I am building an application that needs to connect to a server to send and retrieve data constantly.
at first i was going to use mysql, by mysql is far from what i want. using this would force users to connect to the database constantly.
CAN C# silverlight connect to a server and send a message?
here is an example to something in C# console, VERY similar to what i am trying to achieve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kcrTKj7Jpk
Any documentation would also be helpful.
To be more specific my server will be written with C# console, but i want my c# silverlight to send the message.
Yes.
CAN C# silverlight connect to a server and send a message?
Traditionally, the way that Silverlight has connected to a server to send a message is with WCF services. This still works well, but the other option is REST.
What you will need to do is write a layer (or use an ORM like Entity Framework) to persist data from whichever database platform you choose (MySQL or otherwise). Then you will need to write REST, or WCF services on top of this. You will then need to consume the services from your Silverlight application.
There are many articles on this if you Google. Here is one of the ones that comes up instantly:
http://www.dotnetcurry.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=228
One thing you must consider with Silverlight, is that by default, Silverlight will only talk to the server that the Xap package is hosted on. So, if you need the Silverlight app to talk to a different server, you will need to set up and expose a clientaccesspolixy.xml from the server where the WCF/REST services are hosted. This is a stupid limitation that Microsoft made a big mistake on in the first place. Here is an article about it:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/cc197955(v=vs.95).aspx
Related
I need to develop a NET Framework MVC web app that takes 5 items in a form, each one consisting in a description and an image. I need to post these to a server app (locally) that takes this data and stores it in an XML file for example (No need to use relational DB). My server app is a console based in NET Framework. When I change the description of the file in the server, I have to display in "real time" the updated values in the ASP NET web app in the client side, so somehow I need to send back the values of the file back to the ASP NET web app. I have been looking to signalR but seems to be more suitable for instant messaging rather than working with files, so I thought websockets would be a good idea. Doesn't seem too complicated but I have never worked with websockets so I wonder if this is possible to do with my suggestion above so I have a few questions:
Is it possible this flow of data between an ASP NET web app and a server console app? would it be better to create a web API in the server to handle this?
How can I send data from the client web app to the console, is via URL a good option?
Can anyone suggest a simpler or more feasible solution to this?
I much appreciate some help here.
I would choose building an API since you can send the updates whenever they change, no need to wait or keep connections open.
If you really have to send updates in realtime, SignalR combines different ways of keeping a connection open, so it could be the best option.
I prefer using SimpleTcp to easily establish a tcp communication between server (web app) and client (desktop or console) so this is also something you can consider.
SignalR already has websocket implementation. Your solution could be for example creating the signalR hub inside the console application and then using the webapp to connect to it. On either end you call a method that changes the other side.
I'm working on a project and I need to connect to MS Access Database. The problem is that I'm using a pretty new platform , I'm using Visual Studio 2015 Xamarin and I'm developing to android with c# (thought this platform).
I already have a project with this Database using aspx and i need to connect the android application to this Database .
I could not find any answer for it , probably cause it's new .
Thanks for helping.
The problem is not related only to Xamarin or MS Access.
Everytime you want to use the same database in different applications (in your case a website and mobile apps), it is better to create a new layer (WCF Service or REST API) in order to access the same database on the server. This is more flexible and would be the right thing in your case.
Without moving the architecture to the next Level, you will always have such problems when mixing old and new technologies together.
If you just want to finish this quickly for school and use the database only on the device, then there is no way to use the MS Access database with xamarin. I recommend using SQL lite for this and there are lots of examples for that:
https://developer.xamarin.com/recipes/android/data/databases/sqlite/
It not clear if the database is to run “local” on the android, or you just wishing to connect to some web service that holds the database?
If you needing a local database to run 100% stand-alone on the Android device, then Access is not supported. Your best bet for a local database would thus be SQLite.
Perhaps you don’t need nor want a local data store. In this case if the Access database is on the server, then you would be forced to write some kind of web service to “interact” with your Android software and the web server (this would not be a "general" interface to the database, but a set of web services that you expose on the web site - this assumes you thus have control and are able to write software and implement a web service on the web site. So in this case some kind of “direct” connection to the Access database is not possible.
You could again certainly DIRECTLY connect to a server based database like SQL server – but this would assume the web hosting allows external ODBC connections to the database (often they don’t allow this, but some do).
So not clear is if you need a local database running on the Android that can THEN connect to some web or server based system, or you simply want the android to connect via the internet to some database hosted on some server and the Android device does not have a local database at all.
Regardless of the location of MSAccess, you cannot "connect" to a non server database like Access. So the question remains as to "where" you want this database to be used, and ALSO if you need a local data store on the Android device or not.
I am struggling to figure out how to connect to a MySql database in my C# Windows Phone 8 application like I can on my desktop application. The reason I am struggling is because it seems I cannot just use the same MySql.Data library that I used on my desktop application. Are there any other libraries that I can use to access my database?
PS. I really don't want to go the PHP route because I will have to have Apache running on y server two and will have to add JSON interfacing two which will not only be a hassle but possibly also waste some processing time and make my application more complex.
PPS. If not possible with MySql, can it be made to work with Microsoft SQL Server or Azure?
EDIT:
If some sort of HTTP interface is my only option, is there some easy existing API or something that I can use to allow SQL data transmission or will I have to create specific PHP(/asp.net or whatever) code for each type request that I am planning to send?
I want to build some sort of interface that will monitor our real time routing/switching system. I would like to give a lot of visual feedback to be able to monitor its status visually. Our system and clients are not co-located so they would need to connect via TCP/IP.
I would like to be able to service any number of monitoring clients (although this will probably only ever be about 4-6 clients). I thought of using SilverLight but there appears to be one or two tricks involved in getting SilverLight to connect back to an application running on a different port.
I have also thought of using HTML5 canvas and websockets. Another alternative is to just create the clients using normal Window Forms and perhaps WPF. But this means that to monitor the application the client will have to be downloaded before. I would prefer something that is as easily accessible as web app?
What are some of the more common application stacks to achieve this? What should I watch out for?
EDIT:
Just to add: This will be an internal tool only. But we have offices in a couple of locations.
any choice in this direction could be subjective and arguable, surely somebody could suggest any possible web framework or language...
I would consider, however because of your .NET and C# tags, ASP.NET MVC 3, so basically web based plugin-less ( NO Silverlight ) HTML 5 solution.
Consider that StackOverflow is done in same way (MVC, ASP.NET, SQL Server... ) and outperforms as we all know.
the way you grab the underlying events from TCP, so the way you capture and provide the data from TCP, it's another thing from the front end, I would probably write a Windows Service if the traffic is so high and you want to grab and store data anything regardless any active client connection.
There are plenty of real time charting controls out there also for MVC, MS Chart Control. DevExpress, ExtJS integrated ones...
"real time" and Browser is bothering me.
I would indeed go WPF or WinForms. Using the ClickOnce-Deployment you can make this a no-pain for the user and you can roll-out new versions just by redeploying them and having the user restart the application.
In my company this works really fine and we have no problems whatsoever. The only problem with this is, that the app.config is somewhat hard to find and keep current/valid (redeploy) but in your case this won't change per client (or so I guess).
I agree with #Davide - I would go for a WebService that will obtain all routing/switching data in realtime. You will have a web application and on the client side you will have JQuery/AJAX fetching realtime data from the WebService component.
I've seen cool demo's of Web Orb doing something similar to what you want. http://www.themidnightcoders.com/
If you are starting from scratch, it would be good to check out WCF (Windows Communication Foundation). It's great because it can expose your functionality in many ways, using nothing more than modifying a config file.
If you want a Windows client app, you can host it in a Windows Service, or simply include it as a side assembly. For web apps, you can choose between various formats (JSON, XML), channels (HTTP, TCP) and protocols (SOAP, ODP).
If I got it right, there will be a server-side application which will collect information from the devices and expose it to clients as a service. In that case, a WCF application might be hosted in a Windows Service or IIS on a server machine, and expose the data though one or more endpoints (HTTP, TCP).
I am not aware of problems in connecting a SilverLight app to a service, but I would rather go for a HTML5/JavaScript combo instead, for easier deploying and compatibility with a wider range of devices (no plugins needed). ASP.NET MVC should be the best choice for the web app.
We had a requirement to build a ASP.NET 3.5 web application using web forms, WCF, ADO.NET and SQL Server. The users would connect via Internet.
Recently we understood that it is possible that users would often remain disconnected and would have Internet access intermittently.
I need to understand if we can create occasionally connected web application using asp.net 3.5 - what all technologies/features we need to use? Is MS Sync Framework the answer to the problem - is it a viable option to use with web application?
Is windows application the right approach instead of web applications - where the business logic would be run at the client itself, using local SQL Express editions with data then been synced up with Enterprise SQL server at server end when connection is established using replication and/or MS Sync framework. In that case is there a need to use WCF?
Does Silverlight applications help in this context -building paritally connected web apps?
Really appreciate if you can give pointers to how to go about this task of creating .net partially connected apps (not mobile apps)?
It looks to me as if you'll need to store your client data locally when not connected.
If you use wcf you can determine what type of protocol to use according to connectivity without affecting your main code e.g. tcp/ip for LAN, http for internet and msmq for storing up data when disconnected.
If data for transfer is stored up using msmq, as soon as a connection is remade then the data will be passed to your main server.
If you write your wcf, or communications code to run as a service (assuming windows functionality here) then it is up to you whether to retain the asp code or write a new windows app.
edit
Setup MSMQ at both ends, its part of windows setup and can be installed on a client machine, just the same as IIS is, it's on the installation disk but not installed by default.
I wouldn't use it to get web pages, have those available on the local machine, but instead use it to queue up data that MUST get back to the server. Your data access layer should be separated from your GUI layer anyway. I assume that your using the MVC pattern or similar.
I don't know what your application is requried to do but here is the example that I've worked on.
A mobile user who visits clients. He has a replicated copy of a company product database on his laptop. When he visits client sites he may not be able to connect to his company server, but still wants to place client orders. This he does using his laptop based application and database. Order data is queued up in MSMQ on the laptop.
As soon as he is able to connect to his company server MSMQ automatically sends the order data. The server has queued up MSMQ messages of changes to pricing and stock etc. that took place whilst he was disconnected. These are now received and the local database is updated.
The choice of TCP/IP, HTTP or MSMQ all happens seemlessly to the main application, the WCF code copes with the choice.
From what I know, you have two options:
Use Gears (abandoned) or Web Storage to store and sync local data, combined with heavily javascripted web pages that can detect loss of connection and work against the local data store.
Use the Sync Framework with a rich client (WinForms, WPF or possibly Silverlight OOB if it gets supported). The Sync Framework does not require a local installation of a database, instead it uses SQL Server Compact, which is simply a local file.
At this stage using Sync franework with probably rich client seems to be better option. Thanks a lot Guys for taking your time out and trying to answer my queries. I will let you know the technologies used after i manage to deploy the app!