RE: Protocol Bridge

[Kevin Hawkins]

Hi Glenn,

I've done most of this - but a slightly different way. There is an
xPL application called xPLHAL which is their hub/configuration/script
engine. There is also now a xAP hub built in to this and the traffic
between
the two is scriptable (VB script). There are a couple of gotchas still re
the scripting in that xPLHAL only works as a xAP hub (not client) but Tony
has that down on what I'm sure is a very long todo list. So xPLHAL would
have to be your xAP hub (not Stuarts new GUI hub) but now 'Viewer' is here
you can use that to see all the traffic.

I have scripts for xPLHAL to bridge all xPL traffic to xAP. No
information is lost in doing this but because xAP has extra features in say
the source addressing, hardware subs, UID's and multiple bodies the reverse
can't be done effectively. There are some policy level issues with say the
configuration mechanism that xPL uses that I don't translate.

Alongside general bridging I specifically support some intelligent
mapping of xPL schema to xAP schema for say PC OSD (which xPL lacked at the
time) and also Tony's DigiGuide plugin which I use. This recreates the
hardware subs for the different channels for example. This I feel would be
the easiest way to utilise the xPL Rio stuff if you wanted as the 'script'
code is end user adaptable within xPLHAl, which allows for people to add
their own support for xPL devices. Really you could just add a Rio script
to
what I have done.

However a specific app using the xPL OCX would cut down on the
number of 'bits' and could serve a fixed purpose if Rio is all you wanted.

My OSD bridge script is within the xPL files area - and also in
their 'how to's' I think, there's even a few instructions to utilise say
James' Watcher application from xPL. The DigiGuide and general bridge
scripts are just something I use here but happy to make them available (to
anyone) upon request - just send me an email.

Kevin


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sullivan, Glenn [mailto:<a
href="/group/xAP_developer/post?postID=s4ftF84hGwxa93HBClS2mhKZK8iP8WxDhDw9IbMxelPddCnlKWV-n_ud_KVleXOHAh0BbKCXUwHlHk8Hsim1UqM">gsullivan@d...</a>]
> Sent: 18 December 2003 13:59
> To: <a
href="/group/xAP_developer/post?postID=SLnrs3MgubKeeZJktEoljqj5tAsZL9ig_raBeo7ihQOXKorr0h3dtnbvVQkgtgDdRNZ6OWzqkwy5ixfSVbevc7l8WVE">'xAP_developer@xxxxxxx</a>'
> Subject: [xAP_developer] Protocol Bridge
>
> Since my C skills suck, I'll move on to the next one, for
> which I thought of an "alpha" solution.
>
> Tony Toft has already done most of the work with the Rio
> to get it to accept/send xPL commands.
>
> I'm thinking of grapping their OCX, and Stuarts framework,
> and bodging together a xPL/xAP converter, albeit for this
> schema only. That way I could send a xAP Message, and
> this program could grab it, create the appropriate xPL
> message, and dump it to the Rio. And, on the flip side,
> if this program hears a xPL message from the Rio, it can
> create the corresponding xAP message and dump it onto the wire.
>
> I just realized I used the word Bodge in a regular
> sentence... damn 'Scrap Heap' or whatever you guys call
> Junkyard Wars over there. (Go Nosher!)
>
> Anyway, I'll report back with progress... I guess I've got
> to get Tony's software running first.
>
> Glenn Sullivan, MCSE+I MCDBA
> David Clark Company Inc.
>
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