(Python) Bi-directional communication between host and guest

[Ohmu]

I need to listen for events occurring in my (Windows10) guest, and relay them to my (OSX) host.

I would prefer to use Python on both host and guest.

Can anyone help me get started?

π

PS I'm trying to get an eye-tracker (which only has Windows drivers) working on OSX: http://developer.tobii.com/community/fo ... s-machine/

[noteirak]

We need more info if we want to help you:
- Which events?
- What kind of data?
- Are the actions that you want to take from the events only possible in Python?

The generic answer is to use guest properties which allow you to set text values from the guest and get them back from the host.
You don't need python for it, all tools are available from vboxcontrol in the guest and vboxmanage in the host.

[Ohmu]

I'm not yet quite sure exactly what data I need to send.

Certainly I need to send Gaze X&Y coordinates at roughly 60Hz from guest to host.

And this may be sufficient. So maybe I can consider this as a starting point.

I don't need to use Python, it's just a coding preference.

I was imagining setting up an bidirectional JSON transceiver in Python, this would allow arbitrary data to be sent backwards and forwards. But maybe this is overkill!

π

[noteirak]

I would strongly advise for regular network communication then. Host-only mode would be a good choice and you don't need to use the API then.

[Martin]

If you don't want to create a network connection you could also try if a virtual serial port to a named pipe on the host is sufficient for the communication.

[Ohmu]

So it looks as though I have two options: build a socket transmitter and receiver (which has nothing to do with VirtualBox -- just the same as if I'm connecting 2 computers on a LAN), or using virtual COM port.

Can anyone direct me to any code for the latter? Not quite sure where to start...

[noteirak]

About using the COM port, there was already past discussions on the forum about it (even tho I can't find them directly now) so you could find some direction. Just use the internal search or try this search

I will move this topic back into "Using VirtualBox" since this actually has nothing to do with the API itself.