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Version 12 (modified by davea, 17 years ago) (diff)
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Web Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs)

Web Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs)

BOINC projects export a number of Web RPCs for creating, querying and updating accounts and host records, and miscellaneous other purposes. These can be used for account management systems and credit statistics web sites.

BOINC's RPC mechanisms have the following conventions:

Each RPC is an HTTP GET transaction.
The input is the GET arguments, i.e. a string of the form

param1=val1&param2=val2&...&paramn=valn

where param1 ... paramN are the parameter names, and val1 ... valn are the values. Parameter values must be URL-encoded (for example, using PHP's urlencode function).

If an RPC fails, the returned XML document is

<error>
    <error_num>N</error_num>
    <error_string>xxx</error_string>
</error>

where N is a BOINC error number and xxx is a textual description. BOINC error numbers are in lib/error_numbers.h; common errors are:

-1

Generic error (error_string may have more info)

-112

Invalid XML (e.g., the preferences passed to am_set_info.php are invalid)

-136

Item not found in database (bad ID of any sort, or ID refers to an item not owned by the caller)

-137

Name is not unique (Can't create account because email address already in use, or can't create team because name is in use)

-138

Can't access database (treat same as -183)

-161

Item not found (deprecated; treat same as -136)

-183

Project is temporarily down

-205

Email address has invalid syntax

-206

Wrong password

-207

Non-unique email address (treat same as -137)

-208

Account creation disabled

The output is XML.
If the project's get_project_config.php? file includes a <rpc_prefix> element, its content should be used as the URL prefix; otherwise use the project's master URL.

Project configuration

Each BOINC project and account manager exports a few configuration items via a web RPC; namely, it must provide an XML document at the address

http://PROJECT_URL/get_project_config.php

This file is created by make_project, and in most cases you don't have to change it.

This document has this structure:

<project_config>
    <name>Project name</name>
    <master_url>URL</master_url>
    [ <local_revision>12345</local_revision> ]
    [ <web_stopped>0|1</web_stopped> ]
    [ <account_creation_disabled/> ]
    [ <client_account_creation_disabled/> ]
    [ <min_passwd_length>N</min_passwd_length> ]
    [ <account_manager/> ]
    [ <uses_username/> ]
    [ <rpc_prefix>URL</rpc_prefix> ]
    [ <error_num>N</error_num> ]
    [
      <platforms>
        <platform>
          <platform_name>i686-apple-darwin</platform_name>
          <user_friendly_name>Mac OS X (Intel)</user_friendly_name>
        </platform>
        <platform>
          <platform_name>i686-pc-linux-gnu</platform_name>
          <user_friendly_name>Linux/x86</user_friendly_name>
        </platform>
        ...
      </platforms>
    ]
    [
      <system_requirements>
        [ <p_fpops>N</p_fpops> ]
        [ <p_iops>N</p_iops> ]
        [ <p_membw>N</p_membw> ]
        [ <m_nbytes>N</m_nbytes> ]
        [ <m_swap>N</m_swap> ]
        [ <d_free>N</d_free> ]
        [ <bwup>N</bwup> ]
        [ <bwdown>N</bwdown> ]
      </system_requirements>
    ]
</project_config>

The elements are:

name: Project name
master_url: Master URL local_revision The SVN changeset number of the project's server software. web_stopped Nonzero if the project's database is down, so data-driven web pages turned off.
account_creation_disabled: If present, this project is not allowing creation of new accounts
min_passwd_length: Minimum password length (for new account creation)
account_manager: If present, this is an account manager, not a BOINC project
uses_username: If present, this project uses names (rather than email addresses) as the primary account identifier
client_account_creation_disabled: If present, new accounts can be created only via the web (not via the client software).
rpc_prefix: Prefix to use for web RPCs, instead of the master URL.
error_num: The project is currently down. A BOINC error number is returned.
platforms: A list of platforms for which the project has application versions.
system_requirements: Hardware requirements for participating in this project. If a computer doesn't meet these requirements it may not get sent any work by the project. All requirements are 'net'; e.g. the CPU requirements are after factors like on-fraction, active-fraction, and resource share have been taken into consideration. NOT IMPLEMENTED YET.

Server status

BOINC-based projects offer the following XML export at URL/server_status.php. These are generally updated every 10 minutes or so - do not poll more often than that. These can be used to make web sites showing the server status of multiple BOINC projects.

<server_status>
    <update_time>1128535206</update_time>
    <daemon_status>
        <daemon>
            <host>jocelyn</host>
            <command>BOINC database</command>
            <status>running</status>
        </daemon>
        <daemon>
            <host>castelli</host>
            <command>master science database</command>
            <status>running</status>
        </daemon>
        <daemon>
            <host>klaatu</host>
            <command>data-driven web pages</command>
            <status>disabled</status>
        </daemon>
        <daemon>
            <host>galileo</host>
            <command>feeder</command>
            <status>not running</status>
        </daemon>
    </daemon_status>
	<database_file_states>
        <results_ready_to_send>614830</results_ready_to_send>
        <results_in_progress>1208959</results_in_progress>
        <workunits_waiting_for_validation>8</workunits_waiting_for_validation>
        <workunits_waiting_for_assimilation>2</workunits_waiting_for_assimilation>
        <workunits_waiting_for_deletion>4</workunits_waiting_for_deletion>
        <results_waiting_for_deletion>15</results_waiting_for_deletion>
        <transitioner_backlog_hours>0.00083333334</transitioner_backlog_hours>
    </database_file_states>
</server_status>

Create account

URL

project_url/create_account.php

input

email_addr: email address passwd_hash: the MD5 hash of the concatenation of the user's password and the email address. user_name: the user name

output

<account_out>
    <authenticator>XXX</authenticator>
</account_out>

action: If the project already has an account with that email address, and a different password, it returns an error. If an account with that email address exists and has the same password, it returns the authenticator. Otherwise the project creates an account and returns the authenticator.

Look up account

URL

project_url/lookup_account.php

input

email_addr: email address [ passwd_hash ]: the MD5 hash of the concatenation of the user's password and the email address.

output

<account_out>
    [ <authenticator>XXX</authenticator> ]
</account_out>

action: If an account with the given email address doesn't exist, return an error. If passwd_hash is given and is correct, return the account key.

Get account info

URL

project_url/am_get_info.php

input

account_key

output

<am_get_info_reply>
    <success/>
    <id>ID</id>
    <name>NAME</name>
    <country>COUNTRY</country>
    <postal_code>POSTAL_CODE</postal_code>
    <global_prefs>
        GLOBAL_PREFS
    </global_prefs>
    <project_prefs>
        PROJECT_PREFS
    </project_prefs>
    <url>URL</url>
    <send_email>SEND_EMAIL</send_email>
    <show_hosts>SHOW_HOSTS</show_hosts>
    <teamid>N</teamid>
    [ <teamfounder/> ]
    <venue>X</venue>
</am_get_info_reply>

action: returns data associated with the given account

Set account info

URL

project_url/am_set_info.php

input

account_key [ name ] [ country ] [ postal_code ] [ global_prefs ] [ project_prefs ] [ url ] [ send_email ] [ show_hosts ] [ teamid ] zero means quit current team, if any [ venue ] [ email_addr ] [ password_hash ]

output

<am_set_info_reply>
    <success/>
</am_set_info_reply>

action: Updates one or more attributes of the given account. The password hash is MD5(password+lower_case(email_addr)). If email address is changed, you must also change the password hash.

Set host info

URL

project_url/am_set_host_info.php

input

account_key hostid venue

output

<am_set_host_info_reply>
    <success/>
</am_set_host_info_reply>

action: Updates the host's venue

Get account/host credit information

URL

project/show_user.php?userid=X&format=xml or project/show_user.php?auth=X&format=xml

input

id (user ID) or auth (account key)

output

<user>
    <id>123</id>
    <cpid>fe0b2753a355b17864ec061eb1b9e8de</cpid>
    <create_time>918948493</create_time>
    <name>Joe Smith</name>
    <country>United States</country>
    <total_credit>3806.869739</total_credit>
    <expavg_credit>200</expavg_credit>
    <expavg_time>1110833427.64028</expavg_time>
    <teamid>114322</teamid>
    <url>example.com</url>
    <has_profile>1</has_profile>
</user>

or

<user>
    <id>123</id>
    <cpid>fe0b2753a355b17864ec061eb1b9e8de</cpid>
    <create_time>1101918807</create_time>
    <name>David</name>
    <country>United States</country>
    <total_credit>0.293197</total_credit>
    <expavg_credit>0.000883</expavg_credit>
    <expavg_time>1116963330.83107</expavg_time>
    <teamid>0</teamid>
    <url>example.com</url>
    <has_profile>1</has_profile>
    <host>
        <id>123</id>
        <create_time>1287339128</create_time>
        <rpc_seqno>123</rpc_seqno>
        <host_cpid>fe0b2753a355b17864ec061eb1b9e8de</host_cpid>
        <total_credit>0</total_credit>
        <expavg_credit>0</expavg_credit>
        <expavg_time>0</expavg_time>
        <domain_name>Sorabji</domain_name>
        <p_ncpus>1</p_ncpus>
        <p_vendor>Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 - M CPU 2.20GHz</p_vendor>
        <p_model>Pentium</p_model>
        <p_fpops>330806175.78458</p_fpops>
        <p_iops>409200165.535107</p_iops>
        <os_name>Microsoft Windows XP</os_name>
        <os_version>Professional Edition, Service Pack 2, (05.01.2600.00)</os_version>
    </host>
    ...
</user>

action: Returns info about an account. If called with the account key, returns a list of hosts associated with the account.

Get result list with pending credit

URL

project/pending.php?format=xml&authenticator=X

output

<pending_credit>
    <result>
        <resultid> N </resultid>
        <workunitid> N </workunitid>
        <claimed_credit> N </claimed_credit>
        <received_time> N </received_time>
    </result>
    [...]
    <total_claimed_credit> N </total_claimed_credit>
</pending_credit>

Create team

URL

project/create_team.php

input

account_key: identifies team founder name: name of team url: team URL (optional) type: one of the types listed here. name_html: team name, HTML (optional) description: text describing team (optional) country: team country (optional; if present, must be one of the countries listed here.

output

<create_team_reply>
    <success/>
    <teamid>N</teamid>
</create_team_reply>

action: Creates a team

Look up teams by name

URL

project/team_lookup.php?team_name=string&format=xml

input

Substring of team name

output

<teams>
    <team>
        <id>5</id>
        <name>BOINC@AUSTRALIA</name>
        <country>Australia</country>
    </team>
    <team>
        <id>9</id>
        <name>BOINC Synergy</name>
        <country>International</country>
    </team>
    <team>
        <id>16</id>
        <name>BOINC.BE</name>
        <country>Belgium</country>
    </team>
    <team>
        <id>23</id>
        <name>HispaSeti & BOINC</name>
        <country>International</country>
    </team>
</teams

action: Teams with names matching *string* will be returned. A maximum of 100 teams will be returned.

Look up team by ID

URL

project/team_lookup.php?team_id=N

input

Team ID

output

<team>
  <id>9</id>
  <create_time>1109465921</create_time>
  <userid>77</userid>
  <name>BOINC Synergy</name>
  <url>www.boincsynergy.com</url>
  <type>1</type>
  <country>International</country>
  <total_credit>226527.840602</total_credit>
  <expavg_credit>12.798762</expavg_credit>
  <expavg_time>1178908429.9883</expavg_time>
</team>

action: Show info on team with the given ID.

Get team member list

URL

project/team_email_list.php?teamid=X&account_key=Y&xml=1

input

teamid: database ID of team account_key: account key of team founder (optional)

output

<users>
    <user>
        <id>1</id>
        <email_addr>pdq@usndathoople.edu</email_addr>
        <cpid>232f381c79336f0bd8df02bbce2f2217</cpid>
        <create_time>1076897105</create_time>
        <name>David</name>
        <country>United States</country>
        <total_credit>9.907264</total_credit>
        <expavg_credit>0.023264</expavg_credit>
        <expavg_time>1142628426.48937</expavg_time>
        <url>usndathoople.edu/~pdq</url>
        <has_profile>1</has_profile>
    </user>
    [ ... ]
</users>

action: Show list of team members. If account key is that of team founder, show email addresses.

Set forum preferences

URL: project/edit_forum_preferences_action.php NOTE: this uses POST, not GET
input: account_key avatar_url Note: the image will be downloaded and stored locally. Only JPG and PNG accepted. avatar_select forum_images_as_links forum_link_externally forum_hide_avatars forum_hide_signatures forum_jump_to_unread forum_ignore_sticky_posts forum_low_rating_threshold forum_high_rating_threshold forum_minimum_wrap_postcount forum_display_wrap_postcount signature_enabled signature forum_sort thread_sort faq_sort answer_sort forum_filter_user [ removeID ... ]
output: A lot of HTML (not XML)
action: Update user's forum preferences

Get last user's posts from the forum

URL

project/forum_get_data.php?method=user_posts&userid=N&count=N&contentlength=N

input

userid: numeric user ID in the database
count (optional): number of entries to return. Maximum 50, default 10.
contentlength (optional): number of characters to return from post content. Default returns whole post.

output

<rpc_response>
    <count>1</count>
    <posts>
        <post>
        <id>4157</id>
        <threadid>76</threadid>
        <threadtitle><![CDATA[Example thread title]]></threadtitle>
        <timestamp>1162847905</timestamp>
        <content><![CDATA[Example post content]]></content>
        </post>
        [ ... ]
    </posts>
</rpc_response>

action: Get last user's posts from the forum.

Get last user's threads from the forum

URL

project/forum_get_data.php?method=user_threads&userid=N&count=N

input

userid: numeric user ID in the database count (optional): number of entries to return. Maximum 50, default 10.

output

<rpc_response>
    <count>1</count>
    <threads>
        <thread>
            <id>356</id>
            <forumid>2</forumid>
            <replies>11</replies>
            <views>612</views>
            <timestamp>1159062318</timestamp>
            <title><![CDATA[Example forum thread title]]></title>
        </thread>
        [...]
    </threads>
</rpc_response>

action: Get last user's threads from the forums.

Get list of application versions

URL

project/apps.php?xml=1

output

List of applications and application versions. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<app_versions>
<application>
    <name>Upper Case</name>
    <version>
        <platform_short>i686-pc-linux-gnu</platform_short>
        <platform_long>Linux/x86</platform_long>
        <version_num>511</version_num>

        <date>21 Apr 2006 19:38:26 UTC</date>
        <date_unix>1145648306</date_unix>
    </version>
    <version>
        <platform_short>windows_intelx86</platform_short>
        <platform_long>Windows/x86</platform_long>
        <version_num>515</version_num>

        <date>8 May 2007 21:15:42 UTC</date>
        <date_unix>1178658942</date_unix>
    </version>
    ...
    </application>
</app_versions>

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