93 lines
3.8 KiB
HTML
93 lines
3.8 KiB
HTML
<html>
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<FONT FACE="arial" SIZE="2">
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<head>
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<title>DirectPlay Document</title>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2 VALIGN=Bottom HEIGHT=25 WIDTH=640>
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<P>
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<H2>About DirectPlay</H2>
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<P>The DirectX Team
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<P>September 5, 1996
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<P>
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<P><i><h3>Introduction</h3></i>
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<P>
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The Microsoft® DirectPlay™ application programming interface
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(API) for Windows® 95 is a software interface that simplifies
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application access to communication services. DirectPlay has
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become a technology family that provides a way for applications
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to communicate with each other that is independent of the underlying
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transport, protocol, or online service. Instead of forcing the
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developer to deal with the differences that each of these connectivity
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solutions represents, DirectPlay provides well defined, generalized
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communication capabilities. DirectPlay shields the developer
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from the underlying complexities of diverse connectivity implementations,
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freeing them to concentrate on producing a great application.
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<P>
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<I><H3>DirectPlay Architecture</h3></I>
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<P>
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The DirectPlay architecture is composed of two types of components:
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DirectPlay itself and the <I>Service Provider</I>. DirectPlay
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is provided by Microsoft and presents a common interface to the
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application. The service providers furnish medium-specific communications
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services as requested by DirectPlay. Anyone, including online
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services, can supply service providers for specialized hardware
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and communications media. Microsoft supplies service providers
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for direct modem-to-modem (TAPI) connections, COM port serial
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connections, Internet TCP/IP, and IPX protocols with DirectPlay.
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<P>
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The DirectPlay interface hides the complexities and unique tasks
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required to establish an arbitrary communications link inside
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the DirectPlay service provider implementation. A application
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using DirectPlay need only concern itself with the performance
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of the communications medium (e.g. bandwidth and latency), not
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whether that medium is being provided by a modem, network, or
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online service.
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<P>
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DirectPlay supports a peer-to-peer communication model; that is,
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every participant in the communications session can communicate
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directly with anyone else and it is expected that each participant
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is maintaining information on the complete state of the session.
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There is one participant called the <I>session host</I> which
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controls new participants joining the session and assigning player
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and group ID numbers.
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<P>
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DirectPlay features:
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Network independence</B> - the only thing necessary to
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run the application on another network is to write a service provider
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for it. No need to change the application at all!
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<LI><B>Service provider model</B> - this allows DirectPlay to
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take advantage of network capabilities like multicasting to optimize
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operations like sending messages to all participants.
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<LI><B>Simple send/receive</B> model for exchanging messages between
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players.
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<LI><B>Player and group management functions</B> - automatic messages
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generated when new players are created, destroyed, added/deleted
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from groups, etc.; function to help manage application specific
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data associated with the player/group.
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<LI><B>Naming of players and groups</B>.
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<LI><B>Remote shared data</B> - changes in remote data are propagated
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to all the other machines automatically.
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<LI><B>Unicode </B>and<B> ANSI </B>support.
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<LI><B>Keep alive</B> - DirectPlay will monitor when players lose
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their connection.
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<LI><B>Lobby functions</B> - a matchmaking service can bring together
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players and automatically start the application on all the participant's
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machines and connect them to each other in a communications channel.
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Once the game is in progress the lobby software and the application
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can exchange information while the session is in progress.
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</UL>
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</head>
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<body bgcolor=#000000 text=#FFFFFF link=#FFFF00 vlink=#FF0000>
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<basefont face="Times New Roman" size=3>
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</body>
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</html>
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