Sending data between applications

[OpticTygre]

I have a windows service, and a separate desktop application used to
configure settings for the service. I'd also like to use the windows
application as a sort of debug, or notification window, to monitor the
activity of the service. What VB.NET programming techniques could be used,
and what resource documentation is there that may tell how to:

a) Notify the windows service from the application that it has started, and
is ready to receive status items.
b) Send status items (text, objects, etc...) to the windows application from
the windows service.
c) Notify the windows service that the application is shutting down, and the
service should stop sending status items.

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

-Jason

 

[Michael C#]

I've used UDP for that in the past. Here's a link:
http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/TinyUDP.asp

 

[OpticTygre]

I took a look at the UDP example and source, and it seems reliable for
one-way communication. I have two issues, though. One, I'd rather not use
communication over IP. Two, I need two-way communication between the
windows service and the application. This could come in handy not just for
real-time debugging purposes, but also on-the-fly changes of the
configuration of the windows service.

Any other ideas or suggestions?

Thanks.

-Jason

 

[Michael C#]

Actually you can use it for two-way communications, you would just run a
server and a client thread on both sides.

Other options include Named Pipes, Shared Memory, etc. You can use these
over .NET Remoting, but the overhead for simple communication between a
Windows Service and a Front-end GUI is pretty outrageous -- at least for my
tastes. And you still have to choose a protocol...

Here's a link to an 11-part article on creating a Named Pipes wrapper, Pipes
server and Pipes client, which might be more to your liking:
http://ivanweb.com/articles/namedpipes/index.cfm

 

[OpticTygre]

Beautiful! Thanks for the article. I think this will help tremendously.