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The Ice Framework

Guides, examples, and reference for building distributed applications with Ice.

Ice is a complete RPC framework that helps you build networked applications with minimal effort.

  • Ice does the networking. It takes care of opening network connections, serializing and deserializing data for network transmission, and retrying failed connection attempts, so you can focus on your application logic.
  • Start with the Greeter Example. Writing a client-server application with Ice does not take much code. See for yourself!
Greeter.ice
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
Ice::CommunicatorPtr communicator =
    Ice::initialize(argc, argv);
Ice::CommunicatorHolder holder{communicator};


VisitorCenter::GreeterPrx greeter{
    communicator,
    "greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061"};


string greeting = greeter.greet("alice");
cout << greeting << endl;
Greeter.ice
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        ["cs:identifier:Greet"]
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
await using var communicator =
    new Ice.Communicator(ref args);


GreeterPrx greeter = GreeterPrxHelper.createProxy(
    communicator,
    "greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061");


string greeting =
    await greeter.GreetAsync("alice");
Console.WriteLine(greeting);
Greeter.ice
["java:identifier:com.example.visitorcenter"]
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
try (var communicator = new Communicator(args)) {
    var greeter = GreeterPrx.createProxy(
        communicator,
        "greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061");


    String greeting = greeter.greet("alice");
    System.out.println(greeting);
}
Greeter.ice
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
client.js
await using communicator =
    new Ice.Communicator(process.argv);


const greeter = new VisitorCenter.GreeterPrx(
    communicator,
    "greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061");


const greeting = await greeter.greet("alice");
console.log(greeting);
Greeter.ice
["matlab:identifier:visitorcenter"]
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
client.m
communicator = Ice.Communicator(args);
cleanup = onCleanup(@() communicator.destroy());


greeter = visitorcenter.GreeterPrx( ...
    communicator, ...
    'greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061');


greeting = greeter.greet('alice');
fprintf('%s\n', greeting);
Greeter.ice
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
Client.php
$communicator = Ice\initialize($argv);


$greeter =
    VisitorCenter\GreeterPrxHelper::createProxy(
        $communicator,
        'greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061');


$greeting = $greeter->greet("alice");
echo "$greeting\n";
Greeter.ice
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
async with Ice.Communicator(
    sys.argv, eventLoop=asyncio.get_running_loop()
) as communicator:
    greeter = VisitorCenter.GreeterPrx(
        communicator,
        "greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061")


    greeting = await greeter.greetAsync("alice")
    print(greeting)
Greeter.ice
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
client.rb
Ice::initialize(ARGV) do |communicator|
  greeter = VisitorCenter::GreeterPrx.new(
    communicator,
    "greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061")


  greeting = greeter.greet("alice")
  puts greeting
end
Greeter.ice
module VisitorCenter
{
    /// Represents a simple greeter.
    interface Greeter
    {
        /// Creates a personalized greeting.
        string greet(string name);
    }
}
var args = CommandLine.arguments
let communicator = try Ice.initialize(&args)
defer { communicator.destroy() }


let greeter = try makeProxy(
    communicator: communicator,
    proxyString:
        "greeter:tcp -h localhost -p 4061",
    type: GreeterPrx.self)


let greeting = try await greeter.greet("alice")
print(greeting)

If you're new to Ice, start with the Greeter Example, then Basics. The cards below are the main chapters; the table of contents in the sidebar lists them all. To find a page by name, use the search box in the top bar or press Ctrl+K, or ⌘K on macOS.

Greeter Example
Build your first Ice application, step by step, in your language.
Basics
How Ice applications are structured, and the terms and ideas the rest of the manual builds on.
The Slice Language
Define the interfaces, operations, and data types your clients and servers share.
The Ice Runtime
Call remote objects, implement your own, and configure connections, threads, and security.
Ice Services
Reach servers behind a firewall, start servers on demand, and distribute events and data.
Property Reference
Every property the Ice runtime and its services understand.