Using Remoting IpcChannel in Framework 2.0

Using the new remoting IPC Channel is easy ! 

The remote object will look the same as before…. no changes at all…

On the server and client follow these steps :

1. Add a reference to System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Ipc
2. Add a using statement to System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Ipc
3. Replace your old TcpChannel objects with the new IpcChannel objects.
    When you declare an IpcChannel using IpcChannel("Server")
     
you are actually creating a named pipe.
4. Point the client to where the named pipe is located :  "ipc://Server/RemotingServer"

If you were working with Config files… its all about changing them…
no need to even touch one line of code…
Check Daniel Moth blog (thanks Daniel)

I’ve left commented the old TcpChannel  decleration (in gray) just to point out that it isn’t a realy hard work to do.

Sample Code:
Sample Remote Object

using System;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels;

namespace
RemotingSample
{
     public class RemoteObject : MarshalByRefObject
    {
        //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
       
///constructor
        public RemoteObject()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Remote object activated");
        }
        //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        ///return message reply
        public String ReplyMessage(String msg)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Client : " + msg);//print given message on console
            return "Server : I'm alive !";
        }
    }
}

Sample Remote Server
using System;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels;
//using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Ipc;
namespace RemotingSample
{
    public class Server
    {
        /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        ///constructor
        public Server()
        {}
        /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        ///main method
        public static int Main(string[] args)
        {
            //select channel to communicate
            //TcpChannel chan = new TcpChannel(8085);
            IpcChannel chan = new IpcChannel("Server");
            //register channel
            ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(chan);
            //register remote object
            RemotingConfiguration.RegisterWellKnownServiceType(
                  
Type.GetType("RemotingSample.RemoteObject,RemoteObject"),
                   "RemotingServer",
                   WellKnownObjectMode.SingleCall);
             //inform consol
             Console.WriteLine("Server Activated");
             Console.ReadLine();
             return 0;
         }
    }
}

Sample Remote Client
using
System;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels;
//using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Ipc;
using RemotingSample;
namespace RemotingSample
{
    public class Client
    {
        /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        ///constructor
        public Client()
        {}
        //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        ///main method
        public static int Main(string[] args)
        {
            //select channel to communicate with server
            //TcpChannel chan = new TcpChannel();
            IpcChannel chan = new IpcChannel("Client");
            ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(chan);
            RemoteObject remObject = (RemoteObject)Activator.GetObject(
                        typeof(RemotingSample.RemoteObject),
                        //"tcp://localhost:8085/RemotingServer");
                        "ipc://Server/RemotingServer");
            if (remObject == null)
                   Console.WriteLine("cannot locate server");
            else
                   remObject.ReplyMessage("You there?");
            return 0;
        }
    }
}

5 Comments

  • Just updated the blog... with your comment....

  • Hi,



    I wanted to know that can I use IPC Channel over remote machines? I mean if I configure remoting using IPC, ie ipc://Server/RemotingServer to host the remote obj in windows service on same machine. But later on decide that I want to host the remote object on other machine. Will framework automatically detect and change mode to TCP/IP or http? Seems difficult as ipc is configured with just the named pipe name, no server name. How will it locate the remote server?



    Vice versa if I use tcp ip windows service host and configure using tcp://remoteServerIP:8085/RemotingServer. but later if the server is the same machine as client, shall the framework detect automatically and use IPC?

  • Did you ever experienced "all pipes are busy" with the IPCChannel? Do you know what could have been the reason?

  • I haven't experianced it but check the following kb which may help:
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;170338

  • I am setting up a browser add-on to communicate with a broker process using IpcChannel. The issue of course is getting "Access Denied" when the least-integrity BHO code attempts to talk to the medium-integrity broker process.

    I have read that it is possible to modify the named pipe security to do this - can you provide any insight in how to do this?

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