Implement a FIDL client in Rust
Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with writing and running a Fuchsia component and with implementing a FIDL server, which are both covered in the [FIDL server][server-tut] tutorial. For the full set of FIDL tutorials, refer to the [overview][overview].
Overview
This tutorial implements a client for a FIDL protocol and runs it against the server created in the [previous tutorial][server-tut]. The client in this tutorial is asynchronous. There is an [alternate tutorial][sync-client] for synchronous clients.
If you want to write the code yourself, delete the following directories:
Create the component
Create a new component project at examples/fidl/rust/client:
- Add a
main()function toexamples/fidl/rust/client/src/main.rs:
- Declare a target for the client in
examples/fidl/rust/client/BUILD.gn:
{% includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/rust/client/BUILD.gn" region_tag="imports" %}
# Declare an executable for the client.
rustc_binary("bin") {
name = "fidl_echo_rust_client"
edition = "2018"
sources = [ "src/main.rs" ]
}
{% includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/rust/client/BUILD.gn" region_tag="rest" %}
- Add a component manifest in
examples/fidl/rust/client/meta/client.cml:
Note: The binary name in the manifest must match the output name of the
executable defined in the previous step.
{% includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/rust/client/meta/client.cml" region_tag="example_snippet" %}
- Once you have created your component, ensure that you can add it to the build configuration:
- Build the Fuchsia image:
Edit GN dependencies
- Add the following dependencies to the
rustc_binary:
{% includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/rust/client/BUILD.gn" region_tag="deps" %}
- Then, import them in
main.rs:
{% includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/rust/client/src/main.rs" region_tag="imports" %}
These dependencies are explained in the [server tutorial][server-tut].
Connect to the server {#main}
The steps in this section explain how to add code to the main() function
that connects the client to the server and makes requests to it.
Connect to the server
{% includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/rust/client/src/main.rs" region_tag="main" highlight="3,4" %}
Under the hood, this call triggers a sequence of events that starts on the client and traces through the server code from the previous tutorial.
- Initialize a client object, as well as a channel. The client object is bound to one end of the channel.
- Makes a request to the component framework containing the name of the service to connect to, and the
other end of the channel. The name of the service is obtained implicitly using the
SERVICE_NAMEofEchoMarkertemplate argument, similarly to how the service path is determined on the server end. - This client object is returned from
connect_to_protocol.
In the background, the request to the component framework gets routed to the server:
- When this request is received in the server process,
it wakes up the
async::Executorexecutor and tells it that theServiceFstask can now make progress and should be run. - The
ServiceFswakes up, sees the request available on the startup handle of the process, and looks up the name of the requested service in the list of(service_name, service_startup_func)provided through calls toadd_service,add_fidl_service, etc. If a matchingservice_nameexists, it callsservice_startup_funcwith the provided channel to connect to the new service. IncomingService::Echois called with aRequestStream(typed-channel) of theEchoFIDL protocol that is registered withadd_fidl_service. The incoming request channel is stored inIncomingService::Echoand is added to the stream of incoming requests.for_each_concurrentconsumes theServiceFsinto a [Stream] of typeIncomingService. A handler is run for each entry in the stream, which matches over the incoming requests and dispatches to therun_echo_server. The resulting futures from each call torun_echo_serverare run concurrently when theServiceFsstream isawaited.- When a request is sent on the channel, the channel the
Echoservice is becomes readable, which wakes up the asynchronous code in the body ofrun_echo_server.
Send requests to the server
The code makes two requests to the server:
- An
EchoStringrequest - A
SendStringrequest
{% includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/rust/client/src/main.rs" region_tag="main" highlight="6,7,8,9,10,11" %}
The call to EchoString returns a future, which resolves to the response returned by the server.
The returned future will resolve to an error if there is either an error sending the request or
receiving the response (e.g. when decoding the message, or if an epitaph was received).
On the other hand, the call to SendString returns a Result, since it is a fire and forget
method. This method call will return an error if there was an issue sending the request.
The [bindings reference][bindings-ref] describes how these proxy methods are generated, and the [Fuchsia rustdoc][rustdoc] includes documentation for the generated FIDL crates.
Handle incoming events
The code then waits for a single OnString event from the server:
{% includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/rust/client/src/main.rs" region_tag="main" highlight="12,13,14,15" %}
This is done by [taking the event stream][events] from the client object, then waiting for a single event from it.
Run the client
In order for the client and server to communicate using the Echo protocol,
component framework must route the fuchsia.examples.Echo capability from the
server to the client. For this tutorial, a [realm][glossary.realm] component is
provided to declare the appropriate capabilities and routes.
Note: You can explore the full source for the realm component at
//examples/fidl/echo-realm
-
Configure your build to include the provided package that includes the echo realm, server, and client:
-
Build the Fuchsia image:
-
Run the
echo_realmcomponent. This creates the client and server component instances and routes the capabilities: -
Start the
echo_clientinstance:
The server component starts when the client attempts to connect to the Echo
protocol. You should see output similar to the following in the device logs
(ffx log):
```none {:.devsite-disable-click-to-copy} [echo_server][][I] Listening for incoming connections... [echo_server][][I] Received EchoString request for string "hello" [echo_server][][I] Response sent successfully [echo_client][][I] response: "hello" [echo_server][][I] Received SendString request for string "hi" [echo_server][][I] Event sent successfully [echo_client][][I] Received OnString event for string "hi"
Terminate the realm component to stop execution and clean up the component
instances:
```posix-terminal
ffx component destroy /core/ffx-laboratory:echo_realm
glossary.realm /reference/fidl/bindings/rust-bindings.md events https://fuchsia-docs.firebaseapp.com/rust/ server-tutsync-clientoverview