[Feedback wanted] Move method call events under single event: 'methodCall'

[baalexander]

This came out of the discussion from Pull Request #56.

There was a need to be able to respond to a listening and close event from the XML-RPC server. However, server.on('listening') could cause a conflict if the XML-RPC method call's name was listening. One proposed solution is to change the API to something like:

server.on('methodCall', function(method, args) {
  // switch based on method name
});
server.on('listening', function() {
})
server.on('close', function() {
});
server.on('error', function(error) {
});

The disadvantage is a big API change. The advantage is other events can be emitted (listening, close, etc.) and not be confused with method names.

[timoxley]

Hm, this isn't what I was thinking at all. That switch you propose is messy.

This is what I was thinking:

server.on('listening', function() { }) server.on('close', function() { }); server.on('error', function(error) { });

// api calls are properties server.doSomething = function(param1, param2, callback) { // note lack of single params argument

}

This solves 3 gripes I have with the api at the moment:

1. Triggering methods off events, as discussed in #56
2. the err as first param in every method doesn't add much value (as far as I can see) since it appears to be fixed to null.
3. params as a single array in the arguments. They should come in as actual params to the method, with callback always being last param. This is a pretty common convention for node.

[baalexander]

The plan is for the API for 2.0 to look very similar to @timoxley's protocol above.

One tweak, from pull request #60, is there should be a way to listen to a method call without knowing the name. It could be an unhandled event if no property function, a methodCall that's always fired (but still handled via setting server.doSomething), or something else.

Edit: This unhandled-like event could allow for a 404 response or a custom response if needed.

[mbush92]

Any update on when 2.0 will be coming out or of there are still plans for a 2.0? We are building a rather large RPC library for use with industrial robots and like what I see in the posts above regarding a V2.0 as it would give us more control when we have multiple robots communicating to the RPC