[Opensim-dev] Any way for the server to get the viewer to send some information to another process on the client PC?

[Melanie]

The easiest way would be to make your bitcoin client open port 80 on
your local host (or another port) for localhost use only. Then a
script could send you to
127.0.0.1:xxxx/pay?to=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx or
similar and you complete the transaction onn this locally served
html page.

Melanie

On 11/11/2011 09:43, Edmund Edgar wrote:
> Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but wondering if anyone
> can help me with a problem I'm trying to solve while tinkering around
> with OpenSim/BitCoin integration. (I'm doing this mainly for my own
> entertainment - when we discussed it on opensim-users the other day
> the community didn't seem that into it).
> 
> My ultimate aim is that rather than money being stored in a database
> on a central server, everyone would be in control of their own money,
> which would be stored locally on their PC. There would be a money
> module on the server which would deal with managing BitCoin addresses
> for avatars and confirming transactions, but rather than making
> transactions itself like the existing DTL server, it would just tell
> the client on the PC how much to pay and to what address, then confirm
> that the transaction had been made and deliver inventory etc.
> 
> Rather than hacking BitCoin integration into the viewer, I'm thinking
> it might be good to run a separate piece of client software - a custom
> BitCoin client responsible for managing the user's money - alongside
> the viewer. When the money module on the server thinks the client
> should spend some money on something (eg because the user made a "buy"
> request with their viewer), I want it to send a message to the viewer,
> and have that message somehow get to the BitCoin client program.
> 
> I think I know how to do this if I don't mind putting a human in the
> middle of the process: The money module tell the viewer to show the
> user a message saying, "Please pay 0.1 BitCoins to address xyz", and
> the user would open the BitCoin client and pay the money, then the
> server would check the payment and complete the transaction. But it
> would be better if I could somehow get the viewer to pass the
> information on to the client behind the scenes, without bothering the
> user.
> 
> So without altering existing viewers, can anyone suggest a way to get
> a message from the server, via the viewer, to another process? The
> other process could be listening on a local port, watching a file or
> doing whatever it needs to do. I'm open to nasty hacks, but not
> really, really nasty hacks.
> 
> PS. I'm new to OpenSim module development and I've never tried to hack
> the viewer, so be gentle with me if there's some kind of fundamental
> misunderstanding behind my question...
>