docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/hlcpp/basics/sync_client.md

# Implement a FIDL client

## Prerequisites

This tutorial builds on the [FIDL server][server-tut] tutorial. For the
full set of FIDL tutorials, refer to the [overview][overview].

## Overview

This tutorial implements a client for a FIDL protocol and runs it
against the server created in the [previous tutorial][server-tut]. The client in this
tutorial is synchronous. There is an [alternate tutorial][async-client] for
asynchronous clients.

If you want to write the code yourself, delete the following directories:

```
rm -r examples/fidl/hlcpp/client_sync/*
```

## Create a stub component

Note: If necessary, refer back to the [previous tutorial][server-tut-component].

1. Set up a hello world component in `examples/fidl/hlcpp/client`.
   You can name the component `echo-client`, and give the package a name of
   `echo-hlcpp-client-sync`.

1. Once you have created your component, ensure that the following works:

   ```
   fx set core.x64 --with //examples/fidl/rust/client
   ```

1. Build the Fuchsia image:

   ```
   fx build
   ```

1. In a separate terminal, run:

   ```
   fx serve
   ```

1. In a separate terminal, run:

   ```
   fx shell run fuchsia-pkg://fuchsia.com/echo-hlcpp-client-sync#meta/echo-client.cmx
   ```

## Edit GN dependencies

1. Add the following dependencies:

   ```gn
   {%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/hlcpp/client_sync/BUILD.gn" region_tag="deps" %}
   ```

1. Then, include them in `main.cc`:

   ```cpp
   {%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/hlcpp/client/main.cc" region_tag="includes" %}
   ```

   The reason for including these dependencies is explained in the
   [server tutorial][server-tut-deps].

## Edit component manifest

1. Include the `Echo` protocol in the client component's sandbox by
   editing the component manifest in `client.cmx`.

   ```cmx
   {%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/hlcpp/client/client.cmx" %}
   ```

## Connect to the server

This section adds code the `main()` function that connects to the server and makes
requests to it.

### Initialize a proxy class

The code then creates a proxy class for the `Echo` protocol, and connects it
to the server. In the context of FIDL, proxy designates the code
generated by the FIDL bindings that enables users to make
remote procedure calls to the server. In HLCPP, the proxy takes the form
of a class with methods corresponding to each FIDL protocol method.

```cpp
{%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/hlcpp/client_sync/main.cc" region_tag="main" highlight="2,3,4" %}
```

* [`fuchsia::examples::EchoSyncPtr`][proxy] is an alias for
  `fidl::SynchronousInterfaceRequest<fuchsia::examples::Echo>` generated by the bindings.
  This class will proxy requests for the `Echo` protocol over the channel that
  it is bound to.
* The code calls `EchoSyncPtr::NewRequest()`, which will create a channel, bind the class to
  one end, and return the other end
* The returned end is passed to `sys::ServiceDirectory::Connect()`.
  * Analogous to the call to `context->out()->AddPublicService()` on the server
    side, `Connect` has an implicit second parameter here which is the protocol
    name (`"fuchsia.examples.Echo"`). This is where the input to the handler
    defined in the [previous tutorial][server-tut-handler] comes from: the
    client passes it in to `Connect`, which then passes it to the handler.

An important point to note here is that this code assumes that `/svc` already
contains an instance of the `Echo` protocol. This is not the case by default
because of the sandboxing provided by the component framework.

### Send requests to the server

The code makes two requests to the server:

* An `EchoString` request
* A `SendString` request

```cpp
{%includecode gerrit_repo="fuchsia/fuchsia" gerrit_path="examples/fidl/hlcpp/client_sync/main.cc" region_tag="main" highlight="6,7,8" %}
```

For `EchoString` the code passes in a pointer for each response parameter (in
this case, the `EchoString` method only has one response parameter), which is
written with the response from the server, whereas this does not apply to
`SendString` since it is a [fire and forget method][one-way]. The call to
`EchoString` will block until it receives a message from the server. Both methods
will return a `zx_status_t` indicating the result of the method call.

Though the [server implementation][server-tut-impl] sends an `OnString` event
in response to the `SendString` request, the sync bindings do not provide a
way to handle this event.

## Run the client

If you try running the client directly, you'll notice that the error handler
gets called because the client does not automatically get the `Echo` protocol
provided in its sandbox (in `/svc`). In order to get this to work, a launcher
tool is provided that launches the server, creates a new
[`Environment`][environment] for the client that provides the server's protocol,
then launches the client in it.

1. Configure your GN build:

   ```
   fx set core.x64 --with //examples/fidl/hlcpp/server --with
   //examples/fidl/hlcpp/client_sync --with //examples/fidl/test:echo-launcher
   ```

2. Build the Fuchsia image:

   ```
   fx build
   ```

3. Run the launcher by passing it the client URL, the server URL, and
   the protocol that the server provides to the client:

   ```
   fx shell run fuchsia-pkg://fuchsia.com/echo-launcher#meta/launcher.cmx fuchsia-pkg://fuchsia.com/echo-hlcpp-client-sync#meta/echo-client.cmx fuchsia-pkg://fuchsia.com/echo-hlcpp-server#meta/echo-server.cmx fuchsia.examples.Echo
   ```

You should see the client print output in the QEMU console (or using `fx log`).

```
[117942.207] 757245:757247> Running echo server
[117942.223] 757349:757352> Got response: hello
```

<!-- xrefs -->
[client-tut-main]: /docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/hlcpp/client.md#proxy
[server-tut]: /docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/hlcpp/basics/server.md
[server-tut-component]: /docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/hlcpp/basics/server.md#component
[server-tut-impl]: /docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/hlcpp/basics/server.md#impl
[server-tut-deps]: /docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/hlcpp/basics/server.md#dependencies
[server-tut-handler]: /docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/hlcpp/basics/server.md#handler
[async-client]: /docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/hlcpp/basics/client.md
[proxy]: /docs/reference/fidl/bindings/hlcpp-bindings.md#protocols-client
[overview]: /docs/development/languages/fidl/tutorials/overview.md
[environment]: /docs/concepts/components/v2/environments.md