What I want to be able to do with V4MD and Bonjour

[Bernet, Eytan]

A few things:
1. Have it work on Intel Macs
2. Be able to, from Director, change the Bonjour name using a set properties
possibly and then be able to "cycle" the server (or at least have it adopt
the new name)
3. Be able to change the port in the same manner


Here is the scenario I am trying to achieve - Server runs on a machine, it
can be run in either of two ways:
A. as a service, always running
B. as a "runtime" program - start up the server when I launch my app, shut
it down when I quit my app

In either of these scenarios, the following occurs:

Server starts up, it gets assigned the default name and port. Students
(clients) logging in from other machines find the default named/numbered
server, they connect to it. They store the IP address and the name as the
server as the default.

Subsequent times server starts up, it checks to see if the Bonjour name it
is using is taken. If it is it prompts the user to either shut down the
other server (or rename the other server's bonjour name, while on that other
machine) or rename the current server. In those scenarios I need to be able
to change these settings and stop/start the service.

Subsequent times clients start up, the clients look for the same IP - if
they find it, good. Otherwise, they look for the bonjour name. If they find
it, good. If they find neither but do find servers, they present a list of
them and ask the user to identify which one to connect to, etc.

I am trying to really simplify user interaction with a server in a subnet,
or the possibility of more than one server in a subnet - but to do that I
need to make the Bonjour properties, specifically the server name,
changeable - and I need to have that new name and if need be port stick, and
I don't want to have to reboot the machine (as is the case with the Mac
right now) to have that those new properties take effect (right now I would
use some kind of file xtra to make these changes).

This will require:
1. Fix the not working on Intel bug
2. Add property selectors for Bonjour name and port
3. For my scenarios, a way to change these settings on the fly and have them
stick, or to stop and start the services with code, which would also allow
me to implement scenario B which I don't think is possible now.

(1) has been reported as a bug today, (2) was requested and has not been
heeded a month ago in Mantis, (3) some of you may know how to do, but I am
unsure.

Eytan Bernet
Multimedia Engineer
McGraw-Hill Education