Python Cookbook

Using XML-RPC with Medusa

Credit: Jeff Bauer

Problem

You need to establish a distributed processing system and want to use the XML-RPC protocol.

Solution

The medusa package lets you implement lightweight, highly scalable servers, even with old versions of Python. An XML-RPC handler is included in the Medusa distribution. Here is how you code a server with Medusa:

# xmlrpc_server.py
from socket import gethostname
from medusa.xmlrpc_handler import xmlrpc_handler
from medusa.http_server import http_server
from medusa import asyncore

class xmlrpc_server(xmlrpc_handler):
    # initializes and runs the server
    def _ _init_ _(self, host=None, port=8182):
        if host is None:
            host = gethostname(  )
        hs = http_server(host, port)
        hs.install_handler(self)
        asyncore.loop(  )

    # an example of a method to be exposed via the XML-RPC protocol
    def add(self, op1, op2):
        return op1 + op2

    # the infrastructure ("plumbing") to expose methods
    def call(self, method, params):
        print "call method: %s, params: %s" % (method, str(params))
        if method == 'add':
            return apply(self.add, params)
        return "method not found: %s" % method

if _ _name_ _ == '_ _main_ _':
    server = xmlrpc_server(  )

And here is an xmlrpclib-based client of this server:

# xmlrpc_client.py from socket import gethostname from xmlrpclib import Transport, dumps class xmlrpc_connection: def _ _init_ _(self, host=None, port=8182): if host is None: host = gethostname( ) self.host = "%s:%s" % (host, port) self.transport = Transport( ) def remote(self, method, params=( ...