The Client/Server Binding is a simple, light-weight, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism, for use with 300 clients or fewer, that enables you to implement a client/server architecture without having to worry about communications programming. The AAI (Application to Application Interface) component of the Client/Server Binding is provided for backward compatibility with applications developed with other products such as Net Express.
You should ensure that the capabilities and performance provided by the Client/Server Binding are adequate for your business needs. For many applications, this is the case and the Client/Server Binding offers a solution which is both easy to implement and cost-effective to deploy.
The Client/Server Binding removes the requirement for you to include communications code in your application. It provides four modules, mfclient, mfserver, aaiclnt, and aaisrvr, which include all the necessary communications code. aaiclnt and aaisrvr are only required when AAI is used with client/ server binding.
Based on information contained in a configuration file, these modules manage the communications link and the transfer of data and are able to interact with user-defined programs at each end of the link. The mfclient module is called by a user-written client program (which may, for example, handle the user interface) while mfserver calls a user-written server program (which may, for example, handle data access and business logic).
The user-written client and server programs use the copyfile mfclisrv.cpy to interact with the generic client/server modules.
Supplied with Net Express is an example application which demonstrates how the client/server binding can be used. This example application, which transfers file data between a client and a server, is installed in the sub-directory Csbind in your Net Express installdir\Examples\Net Express IDE directory. A further example application based on the Dialog System CUSTOMER demonstration, is installed in your Net Express installdir\Examples\Dialog System\CSBIND directory.