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Windows client test tool (.NET)

The external client test tool is a .NET application that enables the user to connect/subscribe/unsubscribe to a Diffusion™ server. It allows for many different connection types (for example, HTTP/DPTS), and also allows for the composition and sending of messages.

Below is the Connection tab of the external client test tool; this contains all of the facilities required to establish a connection to the Diffusion server.

Figure 1. Windows™ client test tool: Connection tab
Screenshot of the Connection tab. The tab has the following sections: Details, Topics, and Ping. The Details section contains a list of servers that can be filtered and a Server Details panel that contains the following information about the selected server: Name, Connection timeout, TCP keep alive interval, URL, User name, Password, and Auto acknowledge. The Details section also has buttons Connect, Disconnect, Reconnect, Credentials, and Options. The Topics section contains a dropdown list of topics, the option Auto subscribe, and the buttons Subscribe and Unsubscribe. The Ping section contains the following fields: Elapsed, Average, Queue Size, Number, and Interval.

Additional topics can be subscribed at any time subsequent to connection by entering the topic names in the topics field and clicking the Subscribe button. The converse action (unsubscription) can be performed with the Unsubscribe button.

You can issue a server ping from this client. The elapsed time is indicated in the relevant fields, along with a rolling average.

If connection credentials are required to subscribe to a particular topic, these can be entered in the Credentials section. They can also be sent retrospectively using the Credentials button.

Various connection options are available to the user by clicking the Options button:

Auto failover

After a connection to Diffusion is placed, if the connection fails and if there is a pool of server details to pick from, the next set of server details is chosen and connection placed to the next server.

Cascade

When the client software attempts to place a connection, if the connection attempt fails, the next set of server details in the list is chosen and used. It is similar to Auto Failover except this logic is applied prior to a connection, whereas Auto Failover is applied once a connection is in place.

Load balance

If Load Balance is set, the list of server details is shuffled prior to use.

Restore state when reconnecting

If connection to Diffusion is lost, and the server has been configured accordingly, the client reconnects and receives any messages that have been missed when the connection failed.

Once subscribed to a topic, you can send messages to either that specific topic, or any registered topic, using the Send tab:

Figure 2. Windows client test tool: Send tab
Screenshot of the Send tab. The Send tab contains the following fields that can be used to specify the information sent in a message: Topic, Encoding, Acknowledge time, Headers, Message (8 bytes), number of times to send, frequency, and prefix. The Send tab also has the buttons Send, Fetch, and Stop.

As can also be seen, you can compose a message containing headers; these can be added using the convenient toolbar to the side of the main headers area. You can also send a message multiple times by incrementing the edit field at the bottom of the message composition area.

Any received messages from the Diffusion server are shown in the Messages tab as shown in the following figure:

Figure 3. Windows client test tool: Messages tab
Screenshot of the Messages tab. The tab shows an expanded tree view. The tree contains the topic "Echo". The messages are displayed below the topics they were sent on.

Messages are displayed in a true hierarchical format, so deeply-nested topics will be relatively easy to locate and analyze.

If a high volume of messages is expected from the Diffusion server, you can filter the number of messages by adjusting the Update message list value. You can disable message updates completely by clicking the checkbox.

You can view logging information generated by the .NET libraries:

The logging type and level can be adjusted using the Preferences option on the main menu.