The pattern we chose to develop the communication is observer-observable. We extended the pattern by introducing messages between client and server.
Several classes were introduced in order to represent the messages exchanged between client and server. All the messages
extend the Message abstract class and each one of them identifies a specific instance of communication. The messages
we created so far are the following:
ConnectionRequest: It is sent by the client to ask a connection with the server.ConnectionResponse: It returns the status of the connection to the client. In case of success, a token is also sent, which allows the server to identify each client.CreateGame: It is sent by the client to ask the server to create a new game.DeleteLimboRequest: Message used to put the selected object cards back on the board.DisconnectionMessage: Message used to inform all the clients that a player disconnected.EndGameMessage: Message class to inform the clients that the game is ended.GameStartMessage: Message class to tell the clients that the game has started.GameStateRequest: Message sent from the server with the updated model.GameStateResponse: Message class to inform the clients about the model changes.JoinGameRequest: Message used to request to join an existing game.ListGameRequest: Message used to request the list of available games.ListGameResponse: Message that contains the list of available games.LoadShelfRequest: Message sent by the client to load the shelf of the player.LobbyMessage: It is used by the client to join the lobby of the game.LobbyPlayersResponse: It is sent by the server and contains the usernames of the players in the lobby.NumberOfPlayerMessage: It is sent by the server to ask the number of players joining the game.ObjectCardRequest: The client sends this message with the chosen object card in order to verify its availability according to the game’s rules.ReconnectionMessage: Message used to handle a reconnection to the server. It is the response of aReconnectionRequest.ReconnectionRequest: Message used to ask for a reconnection to the server.ReorderLimboRequest: Message used to reorder the selected object cards.Response: Generic response to a request.
ClientMain is the starting point for the client: it chooses a CLI implementation or a GUI implementation, based on the
user’s will. If the CLI is the picked option, a Cli object is created. This class extends the ClientGameManager
class that updates the view by calling the right methods based on the received messages. It also implements two further
interfaces: ClientGameManagerListener and ClientUpdateListener. ClientGameManagerListener is used to let the game
progress via user inputs, and its methods are called whenever a message is received from the server,
whereas ClientUpdateListener is characterized by its onUpdate method, which notifies the implementer that a message
has been received. In order to notify the client of messages from the server, we have a ClientUpdater class: it runs a
process that awaits messages and notifies the client. ClientRMI and ClientSocket extend the Client class: they
represent the client for each network implementation. More specifically, ClientRMI implements
the RMIClientConnection interface.
Our server is represented by the Server class that contains all the necessary methods for the game’s implementation