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XML-RPC

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XML-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism.[1]

History

XML-RPC was created in 1998 by Dave Winer of UserLand Software and Microsoft[2]. As new functionality was introduced, the standard evolved into what is now SOAP.

XML-RPC was patented by Phillip Merrick, Stewart Allen, and Joseph Lapp in April 2006, claiming benefit to a provisional application filed in March 1998. The patent is assigned to webMethods, located in Fairfax, VA.[3]

Usage

XML-RPC is believed to be simpler to use and understand than SOAP.

JSON-RPC is similar to XML-RPC.

Data types

Common datatypes are converted into their XML equivalents with example values shown below:

Name Tag Example Description
array 
<array>
  <data>
    <value><i4>1404</i4></value>
    <value><string>Something here</string></value>
    <value><i4>1</i4></value>
  </data>
</array>
Array of values, storing no keys
base64 
<base64>eW91IGNhbid0IHJlYWQgdGhpcyE=</base64>
Base64-encoded binary data
boolean 
<boolean>1</boolean>
Boolean logical value (0 or 1)
date/time 
<dateTime.iso8601>19980717T14:08:55</dateTime.iso8601>
Date and time in ISO 8601 format
double 
<double>-12.53</double>
Double precision floating point number
integer 
<i4>42</i4>

or 

<int>42</int>
Whole number, integer
string 
<string>Hello world!</string>
String of characters. Must follow XML encoding.
struct 
<struct>
  <member>
    <name>foo</name>
    <value><i4>1</i4></value>
  </member>
  <member>
    <name>bar</name>
    <value><i4>2</i4></value>
  </member>
</struct>
Associative array
nil 
<nil/>
Discriminated null value; an XML-RPC extension

Examples

An example of a typical XML-RPC request would be: 

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodCall>
  <methodName>examples.getStateName</methodName>
  <params>
    <param>
        <value><i4>40</i4></value>
    </param>
  </params>
</methodCall>

An example of a typical XML-RPC response would be: 

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodResponse>
  <params>
    <param>
        <value><string>South Dakota</string></value>
    </param>
  </params>
</methodResponse>

A typical XML-RPC fault would be: 

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodResponse>
  <fault>
    <value>
      <struct>
        <member>
          <name>faultCode</name>
          <value><int>4</int></value>
        </member>
        <member>
          <name>faultString</name>
          <value><string>Too many parameters.</string></value>
        </member>
      </struct>
    </value>
  </fault>
</methodResponse>

Implementations

C++

Objective-C / GNUstep / Cocoa

Erlang

  • XML-RPC for Erlang: This is an HTTP 1.1 compliant XML-RPC library for Erlang. It is designed to make it easy to write XML-RPC Erlang clients and/or servers. The library is compliant with the XML-RPC specification published by http://www.xmlrpc.org/

Java

XMPP

Other

See also

References

  1. ^ Simon St. Laurent, Joe Johnston, Edd Dumbill. (June 2001) Programming Web Services with XML-RPC. O'Reilly. First Edition.
  2. ^ Box, Don (1 April 2001). "A Brief History of SOAP". O'Reilly. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  3. ^ Merrick; et al. (11 April 2006). "US Patent 7,028,312". Retrieved 18 September 2008. {{cite web}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
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