Sending and receiving IM messages via controller in Rails

Question

Hi,

I need a way to handle XMPP communication in my Rails app.

My requirements are:

• Keep an instance of XMPP client running and logged in as one specific user (my bot user)

• Trigger an event from a controller to send a message and wait for a reply. The message is sent to another machine equipped with a bot so that the reply is supposed to be returned quickly.

I installed xmpp4r and backgrounDrb similar to what's described here, but backgrounDrb seems to have evolved and I couldn't get it to wait for a reply. If it has to happen asynchronously, I am willing to use a server-push technology to notify the browser when the reply arrives.

To give you a better idea, here are snippets of my code:

(In controller)

class ServicesController < ApplicationController
  layout 'simple'

  def index
    render :text => "index"
  end

  def show
    @my_service = Service.find(params[:id])
    worker = MiddleMan.worker(:jabber_agent_worker)
    worker.send_request(:arg => {:jid => "someuser@someserver", :cmd => "help"})
    render :text => "testing"
  end    
end 

(In worker script)

require 'xmpp4r'
require 'logger'

class JabberAgentWorker < BackgrounDRb::MetaWorker
  set_worker_name :jabber_agent_worker      
  def create(args = nil)     
    jid = Jabber::JID.new('myagent@myserver')
    @client = Jabber::Client.new(jid)
    @client.connect
    @client.auth('pass')
    @client.send(Jabber::Presence.new.set_show(:chat).set_status('BackgrounDRb'))

    @client.add_message_callback do |message|
      logger.info("**** messaged received: #{message}") # never reaches here 
    end
  end

  def send_request(args = nil)
    to_jid = Jabber::JID.new(args[:jid])
    message = Jabber::Message::new(to_jid, args[:cmd]).set_type(:normal).set_id('1')
    @client.send(message)
  end 
end

If anyone can tell me any of the following, I'd much appreciate it:

• issue with my backgrounDrb usage
• other background process alternatives appropriate for XMPP interactions
• other ways of achieving this

Thanks in advance.