Visual Studio 2012 web console application? (app without graphic UI) - c#

Is in VS something like this? I need to create simple server connected to DB that will organize all data. I plan to use it for mobile app. This app will have its own, native grapic interface, so I don't need any HTML's in my project.
Why am I asking? Because when I create new web project, VS automatically creates some HTML&CSS files, all stuff that browser needs. But I won't use browser, I need siple console that will show some returned data.
Something like in node.js: single, one executable file.

What you probably want is a self-hosted ASP.NET Web API application. Self-hosted means that you are running your own, minimal web server, no IIS required. To accomplish this, take a look at this tutorial:
http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/hosting-aspnet-web-api/use-owin-to-self-host-web-api

There are multiple ways to do what you're asking.
The easiest way is to start a WebAPI project: http://www.asp.net/web-api. You can basically provide nothing but service "endpoints" for your mobile UI.
The other way is to host your own endpoints in a Console application via the use of, say, a HttpListener object. That's setting yourself up for pain though. I would recommend the WebAPI route.

Related

How to develop Smart Client Application

Hi.
I have several questions. I developed an application using Visual Studio 2010. The application is developed using Windows Form and the program was wrote using C#.
This application needs to be run on a server. There are several clients connected to the server that will access and use that application through the browser. I know this can be done using Smart Client technique. But I don't really understand how to do it. My questions are:
Is there any syntax/class/methods/function that I need to include in my application? How to use it?
What settings/configuration do I need to set up so that the client computer can access the application in the server through their browser?
I know this can be done using ClickOnce but I don't know how. Can anybody tell me or show me the steps that I need to do to implement this?
Is there any syntax/class/methods/function that I need to include in my application? How to use it?
There are a few - but this is a large area. I would point you at couple:
WCF
ASP.NET Web API.
I would advise to use the later as it appears to be where the modern development is heading (at least to me).
Put simply, you will write your own web server, host it either in your WinForms application or migrate your WinForms to be a web application and host it on IIS, for example. Your web server will expose some API, which will likely to be based on HTTP protocol. A client application will hit web URLs. This will be a request-response paradigm.
Because this is a large area, I cannot name you exact classes, but have a look at ASP.NET site for samples.
What settings/configuration do I need to set up so that the client computer can access the application in the server through their browser?
It depends on the technology. Usually it's pretty simple - get it from tutorials and samples. In most cases this will be *.config file XML code and some minor bootstrapping in .cs files.
I know this can be done using ClickOnce but I don't know how. Can anybody tell me or show me the steps that I need to do to implement this?
ClickOnce is a deployment tool. You probably don't need that at this point.

IIS vs Windows Service?

I have a C# application that needs to always be running. I originally planned on making this a windows service but I now have a requirement to make the application host a web admin console.
I haven't played with IIS in quite a few years so my question is this:
What would you recommend I use?
I've thought about making a windows service and embedding a web server such as Cassini but so far I'm not very happy with the open source web servers I've looked at.
Can IIS handle this? Do people use it for this type of scenario, and if so how?
This sounds like a job for two separate projects.
One is the original Windows Service. Windows Services are well suited for what you're doing.
The second is the Web Project that will be used to administer the Windows Service. This is the part that runs in IIS.
It depends on what you mean by always running. An ASP.NET web application deployed in IIS could very well be unloaded by the web server if there aren't any requests for certain amount of time killing all background threads. So if you want an ever running background thread it would be better suited to use a Windows Service. As far as the web admin is concerned, well, here you don't have much choice: ASP.NET in IIS. In order to do something useful those two applications should be able to find a common language to talk. So you could use a database to store the results into which could be used by both applications.
IIS will run your app on first request, not on server boot. So you will still need to run a service to ensure your app is always running.
You can use IIS as a webserver for your web admin part, and link your ASP.net app with your service by means of a configuration database (easy) or webservices (a little more tricky).
Windows and Web services are two very different creatures. A web service will expose external methods that you can implement against an application, while a windows service is an entity within itself. If you're planning on using this service on a timed interval to perform an operation, a Windows service would be the right way to go. If you use a web service, you will need to invoke the method you wish to run from a secondary application.
If you need to queue commands against your windows service, you could always create a database that was accessible by both your website and your windows service. This way you could send commands and query data between the two. Placing a web service in to serve as an intermidary between the two may be overkill.

Testing a WCF web service

I have written a commercial WCF web service.
I would like to give the service to another person to test independent of the application that will be using the web service. This is because a third party is going to be building that app and we don't have access to it at the moment.
Another thing to remember too is that the person I want to hand this off to for testing is a non programmer. That is important.
So are there any tools out there that can subscribe to a WCF web service, and recognise what data needs to be inserted, and create a GUI to try out different combinations of data?
Thanks.
I typically use SoapUI for that purpose. You can also create test suits with it and it's free. Alternatively you can use the Microsoft WcfTestClient.exe that comes with Visual Studio since version 2008 I guess...
WCF Test Client (WcfTestClient.exe)
You can find the WCF Test Client (WcfTestClient.exe) in the following location: **C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE**
Using the WCFTestClient Tool to Test Service Operations
You can consume a web service with Office InfoPath, or write a simple test application in C#.
In general, you need to publish the web service meta data (normally as a wsdl end point) - this metadata should enable any client to get all the information needed to make calls to your web service.
This may help: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms734765.aspx
As may this: http://keithelder.net/blog/archive/2008/01/17/Exposing-a-WCF-Service-With-Multiple-Bindings-and-Endpoints.aspx
Update:
From the comment, is appears that you need non programmers to be able to test your service and are looking for a user interface that can be used to work directly with your web service (and automatically adapt to changes). As far as I know, there is nothing built it that will do this for you (though the old asmx services created web forms that could be used).
So you are looking for application that will create UI for manual testing of your service? Not sure if something like that is available for free. SoapUI PRO is able to do that but in contrast to common SoapUI it is not free. Basic SoapUI version requires tester to write XML messages directly.
You should think about your requirement. You want tester without any programming knowledge to test artificat which is for programmers - not for end users. You probably have to buy some tool or write your own solution to support such test.

Is it possible to create a standalone, C# web service deployed as an EXE or Windows service?

Is it possible to create a C# EXE or Windows Service that can process Web Service requests? Obviously, some sort of embedded, probably limited, web server would have to be part of the EXE/service. The EXE/service would not have to rely on IIS being installed. Preferably, the embedded web service could handle HTTPS/SSL type connections.
The scenario is this: customer wants to install a small agent (a windows service) on their corporate machines. The agent would have two primary tasks: 1) monitor the system over time and gather certain pieces of data and 2) respond to web service requests (SOAP -v- REST is still be haggled about) for data gathering or system change purposes. The customer likes the idea of web service APIs so that any number of clients (in any language) can be written to tap into the various agents running on the corporate machines. They want the installation to be relatively painless (install .NET, some assemblies, a service, modify the Windows firewall, start the service) without requiring IIS to be installed and configured.
I know that I can do this with Delphi. But the customer would prefer to have this done in C# if possible.
Any suggestions?
Yes, it's possible, you may want to have a look at WCF and Self Hosting.
Yes, it is possible (and fairly easy).
Here is a CodeProject article showing how to make a basic HTTP server in C#. This could easily be put in a standalone EXE or service, and used as a web service.
One technology you might want to check out is WCF. WCF can be a bit of a pain to get into but there's a great screencast over at DNRTV by Keith Elder that shows how to get started with WCF in a very simple fashion.
http://www.dnrtv.com/default.aspx?showNum=135
You could take a look at HttpListener in the .Net framework.
I would highly recommend WCF. It would fit very well into a product like you are describing. There are a good number of books available.
Sure, you can do that. Be sure to change the Output Type of the project to Console Application. Then, in your Main function, add a string[] parameter. Off of some switch that you receive on the command line, you can branch to ServiceBase.Run to run as a Windows Service or branch to some other code to run a console application.
This question is somewhat older but since I needed something similar some time ago it felt like this question is still relevant.
I wrote a small Rest-API with NancyFx and OWIN. OWIN is a standard interface between .Net applications and web servers. With OWIN it is possible to create a self-hosted WEB-API. Nancy on the other hand is
a lightweight, low-ceremony, framework for building HTTP based
services on .NET ยน
The combination of those two makes it possible to create a self-hosted C# Web service.
I am quite sure that there are many more possibilities to create something like this by now but since I used it like this I thought the Information might be useful to someone.

Is it possible to host an ASPX web page, in a stand alone application, outside of IIS

I have a thick GUI application (possibly running as a service, but also just as a normal application) on a desktop. I would like to expose a web interface to the application for some remote monitoring and control of the application.
I currently am hosting a WCF service that just returns HTML in the application, which works fine, but optimally I would like to use an ASP.Net application, or a silverlight application.
Is there any way to host the aspx or silverlight app from within my app?
As part of this, I would like to be able to share data between the two applications.
Yes. You don't even need Cassini, as it wraps ASPX hosting bits already present in the framework it's all inside System.Web.Hosting
MSDN has a good article on it all
The tiny webserver that is built into VS is called Cassini and you can download the source somewhere. Not sue about versions and licenses.
Cassini provides (demonstrates) the ASP Hosting stuff.
ScottHa has an article on hosting Cassini for unit tests. I've used it before, with a couple of slight modifications, for unit tests and it works great.
Not sure what differences you get by just using HTTP.SYS directly, but either should work pretty well, I think.
as i see it, the most simple solution for you is to put a browser control on your app, in the browser put a silverlight app,
if you wanna share data between the app and the silverlight you can try to expose a wcf service from the app to the silverlight if it works its also very simple.

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