delphinet-general — General discussion

[DelphiNet-general] Delphi-COM-Objects -> ASP.NET Web Service

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Hi,

I think, one possibility to create a Web Service out of a Delphi COM object,
would be the following:

1. Write Delphi code
2. Expose Delphi code via a COM object
3. Generate a proxy assembly via the TLBIMP.EXE utility of the .NET
framework that dispatches .NET calls to the COM object.
4. For each CoClass inside the COM object, an ASP.NET has to be created (the
implementation takes place in the same file)
5. For every method and property of the COM object a wrapper method is added
to the ASP.NET file that
redirects incoming calls to the previously generated proxy assembly.

That would require that we write a little utility program that calls the
TLBIMP utility and generates the appropriate ASP.NET files.
Who would be interested in writing such a utility ?
Or don't you agree with the shown way of exposing a COM object as an .NET
Web Service ?


A nice benefit would be that we can handle any COM object - not only Delphi
ones.
But when we let the ASP.NET file call a COM object, the user that runs the
ASP.NET requires the permission to access that object.



cu
marcus

[DelphiNet-general] Web Service/ADO.NET sample application - remarks

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Hello,

I had a closer look to the WebService/SOAP functionality of the
.NET-Framework today.


1. CLIENT SIDE
On the client side, all Web Service calls seem to be implemented as
derivations of a class called "SoapHttpClientProtocol" (it's inside the
"System.Web.Services.Protocols" namespace).
So if a .NET application wants to communicate with a Web Service as a
client, it has to implement a proxy
class that does the actual invocations. Such a proxy class would look
something like this in C# (shortened):


[System.Web.Services.WebServiceBindingAttribute(Name="CTestServiceSoap",
Namespace="http://tempuri.org/")]
public class CTestService :
System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol
{

  public CTestService()
  {
    // URL of the Web Service endpoint
    this.Url = "http://localhost:180/services/01.test/TestService.asmx";
  }


  // Dispatched invokation of a WebService method that doesn't take any
arguments

[System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapDocumentMethodAttribute("http://tempuri.o
rg/GetId",
  RequestNamespace="http://tempuri.org/",
  ResponseNamespace="http://tempuri.org/",
Use=System.Web.Services.Description.SoapBindingUse.Literal,
  ParameterStyle=System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapParameterStyle.Wrapped)]
  public string GetId()
  {
    object[] results = this.Invoke("GetId", new object[0]);
    return ((string)(results[0]));
  }


  // Dispatched invokation of a WebService method that takes a string as an
argument

[System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapDocumentMethodAttribute("http://tempuri.o
rg/SayHello",
  RequestNamespace="http://tempuri.org/",
ResponseNamespace="http://tempuri.org/",
  Use=System.Web.Services.Description.SoapBindingUse.Literal,
  ParameterStyle=System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapParameterStyle.Wrapped)]
  public string SayHello(string sName) {
    object[] results = this.Invoke("SayHello", new object[] {sName} );
    return ((string)(results[0]));
  }

}


If you aren't familiar with the C# syntax I'll explain the main processes,
when an applications makes
use of this proxy class via the following code:

CTestService wsTestService = new CTestService();    // a new instance of the
proxy class is created
String sRes = CTestService.SayHello("World");       // the Web Service's
method "SayHello" is called
                                                       and the required
argument "World" is specified
MessageBox.Show(sRes);                              // The result of the
call is displayed


(At the moment, we're not interested in how the server implements the Web
Service)
Internally, when the CTestService proxy class is instantiated, the "Url"
property of the
overlaying "SoapHttpClientProtocol" class is set to the Web Service's
endpoint URL.
Then, when the proxy's method "SayHello()" is called, the proxy uses the
inherited "Invoke" method
to call the Web Service method with the supplied arguments. The value
returned by the
Web Service serves as  the result of the function.

Since .NET allows the invokation of the "SoapHttpClientProtocol::Invoke"
method only
out of a class that inherits from "SoapHttpClientProtocol", we can't use the
methods
of "DotNetExec" at their present state, because

NETInvokeMethod(aSoapClient, "Invoke", ["SayHello", ["World"]])

or something like this would produce an exception :-(
Has someone discovered another way to invoke Web Services from within the
.NET framework ?

If not, we could extend the DotNetExec unit to that effect, that we
introduce a new
function like "NETInvokeWSMethod()" that causes the C#-part of DotNetExec
("DotNetExec.cs")
to internally create such a proxy class, invoke it and dispatch the return
value.
However, that's not a elegant way to solve the problem, so if anyone has a
better method
or an idea, PLEASE tell us :>



2. SERVER SIDE
In .NET, you're supposed to implement Web Services as ASP.NET pages. These
ASP.NET
Web Services can be written in any .NET-enabled language (i.e. a language an
implementation of the "System.CodeDom.Compiler.CodeDomProvider" class exists
for
- a quite BIG effort to implement, so Delphi.NET goes an other way), like
VB.NET,
C# or JScript.NET. Such an ASP.NET document can be very simple like this C#
example:

<%@ WebService Language="C#" Class="CTestService" %>

using System;
using System.Web.Services;


public class CTestService
{

 [WebMethod]
 public String GetId()
 {
  return "TestWebService";
 }


 [WebMethod(Description="Sagt servus")]
 public String SayHello(String sName)
 {
  return "Hello " + sName + " !";
 }

}

Such an .asmx-document (that's the default suffix for an ASP.NET-WebService)
needs the
Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 or higher to run.
So if we want to provide server-sided Web Services functionality in
Delphi.NET (and don't
want to implement the mentioned "System.CodeDom.Compiler.CodeDomProvider" -
anyone
looked at it ? Gosh! ;D ) we must again find an "indirect" way.

One possibiliy would be to write a (more or less) little utility that
creates wrapper
ASP.NET files from an DLL (that can be implemented with Delphi i.a.). That
could
look like (*untested*):

<%@ WebService Language="C#" Class="CTestService" %>

using System;
using System.Web.Services;

public class CTestService
{

  [WebMethod]
  [DllImport("Delphi.dll", EntryPoint="GetId", ExactSpelling=true)]
  public static extern String GetId();

  [WebMethod]
  [DllImport("Delphi.dll", EntryPoint="SayHello", ExactSpelling=true)]
  public static extern String SayHello(String sName);

}


If no one can think of a better solution for this problem - is there
someone who would be interested in writing such a tool ?
A problem could be that one can't determine the argument list of a DLL
function or do I err ?
In this case we could dispatch the Web Service calls to a COM object instead
to a DLL.




These were just some things I discovered ... If some passages were unclear
please object to
them :-)


cu
marcus

Re: [DelphiNet-general] OT: Preview on Borland's .NET-enabled Delphi :)

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Delphi tries to generate declarations of the .NET data types "Byte",
"Double, "Int64" and "Single" which
are already reserved in Delphi hence the file cannot be compiled. Our
modification just prefixes an underscore ("_Byte", "_Double", "_Int64",
"_Single").


----- Original Message -----
From: "Wajahath Dean" <wod...@ho...>
To: <del...@li...>
Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2002 2:49 PM
Subject: Re: [DelphiNet-general] OT: Preview on Borland's .NET-enabled
Delphi :)


> Just wondered what the changes were in the version of mscorlib_TLB.pas
> supplied in the zip from the supplied version in delphi.

Re: [DelphiNet-general] OT: Preview on Borland's .NET-enabled Delphi :)

[Wajahath D. <wod...@ho...>]

Hi,

Just wondered what the changes were in the version of mscorlib_TLB.pas 
supplied in the zip from the supplied version in delphi.

Wodge

>From: "Marcus Schmidt" <mar...@gm...>
>Reply-To: del...@li...
>To: "Delphi.NET-Mailingliste" <del...@li...>
>Subject: [DelphiNet-general] OT: Preview on Borland's .NET-enabled Delphi 
>:)
>Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 16:41:30 +0200
>
>Hello,
>
>the .NET-section on the Borland website (http://www.borland.com/dotnet/) 
>has
>an article
>that shows the future version of Delphi with .NET-support (that is also
>called Delphi.NET ;)
>=> http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,28649,00.html
>
>
>I was quite busy last week but now I have got time to do some work on
>Delphi.NET.
>Btw, is someone except Wajajath interested in the WebService/ADO.NET sample
>application or something else ?
>
>cu
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________
>
>Don't miss the 2002 Sprint PCS Application Developer's Conference
>August 25-28 in Las Vegas -- http://devcon.sprintpcs.com/adp/index.cfm
>
>_______________________________________________
>Delphinet-general mailing list
>Del...@li...
>https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/delphinet-general




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[DelphiNet-general] OT: Preview on Borland's .NET-enabled Delphi :)

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Hello,

the .NET-section on the Borland website (http://www.borland.com/dotnet/) has
an article
that shows the future version of Delphi with .NET-support (that is also
called Delphi.NET ;)
=> http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,28649,00.html


I was quite busy last week but now I have got time to do some work on
Delphi.NET.
Btw, is someone except Wajajath interested in the WebService/ADO.NET sample
application or something else ?

cu

[DelphiNet-general] Preliminary documentation

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Hi,

I've just created an Windows Help-File out of the existing project
documentation (http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=50878) =>
http://delphinet.sourceforge.net/delphinet.chm

Of course it's just an **ALPHA** version of the doc (so the content isn't
complete yet) but it would be nice to hear what you think of it and what you
would do in a different way. Thanks

cu
Marcus

Re: [DelphiNet-general] Possible topics for sample applications

[Wajahath D. <wod...@ho...>]

Hi,
Sounds good and it also demonstrate a variety of the features of dot net.
I'll try and get started on it this week.
I've set the framework up on my pc now and i am just going through the 
documentation.

wodge



>From: "Marcus Schmidt" <mar...@gm...>
>Reply-To: del...@li...
>To: <del...@li...>
>Subject: Re: [DelphiNet-general] Possible topics for sample applications
>Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 21:45:54 +0200
>
>Hi,
>
> > - Sample for developing Web Services
>
>A specific sample for this topic could be a small environment with a server
>that provides the Web Services and a client that utilizes it. A certain
>example of use could be the following:
>
>
>/--------------------------------
>Server:
>- Database System that can be accessed via .NET (for example Microsoft SQL
>Server or MySQL)
>- Web Service that provides access to the Database System
>- Listener/Wrapper for the Web Service (sorry, but I don't know yet how the
>listener is realized in .NET)
>--------------------------------/
>
>
>
>/--------------------------------
>Client:
>- .NET-Client for the Web Service that executes some SQL-queries (f.e.:
>"SELECT * FROM tbl" etc.)
>   via the Web Service
>--------------------------------/
>
>
>So the model for this application would look something like this:
>
>CLIENT:
>1. User enters or invokes a SQL statement ... let's say "SELECT * FROM
>table1 WHERE (price <= 100)"
>2. The client applications submits that statement to the SERVER via the 
>.NET
>WebServices-capabilites
>
>SERVER:
>3. Web Service listener/wrapper recieves the desired statement and
>dispatches it to the actual Web Service application
>4. The Web Service application accepts the statement and executes in on the
>DBMS
>5. The DBMS performs the stated query and passes the results to the Web
>Service Application
>6. Web Service Application hands over the result set to the CLIENT
>
>CLIENT
>7. Result set is received and displayed to the user
>
>
>cu
>-- marcus
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________
>
>Have big pipes? SourceForge.net is looking for download mirrors. We supply
>the hardware. You get the recognition. Email Us: ban...@so...
>_______________________________________________
>Delphinet-general mailing list
>Del...@li...
>https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/delphinet-general




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Re: [DelphiNet-general] Possible topics for sample applications

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Hi,

> - Sample for developing Web Services

A specific sample for this topic could be a small environment with a server
that provides the Web Services and a client that utilizes it. A certain
example of use could be the following:


/--------------------------------
Server:
- Database System that can be accessed via .NET (for example Microsoft SQL
Server or MySQL)
- Web Service that provides access to the Database System
- Listener/Wrapper for the Web Service (sorry, but I don't know yet how the
listener is realized in .NET)
--------------------------------/



/--------------------------------
Client:
- .NET-Client for the Web Service that executes some SQL-queries (f.e.:
"SELECT * FROM tbl" etc.)
  via the Web Service
--------------------------------/


So the model for this application would look something like this:

CLIENT:
1. User enters or invokes a SQL statement ... let's say "SELECT * FROM
table1 WHERE (price <= 100)"
2. The client applications submits that statement to the SERVER via the .NET
WebServices-capabilites

SERVER:
3. Web Service listener/wrapper recieves the desired statement and
dispatches it to the actual Web Service application
4. The Web Service application accepts the statement and executes in on the
DBMS
5. The DBMS performs the stated query and passes the results to the Web
Service Application
6. Web Service Application hands over the result set to the CLIENT

CLIENT
7. Result set is received and displayed to the user


cu
-- marcus

[DelphiNet-general] Possible topics for sample applications

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Hi,

here's a list of topics the sample applications could treat:

- Sample for developing Web Services
- Advanced sample for using ADO.NET and the .NET data objects and controls
- .NET Remoting
- XSL and Schema capabilites of the .NET class library
- .NET Security model
- using Delphi components/COM Objects in ASP.NET

We should discuss now, which topics would be nice and reasonable to
demonstrate
by an application and who wants to do what. We should also debate a useful
example of use.


Since you requested more information on the .NET framework I'll shortly
describe the mentioned aspects of it.

The .NET framework consists in general of two core components:
- The "Common Language Runtime (CLR)":
.NET programs (.EXE) don't contain machine-code like traditional programs
but
are stored in the proprietary "Microsoft Intermediate Language" (MSIL). All
compilers
that create .NET programs create MSIL-.EXEs. The Common Language Runtime
that is of
course shipped with the .NET framework is executes the MSIL code
(also called "managed code").
Though developers are supposed to write only applications that use "managed
code",
i.e. write sourcecode that is completely managed by the CLR, there are
several
ways to communicate with native elements such as COM Objects etc.

- The ".NET Class Library" is a really BIG collection of libraries. Those
libraries
(about 10 files, located in the directory
"\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\<Version>\" )
are actually used for _everything_ in .NET. They provide basic
functionality,
for example for drawing Windows, Exceptions and even all data types are
stored
in those libraries. But they also contain advanced features like processing
XML, accessing Databases and the web etc. Every .NET application depends
largely
upon the class library. Since the class library is available on every
".NET-enabled"
system, it isn't directly compiled into the executable file whereby the
filesize
stays quite humble. To get a better feeling and understandig for the .NET
Class Library,
you should have a look at the ".NET Reflector tool"
(http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet/).

To get the actual .NET framework you can download it from the Microsoft
Website:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?URL=/downloads/sample.asp?ur
l=/msdn-files/027/001/829/msdncompositedoc.xml (small version - contains the
CLR, the Class Library,
some compilers and a few tools)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?url=/downloads/sample.asp?ur
l=/msdn-files/027/000/976/msdncompositedoc.xml&frame=true ("full version"
[SDK] - contains the same as
above plus some more tools and the complete documentation of the framework)


Web Services capabilites of .NET: (Namespace: "System.Web.Services")
The .NET framework provides a huge amount of classes and functions for
developing
Web Services. The functionality is mainly capsulated in the
"System.Web.Services"
namespace of the .NET framework. Since Web Services are one of .NET's key
features,
we should absoluteley build an sample treating this topic.

ADO.NET: (Namespace: "System.Data")
ADO.NET is the largely renewed version of the ActiveX Data Objects - a set
of
objects/classes that provide a very powerful means for accessing data
sources
of any kind.

.NET Remoting: (Namespace: "System.Runtime.Remoting")
Mmh I have no clue yet ;-) seems like something for remote
communication/invokation :>

XSL/Schema/XPath: (Namespace: "System.Xml")
Besides the support for parsing standard XML documents, the .NET framework
offers
special functionality to handle XPath or XML applications like XSL(T) and
XML Schema.

.NET Security model: (Namespace: "System.Security")
A collection of classes and utilities for establishing a security
model/environment
within the .NET framework.




P.S.: Sorry for grammer and expression mistakes :-/

Re: [DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)

[Wajahath D. <wod...@ho...>]

Hi,

Sorry about the delay in replying.

I'm not sure what kind of examples need writing.

I'm not that familiar with the dot net framework at the moment and am hoping 
to use this project to gain a better understanding of it.

Could you suggest something?

wodge

>From: "Marcus Schmidt" <mar...@dr...>
>Reply-To: del...@li...
>To: "Delphi.NET-Mailingliste" <del...@li...>
>Subject: Re: [DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)
>Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 12:54:24 +0200
>
>Yes, we should also definitely create an sample app that demonstrates the
>Web Services capabilities of .NET. Some ideas ?
>
>ADOExpress-equivalents sound good and it wood be great to handle the
>insufficiency of the standard and pro editions of Delphi.
>
>
>cu
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Wajahath Dean" <wod...@ho...>
>To: <mar...@gm...>
>Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 9:41 PM
>Subject: Re: [DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)
>
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Thanks for adding me to the mailing list.
> >
> > I think this project should basically provide full open source access to
>the
> > NET framework for users. Thats all ;-)
> >
> > Certain delphi components like soap are currently only available from
> > borland in the enterprise versions of their software.
> >
> > At the moment, I think I would be interested in trying to write a few 
>more
> > sample applications.
> >
> > I'm also interested in ADO.Net and would like to try write a similiar 
>set
>of
> > components to ADOExpress thats include with some versions of delphi.
> >
> > >From: "Marcus Schmidt" <mar...@gm...>
> > >To: "Delphi.NET-Mailingliste" <del...@li...>
> > >Subject: [DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)
> > >Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 23:40:40 +0200
> > >
> > >Hi,
> > >
> > >I've created this mailing list and arbitrary subscribed you - i hope 
>you
> > >don't mind.
> > >Well, I was quite busy last week so I couldn't set it up earlier.
> > >
> > >There now are several documentations available at
> > >http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=50878.
> > >(Special thanks to Sven Reichard and Tim Crouch for translating the
>German
> > >texts).
> > >
> > >Things there are to do now can be found at
> > >http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=461301&group_id=50878&func=browse
> > >
> > >I hope the documentation enables you to incorporate into the Delphi.NET
> > >project, especially into the DotNetExec unit.
> > >
> > >I would like you to state what you expect of the project and what you
>would
> > >like to do/improve.
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________
>
>Have big pipes? SourceForge.net is looking for download mirrors. We supply
>the hardware. You get the recognition. Email Us: ban...@so...
>_______________________________________________
>Delphinet-general mailing list
>Del...@li...
>https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/delphinet-general




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Re: [DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)

[Marcus S. <mar...@dr...>]

Yes, we should also definitely create an sample app that demonstrates the
Web Services capabilities of .NET. Some ideas ?

ADOExpress-equivalents sound good and it wood be great to handle the
insufficiency of the standard and pro editions of Delphi.


cu


----- Original Message -----
From: "Wajahath Dean" <wod...@ho...>
To: <mar...@gm...>
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 9:41 PM
Subject: Re: [DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)


> Hi,
>
> Thanks for adding me to the mailing list.
>
> I think this project should basically provide full open source access to
the
> NET framework for users. Thats all ;-)
>
> Certain delphi components like soap are currently only available from
> borland in the enterprise versions of their software.
>
> At the moment, I think I would be interested in trying to write a few more
> sample applications.
>
> I'm also interested in ADO.Net and would like to try write a similiar set
of
> components to ADOExpress thats include with some versions of delphi.
>
> >From: "Marcus Schmidt" <mar...@gm...>
> >To: "Delphi.NET-Mailingliste" <del...@li...>
> >Subject: [DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)
> >Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 23:40:40 +0200
> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >I've created this mailing list and arbitrary subscribed you - i hope you
> >don't mind.
> >Well, I was quite busy last week so I couldn't set it up earlier.
> >
> >There now are several documentations available at
> >http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=50878.
> >(Special thanks to Sven Reichard and Tim Crouch for translating the
German
> >texts).
> >
> >Things there are to do now can be found at
> >http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=461301&group_id=50878&func=browse
> >
> >I hope the documentation enables you to incorporate into the Delphi.NET
> >project, especially into the DotNetExec unit.
> >
> >I would like you to state what you expect of the project and what you
would
> >like to do/improve.

[DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Hi,

I've created this mailing list and arbitrary subscribed you - i hope you
don't mind.
Well, I was quite busy last week so I couldn't set it up earlier.

There now are several documentations available at
http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=50878.
(Special thanks to Sven Reichard and Tim Crouch for translating the German
texts).

Things there are to do now can be found at
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=461301&group_id=50878&func=browse

I hope the documentation enables you to incorporate into the Delphi.NET
project, especially into the DotNetExec unit.

I would like you to state what you expect of the project and what you would
like to do/improve.



Marcus

[DelphiNet-general] Welcome to our new mailing list ;-)

[Marcus S. <mar...@gm...>]

Hi,

I've created this mailing list and arbitrary subscribed you - i hope you
don't mind.
Well, I was quite busy last week so I couldn't set it up earlier.

There now are several documentations available at
http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=50878.
(Special thanks to Sven Reichard and Tim Crouch for translating the German
texts).

Things there are to do now can be found at
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=461301&group_id=50878&func=browse

I hope the documentation enables you to incorporate into the Delphi.NET
project, especially into the DotNetExec unit.

I would like you to state what you expect of the project and what you would
like to do/improve.



Marcus