Android client / Windows Server with Protobuf format ?

[Bob Velis]

I'm looking for middleware based on ProtoBufs format for :
Android Clients / Windows Server.

How can I access the ZeroC detailed implementation for evaluation ?

Thanks in advance.

[mes]

Hi Bob,

Welcome to the forum!

You can use protocol buffers with the current Ice for Android release. Ice for Android requires the slice2java compiler from Ice 3.3.0 or later, but I recommend using Ice 3.3.1 because the Slice compilers in this release have built-in support for protocol buffers.

Regards,
Mark

[bernard]

Hi Bob,

Pretty much all our software is available for download from our web site, in particular Ice and the Ice for Android lab project.

You will use Ice on your Windows Server and Ice for Android on your Android device or emulator. And while you can exchange messages in Protobuf format between your Ice client and server, it could be simpler to start with "plain" Ice messages described in Slice.

Best regards,
Bernard

[Bob Velis]

Hi!

Thank you for your answer.
I tried the example IceAndroid-0.1.1.zip.

The part java/... works fine with ant building!
But the part android/demo/hello was problematic for ant and Eclipse.

I tried without problem some others rpc experimental implementations on protobufs.

The version 0.1.1 of IceAndroid shows no production product ?
I think you give privilege for other smartphone (iPhone) and ZeroC effort ("lab") on Android is delayed...

Best Regards,
Bob.

[bernard]

Hi Bob,

After this successful build, were you able to exchange Protobuf messages between your Android phone and Windows server?

It's actually not clear to me why you want to use Protobuf messages here. Are you integrating with an existing application or library that provides Protobuf messages? If not, why pick Protobuf over regular Ice datatypes (such as structs)?

We released a production-quality product for the iPhone before Android because there is more interest in commercial application development for the iPhone than for Android. If you need a production-quality Ice for Android for your commercial product, please contact sales@zeroc.com.

Thanks,
Bernard