Distributed Object Protocol specification

This protocol is designed to distribute and mutate JSON between nodes using patches that are sent via Remote Procedure Calls (RPC).

It is a thin layer on top of your data network that helps you communicate nodes using RPCs. It is also a pattern that makes easy, update, mutate or even sync the state of your system.

Is important to point out that DOP does not handle data sync or conflict resolutions. It is not a CRDT or OT protocol.

1. Remote Procedure Calls

2. Patches

3. Types

Remote Procedure Calls

Request

// Format
[<request_id>, <rpc_id>, [<argument1>, <argument2>, ...]]

// Example
[1, 1, ["user@mail.com", "password1234"]]

• <request_id> An integer greater than 0 (zero).

• <rpc_id> A number or string that represent the id of the rpc previously defined that has to be runned.

• <argument> Any value.

Response

// Format
[-<request_id>, <response_state>, <response_value>]

// Resolve example
[-1, 0, { "name":"John Doe", "age":30 }]

// Reject example
[-1, "Invalid email"]

• <request_id> An integer lower than 0 (zero). Is just the request_id used on the request but in negative.

• <response_state> If state is 0 (zero) means the request it has been resolved. Any other case means a rejection.

• <response_value> Can be any value. But is only defined if the response_value is equal to 0 (zero). Which means is a valid response.

If the request is rejected as 0 (zero) the implementation must convert it to null.

Request without response

This is useful when it does not need a response. Like a push notification.

// Format
[0, <rpc_id>, [<argument1>, <argument2>, ...]]

// Example
[0, 1, {event: "USER_CONNECTED", data: { "nick":"Enzo","at":"30 Nov 2019 14:18:31" }}]

• <rpc_id> An integer that represent the id of the rpc previously defined that has to be runned.

• <argument> Any value.

Patches

A Patch describes changes to be made to a target JSON document using a syntax that closely mimics the document being modified.

Examples

ORIGINAL	PATCH	RESULT
{"a":"b"}	{"a":"c"}	{"a":"c"}
{"a":"b"}	{"b":"c"}	{"a":"b","b":"c"}
{"a":"b"}	{"a":{"$d":0}}	{}
{"a":"b","b":"c"}	{"a":{"$d":0}}	{"b":"c"}
{"a":["b"]}	{"a":"c"}	{"a":"c"}
{"a":"c"}	{"a":["b"]}	{"a":["b"]}
{"a": {"b":"c"}}	{"a":{"b":"d","c":{"$d":0}}}	{"a": {"b":"d"}}
{"a":[{"b":"c"}]}	{"a": [1]}	{"a": [1]}
["a","b"]	["c","d"]	["c","d"]
{"a":"b"}	["c"]	["c"]
{"a":"foo"}	{"a":null}	{"a":null}
{"a":"foo"}	null	null
{"a":"foo"}	"bar"	"bar"
{"e":{"$d":0}}	{"a":1}	{"e":{"$d":0},"a":1}
"string"	{"a":"b","c":{"$d":0}}	{"a":"b"}
{}	{"a":{"bb":{"ccc":{"$d":0}}}}	{"a":{"bb":{}}}
{"a":{"b":"c","d":"e"}}	{"a":{"$e":{"f":"g"}}	{"a":{"f":"g"}
[1,2,3]	[4]	[4]
[1,2,3]	{"3": 4}	[1,2,3,4]
[1,2,3]	{"length": 1}	[1]

Types

Rpc

KEY: $r

It defines a remote rpc that can be used later to make a remote procedure call.

{ "$r": <rpc_id> }

Examples

// Original
{}

// Patch
{ "loginUser": { "$r": 975 } }

// Result in Javascript
{ "loginUser": function(){} }

Delete

KEY: $d

Removes a property from target.

Examples

// Original
{ "a": "b" }

// Patch
{ "a": { "$d": 0 } }

// Result
{}

Replace

KEY: $e

Replaces objects at the target location with a new object.

{ "$e": <new_object> }

Examples

// Original
{ "data": { "a": 1, "b": 2 } }

// Patch
{ "data": { "$e": { "c": 3 } } }

// Result
{ "data": { "c": 3 } }

Splice

KEY: $s

Swap

KEY: $w

Multi

KEY: $m

Valid types syntax

Types are always defined as an Object with only one key and value. The key name must have the dollar character at the beginning.

{ "$clone": 0 }

{ "$clone": { "more":"data" } }

{ "$push": ["any", "JSON", "value"] }

Invalid types syntax

{ "mytype": 0 }

{ "$clone": 0, "$more":"data" }

Escape

To do