bubbles - sample client-server application using SolidFrame

Exemplifies how to use SolidFrame mpipc library in a secured (SSL) client-server scenario.

client/android is an example of how to use SolidFrame framework and especially the solid::frame::mpipc library allong with BoringSSL and Snappy in an Android Java application.
client/ios is and example of how to use SolidFrame allong with BoringSSL and Snappy as CocoaPods in an iOS Swift application.

Insight

bubbles is a client-server application. It consists of:

a server (runs on Linux/macOS/FreeBSD)
a client running on
- Linux - using Qt for GUI
- macOS - using Qt for GUI
- Windows - using Qt for GUI
- Android - using Java Native Interface
- iOS - interfacing with Swift via CocoaPods

The client

The client displays multiple moving bubbles:

one bigger bubble - the personal one which can be moved by the user (via mouse or touch) and/or automatically by a bubble "auto pilot".
other smaller bubbles, one for every other client registered on the same room on the server.

So, every client will display in real time all the bubbles in a room at the position in the client they originate in.


Linux:

macOS & Android Emulator & iOS Simulator:

Windows:

Implementation

The frontend is implemented using either

Qt (for desktop clients);
Java for Android application;
Swift for iOS application.

The backend engine is implemented in C++ and relies on

solid_frame libraries (especially solid_frame_mpipc for communication)
OpenSSL (for desktop) / BoringSSL (for Android and iOS) - to secure the communication
snappy for all versions - to compress communication

The server

keeps multiple connections grouped by the room they registered onto
register clients giving them an unique per room color
receives position updates from all the clients and further
pushes the updates to all other clients in the room

Implementation

The server is a C++ application using solid_frame libraries (most important solid_frame_mpipc for communication), OpenSSL to secure communication and boost for parsing command line parameters.

Workflow

the client connects to the server and registers on a room using either a given color or requesting a new color
the server will respond with a unique color (which may not be the requested one) and push to the client the positions and colors of all other bubbles in the room
the client will start displaying the bubbles
the client will send its initial bubble position
the client will continue sending the personal bubble position when it changes
the server will continue to push other bubbles position changes to the client.

Getting started ...

... with the server ...

... on Linux/macOS/FreeBSD

SolidFrame can be use either installed:

$ mkdir ~/work
$ cd ~/work
$ git clone git@github.com:vipalade/solidframe.git
$ mkdir extern
$ cd external
$ ../solidframe/prerequisites/prepare_extern.sh
# ... wait until the prerequisites are built
$ cd ../solidframe
$ ./configure -e ~/work/external --prefix ~/work/external
$ cd build/release
# makes and installs solidframe in ~/work/external
$ make install
# clone bubbles
$ cd ~/work
$ git clone https://github.com/vipalade/bubbles.git
$ cd ~/work/bubbles/
$ mkdir -p build/debug
$ cd build/debug
# only use the external folder
$ cmake -DEXTERNAL_PATH=~/work/external ../../
$ cd server/main
$ make

or it can be used directly from the directory it was built:

$ mkdir ~/work
$ cd ~/work
$ git clone git@github.com:vipalade/solidframe.git
$ mkdir external
$ cd external
$ ../solidframe/prerequisites/prepare_extern.sh
# ... wait until the prerequisites are built
$ cd ../solidframe
$ ./configure -e ~/work/external
$ cd build/release
$ make
# clone bubbles
$ cd ~/work
$ git clone https://github.com/vipalade/bubbles.git
$ cd ~/work/bubbles/
$ mkdir -p build/release
$ cd build/release
$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=release -DEXTERNAL_PATH=~/work/external -DSolidFrame_DIR=~/work/solidframe/build/release ../../
$ cd server/main
$ make

run the server with secure communication enabled:

$ ./bubbles_server -p 4444

or, run the server with plain communication:

$ ./bubbles_server -p 4444 -s 0

... with Qt client ...

... on Linux/macOS/FreeBSD

First you'll need to download precompiled Qt from here:

$ cd ~/work/external
$ curl -L -O http://download.qt.io/official_releases/qt/5.9/5.9.2/qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.9.2.run
$ chmod +x qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.9.2.run
$ ./qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.9.2.run
# ... follow the installation steps, and install qt (only "Desktop gcc 64-bit" is needed) in ~/work/external/qt/

Next, you'll have to install Qt dependencies. E.g. on Fedora:

$ sudo dnf install mesa-libGL-devel

next, configure the bubbles build to also compile the Qt client:

$ cd ~/work/bubbles/
$ cd build/release
# reconfigure with path to QtWidget:
$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=release -DEXTERNAL_PATH=~/work/external -DSolidFrame_DIR=~/work/solidframe/build/release -DQt5Widgets_DIR=~/work/external/qt/5.9.2/gcc_64/lib/cmake/Qt5Widgets ../../
$ cd client/qt
$ make

finally, run the client with secure communication:

# launch multiple bubbles clients:
$ ./bubbles_client -c localhost:4444 &
$ ./bubbles_client -c localhost:4444 &
$ ./bubbles_client -c localhost:4444 &
$ ./bubbles_client -c localhost:4444 &

or, run the client with plain communication:

# launch multiple bubbles clients:
$ ./bubbles_client -c localhost:4444 -s 0 &
$ ./bubbles_client -c localhost:4444 -s 0 &
$ ./bubbles_client -c localhost:4444 -s 0 &
$ ./bubbles_client -c localhost:4444 -s 0 &

Launching the clients without any parameters will try to connect to a default internet server (not always online!).

... on Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2017

Prerequisites:

Visual Studio 2017
CMake
Git for Windows - the build workflow uses Git Bash so it must be installed
Perl for Windows - it is needed to build OpenSSL for Windows. Windows Git Bash installation also comes with perl but it won't work with OpenSSL build.
Qt for Windows
SolidFrame

Install Qt:

Download and run the Qt installer.
A minimum installation should contain the "Qt 5.10.1" -> "MSVC 2017 64-bit" pre-built binaries.
Next we suppose that Qt installation folder is "c:\qt".
Add "C:\qt\5.10.1\msvc2017_64\bin" to system path environment variable - this is needed for Qt*.dll search.

Next are all the commands needed to build bubbles_client Qt application on Windows with all the prerequisites issued in a Git Bash console:

$ mkdir ~/work
$ cd ~/work
$ mkdir external
$ git clone https://github.com/vipalade/solidframe.git
$ git clone https://github.com/vipalade/bubbles.git
$ cd external
$ ../solidframe/prerequisites/run_in_vs2017_env.sh amd64 bash
$ ../solidframe/prerequisites/prepare_external.sh --boost --openssl --64bit
$ cd ../solidframe
$ ./configure -b maintain -f vsmnt64 -e ~/work/external -g "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64"
$ cd build/vsmnt64
# only build the libraries
$ cmake --build . --config release --target libraries
# move to bubbles folder
$ cd ~/work/bubbles
$ mkdir -p build/vsmnt64
$ cd build/vsmnt64
$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=maintain -DEXTERNAL_PATH=~/work/external -DSolidFrame_DIR=~/work/solidframe/build/vsmnt64/ -DQt5Widgets_DIR=/c/qt/5.10.1/msvc2017_64/lib/cmake/Qt5Widgets -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64" ../../
$ cmake --build . --config release --target bubbles_client

finally, run the application from Git Bash:

$ release/bubbles_client &
$ release/bubbles_client &
$ release/bubbles_client &
$ release/bubbles_client &

... with Android client

$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/vipalade/bubbles.git

load bubbles/client/android project in Android Studio >= 3.0 (tested on macOS and Linux)
run the application from there either within emulator or on phisical device.

NOTES

BoringSSL and SolidFrame libraries are used as git modules (i.e. the CMakeLists.txt of the native lib (client/android/app/CMakeLists.txt) directly embeds the CMakeList.txt files of BoringSSL and SolidFrame.
snappy on the other hand is used as an external project (using ExternalProject_Add).
Although all libraries can be built as external projects, I'll maintain this status quo as an example of how to use git modules.
Lesson learned: For the ExternalProject_Add with snappy to work propperly (i.e. the native-lib to be able to link with libsnappy.a), I had to add "BUILD_BYPRODUCTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/external/lib/libsnappy.a" field to ExternalProject_Add.
Lesson learned: Building BoringSSL needs Go Programming Language to be installed on the sistem. So, when building Bubbles from within AndroidStudio, Go will be called via gradle -> cmake and at this point Go has to, somehow be in the PATH variable. This seems not to be a problem when running Android Studio on Linux, but on macOS, Go installs itself in PATH environment variable available from the Terminal but it is not available from applications - like Android Studio. The simplest solution is to launch Android Studio application from a terminal.

... with iOS client

First, one needs to have CocoaPods installed:

$ sudo gem install cocoapods

$ git clone https://github.com/vipalade/bubbles.git
$ cd bubbles/client/ios/bubbles
$ pod install
$ open bubbles.xcworkspace

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README.md

README.md

bubbles - sample client-server application using SolidFrame

Insight

The client

Implementation

The server

Implementation

Workflow

Getting started ...

... with the server ...

... on Linux/macOS/FreeBSD

... with Qt client ...

... on Linux/macOS/FreeBSD

... on Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2017

... with Android client

NOTES

... with iOS client

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

bubbles - sample client-server application using SolidFrame

Insight

The client

Implementation

The server

Implementation

Workflow

Getting started ...

... with the server ...

... on Linux/macOS/FreeBSD

... with Qt client ...

... on Linux/macOS/FreeBSD

... on Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2017

... with Android client

NOTES

... with iOS client