= xmlrpc-endpoint

Rails has native support for xmlrpc.  Most people are familiar with the 'xmlrpc/client' library.  The 'xmlrpc/server' library examples mostly make an assumption that you will run a standalone server.

xmlrpc-endpoint allows you to instead expose normal Rails controller methods via XMLRPC, tied to an xmlrpc endpoint route in your app.

Install

  gem install xmlrpc-endpoint
  config.gem "xmlrpc-endpoint" (inside environment.rb Rails::Initializer block)
            -- OR --
  ./script/plugin install git://github.com/wkoffel/xmlrpc-endpoint.git
  
Setup your environment

  # set up a route to the controller action "xe_index" in your routes.rb file
  # (this "xe_index" action will be created for you by the xmlrpc-endpoint, the route must point at 'xe_index' action to work)
  # In a future release, xmlrpc-endpoint may support auto-generation of this route, and customization
  
  map.connect 'api/xmlrpc', :controller => 'my_api_controller', :action => 'xe_index'

Add this code to your controller:

  class MyApiController < ApplicationController
    exposes_xmlrpc_methods
    
    def hello_world
      puts "Hello XMLRPC."
    end
  end

Then, pointing an XMLRPC client at the defined route, your normal controller actions will handle the requests.

  require 'xmlrpc/client'
  server = XMLRPC::Client.new2("http://localhost:3000/api/xmlrpc")
  server.call("hello_world")

To use a custom namespace prefix on all exposed methods (for example, if using someone else's specified protocol like MetaWeblog[http://www.xmlrpc.com/metaWeblogApi]), declare a method_prefix:

  class MyApiController < ApplicationController
    exposes_xmlrpc_methods :method_prefix => "metaWeblog."
    
    # This method will be exposed externally as "metaWeblog.newPost()"
    def newPost(blogid, username, password, struct, publish)
    ...
    end
  end

Thanks to Nathan Crause for saving me some time on the details of avoiding the standalone server.
http://nathan.crause.name/entries/programming/xlm-rpc-under-ruby-on-rails

== Note on Patches/Pull Requests
 
* Fork the project.
* Make your feature addition or bug fix.
* Add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a
  future version unintentionally.
* Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history.
  (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)
* Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

== Copyright

Copyright (c) 2010 Will Koffel, released under the MIT license.