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Communication between C# .NET and PHP/Laravel

In my laravel application, I want to provide the users with the opportunity to download a copy of their stored data in the form of a Word document. I found that certain parts of this can only be accomplished using C#/.NET.
For this, I wrote a C# application alongside a method called GetWordProfile(User user) which returns FileInfo set to the actual path of the output file (this is always within the storage folder of laravel, so laravel has access to it). I only need the path and everything's done and dusted since from this point on, I can manage my laravel application to download this for the user.
However, the question is how do I get there? I must not forget about potential errors which may occur and thus display them (the errors are (inside my C# application) handled by log4net in a file as well as on the console; same goes for all output).
I tried to run my application using shell_exec respectively exec, however, both only returned zero results (null) (despite having set $output for exec) and thus seem not to be suitable. Also, I usually don't want loops (inside PHP/laravel) too much since you're then using a lot of computing power which is unnecessary for this sort of task, also you don't want to let your users wait more than, say, 5 secs, seeing nothing in your browser but the script being executed within a blank page (during the execution there's no content, obviously).
EDIT: I also approached the use of COM which ultimately did not work properly out either.
What is an appropriate approach towards this?

I did something similar with Python + C# a while back using IPC (Inter-process Communication) using named pipes.
EDIT: URL is broken. Here's the question someone asked previously on this topic.
Interprocess Communication using Named Pipes in C# + PHP

Deploying a C# application - user form (novice)

I'm virtually a complete novice, I've tried Googling for answers and become totally confused.
Using Visual Studio 2010, I have a C# application which is an email notifier for a friend. The external (Arduino) hardware works, the main code (from a website) works but I'm sending it to her on the other side of the world to use and she is very 'non-technical' - hence the need for a 'setup form'.
I have created a form where she can enter comm port (selected from a list), username and password (all to be used by the main code), but that form should run only when the application is first installed on the PC.
At the moment it runs in VS-2010 (though I need to iron out a couple of snags), validates and hides - but I don't know how to a) store the data and make it available to the main code, b) ensure that the form only runs at setup, or c) exactly what I need to do or include to create an installable application.
Could somebody either help or direct me to some tutorials that don't assume I understand all the terminology?
I just want to create something that she can instal from a memory stick. I know it can be done and it's proababy quite simple for those who understand - I'm trying to learn but I'm no longer young and it's a struggle.
Thanks

a) store the data and make it available to the main code,
write the data on a file!
you have millions of possibilities, for isntance reading and writing a plain text file can be done with few lines of code, but if you want to encrypt your file (it may be the case if you want to store the password) you can use System.Security.Cryptography as shown in this guide
b) ensure that the form only runs at setup,
once you have written the file, then it means that the program has run already at least once, so you don't need to ask the user again (just read the data from the file)
c) exactly what I need to do or include to create an installable application.
Visual Studio already comes with the Setup project for this task. See this good guide.

From your comment and link to the code project for the Arduino, I gather that this is your first venture into writing code in C#, or very close to it. And ideally you'd like to make this as easy for your friend as possible. The best advice I can give you is not to try to run before you learn to walk. If you try to create a custom setup project and use a configuration file, which is what you are talking about doing, you may hit so many barriers that you never get to a successful end of the project. That kind of experience is discouraging and I'd hate for you to lose the drive to ever want to try another software project.
Make this initial project easy on yourself. This is not good programming practice for most situations, but if you only have one user, hard-code her configruation information for this first version. In other words, put her username, password, com port, etc directly into the main program. This eliminates the need for both the configuration, and any custom setup form. If you still want to make the whole thing configurable and versatile, do that in your next version. Custom setup is not a beginner task. It will be a lot easier to take on with the encouragement of your friend's excitement and compliments over a first version that works.

Reading quickfix log file

I want to test my trading system by playing execution reports back into my application. Then I could verify that my order/position state is correct.
I found this somewhat related question: how to replay a quickfix log
The difference is that in the article the person was looking for a whole testing tool that would play back a log file. What I was wondering is whether there exists a utility that will take a string representing a FIX message and then just generate a FIX object (ex: ExecutionReport).
Does anything like this exist out there? Has everyone just been writing their own?

It sounds like you simply want a different kind of test tool.
If you've written your app in unit-test-friendly fashion, then you could simply write unit tests to create ExecReport objects and pass them as parameters into some ExecReport-processor component. (I'm guessing you're not designing for UTs, else you probably wouldn't need this suggestion.)
If not, then I think the best thing to do is write another app that your first app can connect to. You could create a simple Acceptor app that can use command-line commands to trigger ExecReports to be sent. If you're using QuickFIX/n (the C# port), you could steal code from QuickFIX/n's example apps "TradeClient" and "Executor".

Web Service Client Architecture - c#

Morning all,
I have been tasked with developing a client tool for a cloud web service API (A simple WSDL). I am not a seasoned or even qualified developer, I have an intermediate knowledge of C# and enough I believe to make this work, but I don't want a solution that just works, I want to build something clean and well coded which another dev can read and understand and which is intuitive.
You may want to stop me there and say "That is something you can only learn through experience." if that is the case then I can accept that and move on, but if you do have some advice the rest of the details are below.
The solution will be a C# Console application. I have produced a spec for this, it is below:
1.) Create a console application in .NET which has the following
capabilities:
2.) Consume CSV file containing Processed Data OR ODBC
Connection to staging SQL database and read records directly out of
load table
3.) Make the following calls to Zuora Webservice (Asynchronous) ·
SubscribeWithExisitingAccount() · Create() ·
Login() · Subscribe() · Update() · Delete()
(*) Calls marked with this are possibly avoidable,
*it is possible to create a subscription, account and contact with a
single call (Subscribe())
*Create() may be the exception as a scenario may occur where we need
to create an instance of an object with no corresponding subscription.
4.) Report back the success and errors of every record into a CSV
file.
Mappings will be done on a 1 to 1 basis, where the input file
will have the same column names as the target
Where I lack knowledge is following a design which will make this app make sense and work efficiently. I am not looking for someone to do this for me, what I am looking for is tips on how I can improve on what I am already doing
Currently I am just organically building the solution due to a lack of foresight on jobs like this, so I am also interested in things I can do post development.
ALL Advice and criticism is welcomed.
Thanks in advance,
Matt

Design principles are a big subject, and how to apply them correctly is only something that comes with experience. There's a lot more of them out there then you'd ever use in a given project, and in some cases using them correctly means not using them at all (or only choosing specific ones that suit the project). The first step is wanting to write good code though, so you're starting in the right place. :) A couple of things did stand out to me:
2.) Consume CSV file containing Processed Data OR ODBC Connection to
staging SQL database and read records directly out of load table
What you're going to want to do here is only build the logic that does something with this data once. The most direct way to achieve that is to have your logic expect the data in a certain format (probably business classes that hold the parsed data and that your logic an use).
So what you'll do is take the input data (CSV/SQL Table/Whatever) and first parse it into your internal business classes. Then you feed the parsed data to your logic that does whatever your app does with it. The advantage here is that you can change the logic once and it will work with both data types, AND if someone comes along later and says "now we need it to read this Excel file" all you'll have to do is add another parser to get the Excel data into your internal format. No changes to the logic will be required.
4.) Report back the success and errors of every record into a CSV
file.
Mappings will be done on a 1 to 1 basis, where the input file
will have the same column names as the target
Same as above. Don't assume that you'll be exporting to CSV forever, make a simple "ReportError" class or some such that holds error details and stick it into a List while doing your processing. At the end when it's time to output your errors, you can convert that into a CSV. So if this requirement changes and you instead report errors to a web service, you only have to change a small part of the code (and none of it is your processing logic).
There's a theme here. :) Try to encapsulate logical bits so that if something changes it's easy to find where that something is in code. If you can learn to do that, you'll wind up with maintainable code even if you don't follow any other process or pattern (particularly since as one person you won't be making huge projects).
3.) Make the following calls to Zuora Webservice (Asynchronous) ·
SubscribeWithExisitingAccount() · Create() · Login() · Subscribe() ·
Update() · Delete()
As a console app, I'm going to question if you actually need these to be asynchronous or not. What do you hope to gain from an async call to Login()? Can your program do anything while waiting for Login() to return?
It's not that async is terribly difficult, but it IS more to manage then synchronous calls. For a console app from someone whose not that experienced in the technology yet, I'm not sure what benefit you're gaining to weigh against the extra effort it requires of you.

I would recomend you read a book on webservices (this is a good one) They arent really something you can just pick up from playing about and can be quite frustraiting if you dont know what your doing.
As for development, I recomend you prototype it first. Hammer something out thats messy but lets you get an idea of how to do things. You can then use that as a reference for when your actually building your app.

Hook into the Windows File Copy API from C#

Is there a way to hook into the Windows File Copy API from C#? I'm aware this would require unmanaged code, but a code sample or starter would be helpful. I've already seen the C++ code, but it's all greek.
UPDATE: I apologize, I should have been more clear about my intentions. I wish to actually change the copy feature of Windows to be more rigid (e.g. allow queing, scheduling, handle restarts, pauses, etc.). When I said hook, I meant API hook so that when someone starts a copy I get the sources and destinations and can handle it to my heart's desire. I'm old school and used to hook the Mac OS API a lot to do these things so I assumed that in the C++ WINAPI world there was some type of equiv.

Update:
As others have stated, why not just use System.IO.File.Copy(...)? It calls this same underlying API. As Michael G points out, perhaps you intend to call the the FileCopyEx API that allows you to hook progress-indication callbacks(???) That's really the only reason to P/Invoke file-copy stuff in .NET. Details on how to implement FileCopyEx that can be found here: http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/kernel32/CopyFileEx.html
Original answer: (which you really shouldn't use...)
Code snippet removed because you really shouldn't use it...
If you're hell-bent on making busted-code, you can find out how to use it at: Found at http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/kernel32/CopyFile.html

I wish to actually change the copy feature of Windows to be more rigid
You shouldn't do that in managed code, because of the same reasons you should not write managed shell extensions.

You can do so by calling System.IO.File.Copy. Its internal implementation already uses the Windows API.
Edit: File.Copy also handles permissions correctly and has the benefit of throwing an exception with meaningful data if something fails, so you don't have to manually check and analyze the return status.

You can use Deviare API Hook that lets you intercept any API from .NET and read parameters using VARIANT types. There is a full example very easy to follow in C#.

The other benefit of using unmanaged Copy File API is the ability to have a progress callback.
Note: as stated in other answers, I would use the managed version of File.Copy as it's safer, and can usually do everything you require.