfully coming after this.
The server still response to the request, but the SOAPAttachment of the request
seems corrupted after the first one from this user, that's why it couldn't process the request successfully.
After putting may debug logs to the server, I noticed the TSOAPAttachment.SourceStream in the request's parameter become inaccessible (or empty), and TSOAPAttachment.CacheFile also empty. Therefore whenever trying to use the SourceStream, it will return Access Violation error.
Further investigation found that the BorlandSoapAttachment(n) file generated in the temp folder by the first request still exist and locked (which should be deleted when a request is completed normally), and BorlandSoapAttachment(n+1) files of the following request are piling up.
The SOAP server will work again after restarting IIS or recycle the application pool.
It is quite certain that it is caused by the proxy or the user’s networks because when the same machine runs outside this networks, it will work fine.
To add more mystery to the problem, running the application on WinXP behind the same proxy have no problem AT ALL!
Any help or recommendation is very appreciated as we have stuck in this situation for some time.
Big thanks in advance.
If you are really sure that you debugged all your server logic that handles the attachments to attempt do discover any piece of code that could failed specifically on Windows 7, I would suggest:
1) Use some network sniffer Wireshark is good for this task, make two subsequent requests with the same data/parameters values, and compare the HTTP contents. This analyze should be done both in the client (to see if the data is always leaving the client machine with the same content) and also in the server, to analyze the incoming data;
2) I faced a similar situation in the past, and my attempts to really understand the problem was not well succeed. I did workaround the problem sending files as Base64 encoded strings parameters, and not using the SOAP attachments. The side affect of using Base64 its an increase of ~30% in the data size to be sent, and this could be significant if you are transferring large files.
Remember that SOAP attachments create temp files in the server, and Windows 7 has different file access rules than Windows XP. I don't know if this could explain the first call being processed ant the others not, but maybe there are something related with file access.
Maybe it is UAC (User Access Control) problem under Win 7. Try running the client in win 7 "As Administrator" and see if it is working properly.
In a java web app, I need to call a remote soap service, and I'm trying to use a CXF 2.5.0-generated client. The soap service is provided by a particular ERP vendor, and its wsdl is monstrous, thousands of types, dozens of xsd imports, etc. wsdl2java generates the client ok, thanks to the -autoNameResolution flag. But at runtime it retrieves the remote wsdl twice, once when I create the service object, and again when I create a port object.
MyService_Service myService = new MyService_Service(giantWsdlUrl); // fetches giantWsdl
MyService myPort = myService.getMyServicePort(); // fetches giantWsdl again
Why is that? I can understand retrieving it when creating myService, you want to see that it matches the client I'm currently using, or let a runtime wsdl location dictate the endpoint address, etc. But I don't understand why asking for the port would reload everything it just went out on the wire for. Am I missing something?
Since this is in a web application, and I can't be sure that myPort is threadsafe, then I'd have to create a port for each thread, except that's way too slow, 6 to 8 seconds thanks to the monstrous wsdl. Or add my own pooling, create a bunch in advance, and do check-outs and check-ins. Yuck.
For the record, the JaxWsProxyFactoryBean creation route does not ever fetch the wsdl, and that's good for my situation. It still takes a long time on the first create(), then about a quarter second on subsequent create()s, and even that's less than desirable. And I dunno... it sorta feels like I'm under the hood hotwiring the thing rather than turning the key. :)
Well, you have actually answered the question yourself. Each time you invoke service.getPort() the WSDL is loaded from remote site and parsed. JaxWsProxyFactoryBean goes absolutely the same way, but once the proxy is obtained it is re-used for further invocations. That is why the 1st run is slow (because of "warming up"), but subsequent are fast.
And yes, JaxWsProxyFactoryBean is not thread-safe. Pooling client proxies is an option, but unfortunately will eat a lot of memory, as JAX-WS runtime model is not shared among client proxies; synchronization is perhaps better way to follow.
We use stateful DataSnap servers for some business logic tasks and also to provide clientdataset data.
If we have to update the server to modify a business rule, we copy the new version into a new empty folder and register it (depending on the Delphi version, just by launching or by running the TRegSvr utility).
We can do this even while the old server instance is running. However, after registering the new version, all new client connections will still use the currently running (old) server instance. All clients have to disconnect first, then the new server will be used for the next clients.
Is there a way to direct all new client connections to the new server, immediately after registering?
(I know that new or changed method signatures will also require a change and restart of the clients but this question is about internal modifications which do not affect the interface)
We are using Socket connections, and all clients share the same server application (only one application window is open). In the early days we have used a different configuration of the remote datamodule which resulted in one app window per client. Maybe this could be a solution? (because every new client will launch the currently registered executable)
Update: does Delphi XE offer some support for 'hot deployment' (of updated servers)? We use Delphi 2009 at the moment but would upgrade to XE if it offers easier implementation of 'hot deployment'.
you could separate your appserver into 2 new servers, one being a simple proxy object redirecting all methods (and optionally containing state info if any) to the second one actually implementing your business logic. you also need to implement "silent reconnect" feature within your proxy server in order not to disturb connected clients if you decide to replace business appserver any time you want. never did such design myself before but hope the idea is clear
Have you tried renaming the current server and placing the new in the same location with the correct name (versus changing the registry location). I have done this for COM libraries before with success. I am not sure if it would apply to remote launch rules through as it may look for an existing instance to attach to instead of a completely fresh server.
It may be a bit hackish but you would have the client call a method on the server indicating that a newer version is available. This would allow it to perform any necessary cleanup so it doesn't end up talking to both the existing server instance and new server instance at the same time.
There is probably not a simple answer to this question, and I suspect that you will have to modify the client. The simplest solution I can think of is to have a flag (a property or an out parameter on some commonly called method) on the server that the client checks periodically that tells the client to disconnect and reconnect (called something like ImBeingRetired).
It's also possible to write callbacks under certain circumstances for datasnap (although I've never done this). This would allow the server to inform the client that it should restart or reconnect.
The last option I can think of (that hasn't already been mentioned) would be to make the client/server stateless, so that every time the client wants something it connects, gets what it wants then disconnects.
Unfortunately none of these options are the answer you want to your question, but might give you some ideas.
(optional) set up vmware vSphere, ESX, or find a hosting service that already has one.
Store the session variables in db.
Prepare 2 web boxes with 2 distinct IP address and deploy your stuff.
Set up DNS, firewall, load balancer, or BSD vm so name "example.com" resolves to web box 1.
Deploy new version to web box 2.
Switch over to web box 2 using whatever routing method you chose.
Deploy new version to web box 1 if things look ok.
Using DNS is probably easiest, but it takes time for the mapping to propagate to the client (if the client is outside your LAN) and also two clients may see different results. Some firewalls have IP address mapping feature that you can map public IP address and internal IP address. The ideal way is to use load balancer and configure it to 50:50 and change it to 100:0 when you want to do upgrade, but it costs money. A cheaper alternative is to run software load balancer on BSD vm, but it probably requires some work.
Edit: What I meant to say is session variables, not session. You said the server is stateful. If it contains some business logic that uses session variable, it needs to get stored externally to be preserved across reconnection during switch over. Actual DataSnap session will be lost, so when you shutdown web box 1 during upgrade, the client will get "Session {some-uuid} is not found" error by web box 1, and it will reconnect to web box 2.
Also you could use 3 IP addresses (1 public and 2 private) so the client always sees 1 address , which is better method.
I have done something similar by having a specific table which held my "data version". Each time I would update the server or change a system wide global setting, I would increment this field. When a client starts it always checks this value, and will check again before any transactions/queries. If the value was ever different from when I first started, then I needed to go through my re-initialization logic, which could easily include a re-login to an updated server.
I was using IIS to publish my app servers, so the data that would change would be the path to the app server. I kept the old ones available, to respond to any existing transactions that were in play. Eventually these would be removed once I knew there were no more client connections to that version.
You could easily handle knowing what versions to keep around if you log what server the client last connected too (and therefore would know about).
For newer versions (Delphi 2010 and up), there is an interesting solution
for systems using the HTTP transport:
Implementing Failover and Load Balancing in DataSnap 2010 by Andreano Lanusse
and a related question for the TCP/IP transport:
How to direct DataSnap client connections to various DS Servers?