NOTE: All credit for this code goes to Crast in irc.freenode.net:#django...


{{{
#!python
# Patchless XMLRPC Service for Django
# Kind of hacky, and stolen from Crast on irc.freenode.net:#django
# Self documents as well, so if you call it from outside of an XML-RPC Client
# it tells you about itself and its methods
#
# Brendan W. McAdams <brendan.mcadams@thewintergrp.com>

# SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher lets us register xml-rpc calls w/o
# running a full XMLRPC Server.  It's up to us to dispatch data

from SimpleXMLRPCServer import SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher
from django.http import HttpResponse

# Create a Dispatcher; this handles the calls and translates info to function maps
#dispatcher = SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher() # Python 2.4
dispatcher = SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher(allow_none=False, encoding=None) # Python 2.5

 

def rpc_handler(request):
	"""
	the actual handler:
	if you setup your urls.py properly, all calls to the xml-rpc service
	should be routed through here.
	If post data is defined, it assumes it's XML-RPC and tries to process as such
	Empty post assumes you're viewing from a browser and tells you about the service.
	"""

	if len(request.POST):
                response = HttpResponse(mimetype="application/xml")
		response.write(dispatcher._marshaled_dispatch(request.raw_post_data))
	else:
                response = HttpResponse()
		response.write("<b>This is an XML-RPC Service.</b><br>")
		response.write("You need to invoke it using an XML-RPC Client!<br>")
		response.write("The following methods are available:<ul>")
		methods = dispatcher.system_listMethods()

		for method in methods:
			# right now, my version of SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher always
			# returns "signatures not supported"... :(
			# but, in an ideal world it will tell users what args are expected
			sig = dispatcher.system_methodSignature(method)

			# this just reads your docblock, so fill it in!
			help =  dispatcher.system_methodHelp(method)

			response.write("<li><b>%s</b>: [%s] %s" % (method, sig, help))

		response.write("</ul>")
		response.write('<a href="http://www.djangoproject.com/"> <img src="http://media.djangoproject.com/img/badges/djangomade124x25_grey.gif" border="0" alt="Made with Django." title="Made with Django."></a>')

	response['Content-length'] = str(len(response.content))
	return response

def multiply(a, b):
	"""
	Multiplication is fun!
	Takes two arguments, which are multiplied together.
	Returns the result of the multiplication!
	"""
	return a*b

# you have to manually register all functions that are xml-rpc-able with the dispatcher
# the dispatcher then maps the args down.
# The first argument is the actual method, the second is what to call it from the XML-RPC side...
dispatcher.register_function(multiply, 'multiply')
}}}

add the following to urls.py

{{{
urlpatterns = patterns('',
    (r'^xml_rpc_srv$', 'your_path.rpc_handler'),
)
}}}

That's it!

You can pretty much write a standard python function in there, just be sure to register it with the dispatcher when you're done.  

Here's a quick and dirty client example for testing:

{{{
#!python
import sys
import xmlrpclib
rpc_srv = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy("http://localhost:8000/xml_rpc_srv/")
result = rpc_srv.multiply( int(sys.argv[1]), int(sys.argv[2]))
print "%d * %d = %d" % (sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2], result)
}}}

Based on experience, I do recommend that you use Dictionaries for your args rather than long args, but I think that's personal preference (It allows named arguments, eliminates 'out of order' argument issues and it makes the code more self-documenting).

Have fun!

- [mailto:bwmcadams@NOSPAM.gmail.com  Brendan W. McAdams <bwmcadams@NOSPAM.gmail.com>]

----

I wrote up [http://www.personal-api.com/train/2007/feb/01/pingbacks-xml-rpc-and-django/ a modified version of the XML-RPC view] that uses a template for documentation. -- [mailto:hackerblinks+django@gmail.com Adam Blinkinsop <hackerblinks+django@gmail.com>]
 
(''Link is no longer valid. Author any chance for update it?'')
----

I've taken the basics of the SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher above and have turned it into a distributable Django app, [https://launchpad.net/django-xmlrpc django_xmlrpc]. -- [mailto:graham.binns+django-xmlrpc@gmail.com Graham Binns]

----

I've wrote [http://code.google.com/p/django-pingback pingback implementation] on top of this XML-RPC dispatcher. --[http://piranha.org.ua/about/ Alexander Solovyov]

----

== Testing your XML-RPC views using the Django test client ==

I wrote up a small how-to on how to test your XML-RPC views using [http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/testing/#the-test-client the Django test client] as an XML-RPC transport: [http://www.technobabble.dk/2008/apr/02/xml-rpc-dispatching-through-django-test-client/]
 -- Christian Joergensen

----

Using the SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher above and integrating it with a JSONRPCDispatcher, I created a Django application that can handle both XMLRPC and JSONRPC requests. It uses a customizable Django template for self-documentation.

- [http://pypi.python.org/pypi/rpc4django rpc4django]
- [mailto:rpc4django@gmail.com David Fischer]