dbolivar25 / piston

Piston

Overview

Piston is a gRPC-based service designed for compressing and decompressing data. Utilizing the Huffman coding algorithm, it offers an efficient method for reducing data size, ideal for storage and transmission purposes. The service provides a simple yet powerful API, consisting of two primary RPC methods: Compress and Decompress.

Service API

RPC Methods

• Compress: Accepts CompressRequest and returns CompressResponse, compressing the provided data using Huffman coding.
• Decompress: Accepts DecompressRequest and returns DecompressResponse, reconstructing the original data from its compressed form.

Interacting with the Piston Service using gRPC UI

grpcui is an interactive web-based UI that provides an easy way to explore and test gRPC services. It's especially useful for services like Piston, allowing users to make RPC calls without writing a client.

Getting Started with grpcui

1. Install grpcui by running:

   go get github.com/fullstorydev/grpcui
   go install github.com/fullstorydev/grpcui/cmd/grpcui

   Ensure your GOPATH/bin is in your PATH.

2. Start the Piston service as described in the "Running the Service" section.

3. Launch grpcui and point it to your running Piston service:

   grpcui -plaintext [your-piston-service-address]

   Replace [your-piston-service-address] with the address where your Piston service is running (e.g., localhost:50051).

4. grpcui will open a web interface in your default browser. Here, you can explore the service's methods, compose requests, and invoke them to see the responses.

Using grpcui to Test Piston

• Compress: In the grpcui interface, select the Compress method. Input your raw data in the request field and submit the request. The interface will display the compressed data and the byte mappings.
• Decompress: Select the Decompress method. Input the previously received compressed data, byte count, and tree mappings into the request fields and submit. The original data will be reconstructed and displayed.

grpcui provides an effective platform for testing and interacting with the Piston service, facilitating a deeper understanding of its operations and potential use cases.