TomLabs.PixelBridge.Host 0.3.2

TomLabs.PixelBridge.Host

The capturing side of PixelBridge, the channel that carries data out of World of Warcraft: it finds the game window, captures the strip the in-game PixelBridge addon draws, decodes and deduplicates it, and republishes every message on the local pipe \\.\pipe\tomlabs-pixelbridge for other programs (TomLabs.PixelBridge has the client).

Windows only at run time (user32/gdi32). The package targets plain net10.0, so check OperatingSystem.IsWindows() before starting it in a cross-platform app.

Run the bridge in your app

Several apps may want the bridge; only one captures. BridgeRuntime makes the first app the host and every later one a client of its pipe, and a client takes over within about 2 s when the host exits. Your consumers see the same snapshots and messages in both roles.

using TomLabs.PixelBridge;
using TomLabs.PixelBridge.Host;

var runtime = new BridgeRuntime(
    new BridgeRuntimeOptions { Name = "MyTool", Version = "1.0.0", Channels = [Channels.FoxieEvents, Channels.FoxieState] },
    () => new BridgeHost(new GameWindowLocator(), new GdiStripCapture(), () => new BridgeHostOptions(), loggerFactory.CreateLogger<BridgeHost>()),
    [new MyConsumer()],
    loggerFactory);
await runtime.RunAsync(cancellationToken);

sealed class MyConsumer : IBridgeConsumer
{
    public Task OnTickAsync(IReadOnlyList<BridgeMessage> fresh, BridgeSnapshot bridge, CancellationToken ct)
    {
        // bridge.Role (Host/Client), bridge.HostName, bridge.GameFound, bridge.Session, bridge.Status (channel 0) ...
        foreach (var message in fresh) Console.WriteLine($"#{message.Channel} {message.Kind} seq {message.Seq}");
        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }

    public Task StopAsync() => Task.CompletedTask;
}

• GameWindowLocator finds retail, Classic, PTR, beta (WowB.exe) and WoW Forever clients by process name or by the GxWindowClass window class; pass extra process names for other builds.
• BridgeHostOptions.CaptureMethod: Screen (BitBlt of the visible screen; works with every renderer) or Window (PrintWindow; works while the game is covered, not with every renderer). Read before every capture.
• Logging goes through Microsoft.Extensions.Logging; pass nothing for no logs.
• Lower level: BridgeHost.Tick(), BridgeLoop.RunAsync and PipeServer run a host without the election.

The protocol and the pipe lines are described in docs/protocol.md in the TomLabs.PixelBridge package.

Licence

MIT.