Question

Communicate between EXEs in VB.NET

Asked by: KaptainKluge

I have an application which uses a SQL Server Database to manage data in the system.  I currently have two different executable applications, the first one is basically the entire GUI of the application (e.g. Forms, etc.) and the other is a reminder/monitor for the database which shows an Outlook like reminder when appropriate.  The majority of the classes and data structures are based in DLLs that these two EXEs shared but not in the same instance.

I would like to know how to make it possible when an event (like a button click) on the reminder application happens, this EXE could raise an event that triggers something in the other EXE (like jumping to the approriate screen or place in the GUI).  Very similar to the behavior Outlook displays on its new messages.

I have explored a variety of ideas like REMOTING, PIPES, AppDomains, etc. and I am looking for advice on what will and should work the best for all flavors of Windows (98SE - Vista).  

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Asked On
2008-07-08 at 12:07:35ID23547873
Tags

VB.NET

,

Inter Process Communication

Topics

Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

,

Visual Studio

,

.NET

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: ozymandiasPosted on 2008-07-08 at 13:03:13ID: 21957658

There's no best way but there are lots of ways.

You can use remoting (any platform) or WCF (XP and vista only).
You could write messages or events to an MSMQ that the other app listens to (requires msmq to be installed).
You could use raw sockets.
You could write events to a file or files that the other application polls periodically or write files to a directory that the other application monitors using a file system watcher.

The last one is actually the simplest/easiest and most universal way of doing this.

 

by: apeterPosted on 2008-07-08 at 13:06:12ID: 21957688

Are you able to send message through remoting btw 2 Exe's ? If yes then you can have diff. codes for diff. messages. You can use thread to display your new messages.

 

by: KaptainKlugePosted on 2008-07-08 at 13:29:49ID: 21957918

@ozymandis

I agree with you there is no real definitive way to do this.  When researching remoting, I discovered that remoting works over localhost and therefore is dependent upon the network and all that comes with it (including firewalls).  I am also concerned about wirting random files in the operating system.

Is pipes not a legitimate option?  That seems from my research that there is no real solution across all platforms (and therefore security constraints) except Pipes.

Is AppDomains even appropriate in this case?  It appears it could be but I am not sure because I am not familiar with the details of them.

 

by: KaptainKlugePosted on 2008-07-08 at 13:31:50ID: 21957931

@apeter

Actually, that is what I am looking for: a way to communicate between the EXEs. The content of the communication is something I can handle.  I am more looking for the method for this communication.

Thanks

 

by: ozymandiasPosted on 2008-07-08 at 13:53:54ID: 21958149

Pipes is definitely an option here as it is specifically the kind of IPC problem that it was designed to solve.

There are a couple of good articles with examples here :

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/threads/dotnetnamedpipespart1.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/threads/dotnetnamedpipespart2.aspx

and here (using interop) :

http://blog.paranoidferret.com/index.php/2007/07/25/interprocess-communication-using-named-pipes-in-csharp/

However, don't write off good old fashioned files, they don't have to be "random".

 

by: LamoonManPosted on 2008-07-29 at 20:42:38ID: 22117367

You may use Application Automation.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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