Clueless programming an Infrared application. Will I succeed?

Question

As an experienced programmer, I believe everything is possible. It just requires knowledge, skill and patience. Right now, I lack the knowledge I need for programming an infrared/irDA device, so I need to learn. Simple, really.

My problem? I have a monitor which can be used also as television (it has a DVI-D connector AND a cable connector.) And for a while I have an infrared device on my computer which I use to synchronize my PDA and mobile phone.

I want the Infrared device of my PC to send a signal to my monitor to switch between TV and PC mode. (Or to control the monitor in some other way, like turning it on and off during logon/logoff.) To do this I need to: 1) use the PC device to record the commands from my monitor remote. 2) repeat that signal from my PC to my monitor to send the command.

With nearly 30 years of programming experience, the coe is no problem. But since my only knowledge of infrared devices is extremely limited, I need some useful hints and tips about this.

A Google search will provide plenty of links that are useful. But to find the most useful ones, I could use some help with that. :-)

Answer 1

This looks like the most promising link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.sockets.irdaclient.aspx

I think the IrDAClient class can do everything you need to do.

Answer 2

In short IrDA is not the same as 'Consumer IR' see e.g. http://www.alanjmcf.me.uk/comms/infrared/IrDA%20faq.html#_Toc128227634 "Consumer-IR versus IrDA" and http://www.alanjmcf.me.uk/comms/infrared/IrDA%20uses%20%28brief%29.html#_Toc71546556 "Non-IrDA infrared"

That's the negative, for some more positive info see for instance http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1154364/how-to-programmatically-use-the-mobile-phones-irda-to-remote-control-a-media-pla