(proverbially) Throwing Myself to the C# Wolves

[Kyle Silvers]

I'm a college student, starting my first "for-real" C# application. I've
read a bajillion books on what to do and what not to do, practiced all the
code snippets from here to kingdom come, and written dozens of smaller
prototypical applications, and done some basic stuff for people on
Rent-A-Coder. I think I'm ready for something I can sink my teeth into now.

The purpose of this first application is very simple. As a college student,
I have lots of trouble waking up at the appropriate hour without some
encouragement from an alarm clock. Recently, my old trusty alarm clock (the
kind you have to wind) broke, and I've been faced with the dilemma of
whether or not to buy a new shiny digital one for the upcoming semester,
where the prospect of 8:00 AM classes returns to haunt me.

However, as a computer-science major, I also feel compelled to come up with
an executable solution (i.e., write a program) rather than a commercial one
(i.e., buy a new clock). Since my computer sits in a different room in my
apartment than my bedroom, I thought it'd be clever to use the modem line
from my computer to make a call to my apartment line, and then, on pickup,
blast an eardrum-shattering *.wav file. That would certainly wake me up.

Unfortunately, this now seems a little too ambitious for a first project. I
can't seem to find anything along the lines of a "phone API", if that even
exists. There's some documentation in MSDN for the PocketPC phone API, but
that's unnecessarily complicated. Any suggestions, pointers, or snippets to
get me started in the right direction? Thanks!

- Kyle S.

( Please use forums to reply! )

 

[Greg Ewing [MVP]]

Kyle, there is nothing built in to the Framework around telephony. You
aren't out of luck though. You can use Interop to wrap the telephony API's
installed on all (?) windows desktops.

Here's a sample app that does some of what you are looking to do and should
get you started.
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/Code/2002/Dec/CSAutoJobSearch.asp

 

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Kyle,

Like Greg said, there is a telephony API. I am curious though, won't
this only work if you have two separate lines? One for your computer, and
one for the phone you will be called on?

 

[Kyle Silvers]

Wow! That link is just what I was looking for - thanks Greg. Now for a
weekend of coding and hitting up the TAPI documentation! If I actually get
this working, I'll be sure to pass along a link to the app so you forum
peeps can try it out for yourself. =)

Happily engaged for the next several days,
Kyle S.

 

[Reginald Blue]

Note that your modem must be a voice modem and must support the wave API to
play correctly. You'll very likely want to talk to the
microsoft.public.win32.programmer.tapi group for details on all of that,
before you get too much further.

Also, unless your dorm phone system happens to be a good pbx system, it's
very likely that your modem won't know when you answer the phone. Again,
details on that on the tapi group.

Good luck!

--
Reginald Blue
"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my
telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my
telephone."
- Bjarne Stroustrup (originator of C++) [quoted at the 2003
International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces]

 

[David]

Great plan, but a new clock costs under $10!

Why not have the computer dial your phone number every 5 min until you
turn the program off? This should be a simpler way to approach the
issue.