How to send strings to a WinForms application from another application using methods

Question

I have an EXE that I've created called logger which is a simple WinForms application. It has a richtextbox and that's pretty much it.

I then also have a suite of other applications. What I want to be able to do with these apps is to be able to get them to write output to the logger.exe I have full control over the code of all applications.

I understand I could do a process.start and specify arguments but I want these apps to be able to write to the richtextbox at will based on the methods being called within them.

I was hoping I could create an api in the logger.exe that would expose a method for appending the richtextbox.

Does anyone have any tips on how I might achieve this?

EDIT: This is what I have so far:

namespace ScreenLog
{
  [ServiceBehavior(ConcurrencyMode = ConcurrencyMode.Reentrant, InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.Single)]
  public partial class Logger : Form, IFromClientToServerMessages
  {
      public Logger()
      {
          InitializeComponent();
      }

      public void DisplayTextOnServerAsFromThisClient(string text)
      {    
          LogConsole.AppendText(Environment.NewLine + text);
      }
  }
  [ServiceContract(SessionMode = SessionMode.Allowed)]
  public interface IFromClientToServerMessages
  {
      [OperationContract(IsOneWay = false)]
      void DisplayTextOnServerAsFromThisClient(string message);
  }
}

I always used a message passing library for stuff like this, open-mpi.org its very reliable and not too complex. If you just want a quick and easy solution you might want to just have a text file somewhere saved where one program writes into it and the other one checks every second or so if there is something in it and copys that — Vajura
– Vajura, Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 10:42
Hi Vajura, thanks for the suggestion I didn't think of doing the text file thing, that might work if I poll it every few ms. Probably not the most efficient but hey. I'll take a look at the messaging library. — Festivejelly
– Festivejelly, Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 10:49

Kurubaran · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-10 11:50:51Z

2

As you might have already guessed you would need any of IPC(Inter Process Communication) mechanism to send messages between different processes(Applications). WCF is one of the option, You could implement a simple WCF service module which uses net.pipe binding. This service can be hosted in managed application. In your case this service can be hosted in your logger application.

Note: If you want to host a WCF application in a managed application, Particular managed application(Logger) should have admin privilege.

Implementation of Logger Form

partial class declaration

[ServiceBehavior(ConcurrencyMode = ConcurrencyMode.Reentrant, InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.Single)]
public partial class Logger: Form, IFromClientToServerMessages

Introduce Interface for communication

This interface should be added to a assembly which is accessible by both Logger application and any other application which sends message to logger.

[ServiceContract(SessionMode = SessionMode.Allowed)]
   public interface IFromClientToServerMessages
   {
       [OperationContract(IsOneWay = false)]
       void DisplayTextOnServerAsFromThisClient(string message);
   }

Implementing Interface

Add the following method implementation to your Logger form

public void DisplayTextOnServerAsFromThisClient(string text)
{
  //Add proper logic to set value to rich text box control.    
  richtextbox = text;
}

Hosting the WCF service in logger application

Invoke HostTheNetPipeService() within the constructor of Logger Form

private void HostTheNetPipeService()
{
  serverHost = new ServiceHost(this);
  serverHost.AddServiceEndpoint((typeof(IFromClientToServerMessages)), new NetNamedPipeBinding(), "net.pipe://127.0.0.1/Server");
  serverHost.Open();
}

Call the service from other applications to send message/text

private void SendMessageToLogger()
{
    using (ChannelFactory<IFromClientToServerMessages> factory = new ChannelFactory<IFromClientToServerMessages>(new NetNamedPipeBinding(), new EndpointAddress("net.pipe://localhost/Server")))
    {
       IFromClientToServerMessages clientToServerChannel = factory.CreateChannel();
                try
                {
                    clientToServerChannel.DisplayTextOnServerAsFromThisClient("Message to be displayed");
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {                   
                }
                finally
                {
                    CloseChannel((ICommunicationObject)clientToServerChannel);
                }
            }
        }

Closing the communication channel

private void CloseChannel(ICommunicationObject channel)
{
  try
  {
     channel.Close();
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {

  }
  finally
  {
     channel.Abort();
  }
}

edited Nov 10, 2014 at 11:50

answered Nov 10, 2014 at 11:07

Kurubaran

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5 Comments

Festivejelly Over a year ago

I'll give this a shot thanks for explaining it, Kurubaran, this would be my preferred method if I can get it to work. The user this runs under does have admin so that shouldn't be an issue.

Kurubaran Over a year ago

@Jonkers Let me know if you come across any issue, I can help you out.

Festivejelly Over a year ago

I'm not sure I get the whole part about how to hosting the WCF in my application. Im guessing when the WinForms app launches I want it to create a host under net.pipe://localhost/Server

Kurubaran Over a year ago

@Jonkers Sorry missed that part, Added method to host the service into Logger form.

Festivejelly Over a year ago

Ah it looks like its working now I think I just need to add some code to wait until the app is full started. I just did a test and it did actually output the text to the window! Its looking good so far, Thanks so much for helping!

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