has981/akkaremoteobjectsasmessages

An Akka remote example, showing how to pass custom objects as messages

Akka Remote Example #2: Sending Objects as Messages

This example adds one level of difficulty to my original Akka Remote "Hello, world" example. Where the original example sent String messages between the Local and Remote actors, this example encapsulates its messages in two simple objects:

1. Message
2. Start

The differences between this example and the original example are:

1. This code includes a Common project that contains the Message and Start class definitions.
2. The compiled JAR file from the Common project is included in the lib folders of both the HelloLocal and HelloRemote projects.
3. The actor code in the HelloLocal and HelloRemote projects sends messages using the Message and Start classes. (Technically, Start is a case object, and Message is a case class.)

Assumptions

For the purposes of this code, I assume you know the following:

1. Scala
2. SBT (the Simple Build Tool)
3. How to use Akka actors within one JVM (i.e., the actor basics)
4. You've run my original Akka Remote "Hello, world" example

Running the Code

Follow these steps to run the code:

1. cd into the HelloRemote directory.
2. Type sbt run to start the remote actor system.
3. In a separate terminal window, cd into the HelloLocal directory.
4. Type sbt run to start the local actor system.

When the local actor system starts, it will send an initial message to the remote actor system. The remote actor will send a reply through its sender reference, and this will continue five times. When the action stops, stop each system by pressing Ctrl-C.

Problems?

If you're having any problems with this code, edit the application.conf file in the src/main/resources directory of each project, and remove the comments from the debug-related lines.

More Information

For more information on this project, see the following URL:

http://alvinalexander.com/scala/akka-remote-sending-objects-messages

For information on my original Akka Remote "Hello, world" example, see this URL:

http://alvinalexander.com/scala/simple-akka-actors-remote-example

You can find me at:

http://alvinalexander.com