C# - Calling a function in another program over a networked solution.

Question

I have a server and a client program, and they communicate as expected. The only thing is, I have a combo box on the client program, and when this combo box is changed, I want it to call a function on the server program. How would I go about this? I've thought about it for a while, and just can't seem to get it to work.

Answer 1

You'll need to establish a communication path between the two programs and send a message in the event of the combo box change. There are many possible solutions out but a couple of the more popular methods of cross process communication in .Net are

• WCF
• Remoting
• Named Pipes

My personal choice would be to use WCF. I find it to be less connected and easier to use than Remoting and there are tons of tutorials available on the subject

• http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WCF/wcf_bohansen.aspx

Answer 2

If your application is at all web based or has access to the HTTP protocol, another option I would suggest for the client/server model in addition to the excellent ones already suggested by Jared Par, is to leverage HTTP through a web service (or similar) for communication.

For example

• ASP.NET web services.
• MVC using Restful architecture.
• or even jQuery/AJAX on the front end (or a similar library) if your presentation layer is web based.

Answer 3

I tried JaredPar's solution by getting the client to send a message that started with "6", and get the server to monitor all incoming messages for a message that started with "6". If one did, then it called the function.