[C# .NET] Simple way to obtain data from other programs?

Question

Is there a simple way to fetch data from other programs running in the background? Like for instance i want my program to read the temperature values from Speed Fan and so on... So basicly reading data from controls that are present in a diffrent application.

Answer 1

For fan speed data you may have better luck with WMI, accessed through the System.Management namespace.

Answer 2

You can comunicate programs by socket. For data transport you can use XML generated from DataSet.

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You can use also WM_COPYDATA, for more information you can visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms649011%28v=VS.85%29.aspx

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Other way to do that is Dynamic Data Exchange Management Library or Dynamic Data Exchange if you don't support first option. For more information check: DDEML and DDE.

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Other methods to implement Interprocess Communications you find at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365574%28VS.85%29.aspx#base.using_data_copy_for_ipc