From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@...>
Date: 2010-11-01T19:05:16+09:00
Subject: Re: create a shell within an app

On 01.11.2010 07:19, Rahul Kumar wrote:
> I have a client application - often i am needing to explore/inspect the
> classes that I get from the server. Loading the client each time with a
> logger.debug statement is cumbersome and takes time due to server
> connections and getting data.
>
> I'd like to be able to expose the insides of the client to a shell
> (could be inside the client) or could connect to the client. It's an
> ncurses app, I can always prompt the user on clicking some key.
>
> However, my query is: how does one expose the environment to this shell.
> On the prompt given, I should be able to query objects just as in irb.
> e.g
>>> x.class
>>> x.public_methods
>>> x.name

IIRC you can embed IRC pretty easily.  The issue then might be how you 
limit access to areas of your application that should stay unchanged.

> Alternatively, is there already some existing gem which allows me to
> expose the internals to a port, so another irb-like client can connect
> and query the state ?

You might just listen on some port with TCPServer and implement a 
rudimentary command line interface which then can be connected to via 
telnet.  That shouldn't be too hard.  Depends on your requirements for 
security though.

Kind regards

	robert

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