From: Matt Todd Date: 2007-12-17T14:59:16+09:00 Subject: [ANN] Halcyon 0.3.7 = Halcyon == JSON Server App Framework Halcyon is a JSON Web App Server Framework built on Rack for speed and light weight. For more information, read the RDocs: http://halcyon.rubyforge.org/doc/ === Announcement I'm pleased to release the very first public version of Halcyon, version 0.3.7, an alpha release candidate. * Release Name: halcyon-0.3.7 * Notes: The RDocs are very thorough (at least, for such a young project). Read through them! * Changes: Initial Alpha-quality release. Changes in this version: initial project structuring and design; server implementation with routing, modular action grouping, pure JSON request/response data, commandline utility to aid in running Halcyon server apps; client implementation, able to communicate with the server directly. == Dependencies * Rack >= 0.2.0 * JSON >= 1.1.1 * Merb >= 0.4.0 Halcyon is built on top of Rack for swift delivery of very small informational payloads transmitted through JSON. Merb routes are employed to make designing app structures easier with routes. = From the Readme == Quick start There's not much to Halcyon. I've put a good deal of time into fleshing out the RDocs so check out the documentation and the example directory. Halcyon is the sister project of Aurora SAS, a simple authentication server to manage authentication, session management, and user roles and permissions. It is still very early in development (as Halcyon was a prerequisite) but there should be some interesting code from that project to let you see just what Halcyon is capable. Stay tuned! == Installing with RubyGems A Gem of Halcyon is available. You can install it with: $ sudo gem install halcyon == Usage The halcyon command will assist you for running the server. Just run: $ halcyon -d -p 3800 example/simple You may need to cd into the project directory, or, alternatively, you can cp the files out into your tmp folder and work from there. If you'd like to just cd, +gem which halcyon+ will tell you where to find the Gem directory. Once you've gotten the server running, pull open your browser, point it to localhost:3800/ and see what happens. Take a look at the source and try to access the other routes and see how things work. Notice the response in the browser. Once you've familiarized yourself with that, kill the server (Ctl+Z) and start it again without the debugging switch: -d. (+halcyon -h+ for usage help.) $ halcyon -p 3800 example/simple Now pull it up again in the browser. You'll notice right away that it blocks all access from any user agent that doesn't meet its requirements (but debug mode disabled that feature). The good news about that is that it reduces a lot of the garbage signals that a normal server might have to endure, but since we're working with specialized applications, it's perfectly reasonable to be very stingy about who we talk to. Now, pull up IRB and require RubyGems and Halcyon (as halcon/client). Now run the following: >> require 'example/simple.client' >> s = Simple.new >> s.greet("Matt") >> s.get("/hello/Matt") >> s.url_for('greet', :name => 'John') And that is some very simple stuff you can do with the Client library. The Client library is meant to be used in larger applications where a fraction of functionality requires smaller and faster updates or quicker responses in a lightweight protocol, perfect for sending authentication information (over secure channels, of course) or getting updates on various monitoring sources. Read more in the RDocs, there's a lot more there to find out. The best way to learn, though, is to play, and I like to play, so, go for it. == Contact Please mail bugs, suggestions and patches to . You are also welcome to join the halcyon channel on irc.freenode.net. Our website will be up and running soon (I hope), so keep an eye out on halcyon.rubyforge.org/. We will also have a mailing list in the future, but for now you can join us on IRC. == License and Copyright Copyright (C) 2007 Matt Todd . Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. == Links Halcyon: Aurora: Rack: JSON: Matt Todd: