CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ruby-on-railscinterface
asc99c
asc99c

Reputation: 3905

Best option for C / Ruby interfacing

I've got a Ruby on Rails application, which needs to communicate with a backend C application, and I'm wondering what the consensus is for the best approach is to this.

The two applications will run on separate servers, with the Rails application on a (partially) public web address. The C application is entirely within a firewall. For security reasons, I don't want them sharing a database. My initial approach is that web services is the right way to go.

Firstly, am I missing any potentially better alternatives to my web services assumption?

Secondly, while I've got plenty of experience using SOAP from C with gSOAP (and importantly, so does the person who will be writing the C-side!), Ruby on Rails prefers the REST model.

But what exactly does a RESTful interface from C code entail? Is there anything like gSOAP that does RESTFUL interfaces from C?

Does anyone have a feeling which is the path of least resistance here?

EDIT: forgot to mention that the C application does already have a web interface using Aapche / CGI.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 263

Answers (1)

ccoakley
ccoakley

Reputation: 3255

For C calling Rails, libcurl is probably not too bad an option. Making REST calls is pretty simple, since it's mostly url via string concatenation plus form-encoding. Examples are abundant:

http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/c/example.html

If you need Rails to C via REST ... ugh. Perhaps Apache and straight cgi? Or just wrap it in it's own rails app and do the calls directly from that app? Seriously, If you need Rails to C via REST, I hope you get a good answer.

Upvotes: 1

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