Framework for Synchronization Communication

[Positronics]

I have been working on a raid loot distribution and DKP management mod for a while. Apparently the mod utilises the chat channel extensively for communication between the raid members and the loot master.

During the course of development, I turned out to have spent quite some time creating a reusable framework for synchronization through a single channel.

I thought that after all this time spent the framework become quite easy now to implement in virtually any new mods which require syncing through a channel. The mod dev can just define the sync command and create the handling function, without having to worry about the communication bit.

Features of this framework include:
- Basic XOR encryption of all string sent to prevent casual spoofing.
- Large string transmission (yes, it does transmit strings longer than the 255-char limit) This is done by automatic separation of the string into "chunks" of 245 characters, each chunk with an identification header.
- Unique key for each set of string. This is to verify integrity of data especially when the response is specified to a particular request, and also to verify that all data chunks are received before re-merging.
- Easy definition of new sync commands. This is simply a matter of mapping the command word of choice to the name of the function which handles the command. (eg. TblCommands["NEWCMD"]="HandlingFunction_1" will redirect all chat message with command "NEWCMD" to function "HandlingFunction_1" for processing, etc.)


As shown here, the addon transmits long string, encoded in hex XOR'd format. The header "nj4ma/1" sets the command's unique key to nj4ma and /1 tells the client that this is the first chunk, likewise "nj4ma/2" tells the addon that it's the second chunk. Notice the last chunk is indicated by a semicolon at its end. The addon reads through chunk#1 through to the number ending with semicolon of the same key to find any nil value (which means missing chunk, and it will request the missing one again), and if none it will combine them together and de-XOR into the original command. (Commands are input as table of parameters which is automatically parsed into one-line text)

I don't know whether anyone else has done something like this before or not, but if you guys think this will be useful in your development then I am willing to publish the communication bit alone for reuse (mainly because I think the hours I spent on the communication bit shouldn't be wasted entirely into my humble DKP mod). But if no one will use it then I won't bother, you guys say it.

[Positronics]

Just in case you don't get what I meant exactly, here's some simple working example:

Suppose your mod needs to send the user's current target name, its %hp, and its class to everyone in the same sync channel. All you have to do are:

Step 1: Define your command. To do this, map the keyword you want to use to identify your command to the function you create to handle it. Do this just like when you define a global variable outside a function.

CommMod_Command["TARGETINFO"]="MyMod_ProcessTarget";

Step 2: Create the handler. Your handler should be in the format of:

function MyMod_ProcessTarget(from,data)
     DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(from.." targets "..data["param"]["name"].." processing now!");
     <your procedures, process the info, etc, blah blah blah>
end

Where "from" is the character name who sent the data, and "data" is the table of the following format:

data = {
     ["cmd"]="TARGETINFO",
     ["key"]=<unique key>,
     ["param"]={
          ["name"]="Ragnaros",
          ["hp"]=36,
          ["class"]="Warrior"
     }
}

Which can readily be used without any further manipulation. Of course, the number of parameters within ["param"] can be of any number of your choice.

Step 3: Create a function to send the data. This is simple, just create a table of the same format said before (without the key, which is generated automatically upon transmission), then pass the table to the send function in the communication mod.

function SendTargetInfo()
     myTable["cmd"]="TARGETINFO";
     myTable["param"]["name"]=UnitName("target");
     <add more parameters and values, blah blah blah>
     
     CommMod_TransmitTable(myTable);
end

The channel used is set through the communication mod so you don't have to worry about it. You don't even have to hook the CHAT_MSG_CHANNEL event since it's all done through the framework.
------------------------
Hope you get the idea of what I'm on about here. Shoot feedback away.

[Voista]

Very very nice work.

[Voista]

Shot you a private message. Please reply.. would love to check out/admire your hard work.

[Zeraph]

Oh wow, this looks really really useful!
Please do post it, I might want to use this some time in a mod, I do not know what for exactly yet, but I know it's going to come in handy sometime. maybe you could make it into a kind of "dependency only" mod?

[Blackal]

I sent you a PM as well. I would love to see this mod and integrate it into a mod I am working on!

Thanks!