Fabwork

Fabwork is a networking library and extension to FabricAPI that provides two main purposes:

1. It performs validation to ensure neither side is missing mods required by the other.
2. It provides a wrapper around Fabric's own networking apis that extends them with a more high-level interface and adds additional functions not normally available.

Modders: How to Use

If all you need from fabwork is the validation aspect, then there are no code changes required. Any mods that include the optional "fabwork" custom attribute in their fabric.mod.json will be considered when joining a server.

fabric.mod.json

{
  "custom": {
      "fabwork": {
        "requiredOn": "<*|client|server>"
      }
  }
}

Server Operators: How to Use

If you have Fabwork installed on the server, you can specify additional join requirements by editing the config generated at server_directory/config/fabwork.json

Mod ids added to the "requiredModIds" list will be automatically included when determining whether a client is able to connect.

fabwork.json

{
  "requiredModIds": [
    "fabric-api", ...
  ]
}

Networking Abstraction

For more advanced betworking tools, look into the included SimpleNetworking class. To register packets, call either SimpleNetworking.clientToServer or SimpleNetworking.serverToClient and store the returned type statically like you would a block or item.

class ExampleMod implements ModInitializer {
  // registration
  C2SPacketType<ExampleServerBoundPacket> EXAMPLE_SERVER_BOUND = SimpleNetworking.clientToServer(new Identifier("modid", "example_server_bound"), ExampleServerBoundPacket::new);
  S2CPacketType<ExampleClientBoundPacket> EXAMPLE_CLIENT_BOUND = SimpleNetworking.serverToClient(new Identifier("modid", "example_client_bound"), ExampleClientBoundPacket::new);
  @Override
  public void onInitialize() {
    // send packet to client
    EXAMPLE.sendToPlayer(new ExampleClientBoundPacket(1), aServerPlayerEntity);
  }
}

class ExampleModClient implements ClientModInitializer {
  @Override
  public void onInitializeClient() {
    EXAMPLE_CLIENT_BOUND.receiver().addPersistentListener(this::onExamplePacket);
  }

  private void onExamplePacket(PlayerEntity sender, ExampleClientBoundPacket packet) {
      // do something
      // send packet to server
      EXAMPLE.sendToServer(new ExampleServerBoundPacket(packet.parameter));
  }
}

record ExampleServerBoundPacket (int parameter) implements HandledPacket<ServerPlayerEntity> {
  ExampleServerBoundPacket(PacketByteBuf buffer) {
    this(buffer.readInt());
  }

  @Override
  public void toBuffer(PacketByteBuf buffer) {
    buffer.writeInt(parameter);
  }

  // packets can optionally include their own handle method
  // or you can defer handler registration to the receiver (helpful for server/client code separation)
  @Override
  public void handle(ServerPlayerEntity sender) {
    // callback executed when receiving your packet
  }
}

record ExampleClientBoundPacket (int parameter) implements Packet {
  ExampleClientBoundPacket(PacketByteBuf buffer) {
    this(buffer.readInt());
  }

  @Override
  public void toBuffer(PacketByteBuf buffer) {
    buffer.writeInt(parameter);
  }
}

Maven:

Maven: https://repo.minelittlepony-mod.com/maven/releases

Dependency: com.sollace:fabwork:${project.fabwork_version}