GZip HTTP Compression for XML-RPC.NET
When I chose XML-RPC as my method of serialization, it was because I was learning XML and I needed something to sink my newly acquired fangs into. After attempting to serialize arrays of many-membered objects in tandem, I quickly realised how much overhead the xml tags add to the transport. I found myself almost wishing there was something lighter AND easier. Although JSON produces less data and is easy to use, it is still a bit of a problem for me because I transfer typed data, and support for clients other than web browsers is kind of shaky.
I had always known that the apache web server (God bless their souls) has built-in content compression capabilities, it wont work unless the client reports that it can deal with it - which was just what XML-RPC.NET could not do. Charles Cook has promised gzip http compression support in the next release of his wonderful component but it’s been almost a year now, and nothing’s showing up. So it’s time to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty.