Beginner Connecting Two PPc's question - Please Help Me

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I have multiple ppc's connected via wifi to a lan.I also have regular PC's on the same network, but these are connected with cables. This network is completely cut off from outside sources. The regular PC's have static IP addresses while the PPC's are dynamic. I want to write a small program that will allow the ppc's to see a list of ppc's currently connected, and then to click on one of them and to browse and transfer files off each other from a set "shared" folder. But I want it to work like this: When a ppc connects, it is to send its new IP address to "server pc" that keeps track of the current IP addresses the PPC's have. It will then send the current IP addresses of the other connected PPC's to the unit, which will then when it attempts to click on a particular unit on his screen will set up a Direct Connection thr the LAN, bypassing the "server pc". All I want the "server pc" to be used for is just to keep track and send out the current IPs. You could say that I want to sort of model this after I’M programs.


Can you please tell me how would i go about this, I am pretty much a newbie regarding programing, so if you could please explain to me all of the steps required clearly. Also which language would be the best to use for this.
Thank you
ChinWan

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

This is not a suitable project for someone just getting started with
programming. You're talking about developing a registration database
program to run on the PCs, as well as the registration client program for
the PPC devices, *and* some means of transferring files from one unit to
another under user control. All three of the major capabilities require
significant detailed experience with different aspects of Windows/Windows
CE: databases, network programming, user interface.

Investigate the following:

1. Check whether you can buy FTP/Web servers to run on PPC devices (we're
trying to find a way to avoid writing a protocol for file transfer). Check
the PPC SDK and see if the MS Web server could be used.

2. Start figuring out how to write programs for the PPC devices. Buy a copy
of Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional or better (figure $500-$1500).

3. Once you've done some simple user interface programs using 2, start
learning about database access and thinking about your database design to
hold the list of available PPC devices. You'll probably want some unique
method of identifying a device, so you don't accidentally assign it several
entries in the database if it has to be reset and comes up with a new IP
address.

4. Start learning about network programming using sockets. You're going to
need a custom protocol for communication between the PPC devices and the
server, unless you decide to have the PPC devices talk directly to an SQL
Server database on the server. You'll also need to figure out how to address
the server. Will it always have the same IP? If not, how will you figure
out what its address is?

Finally, language choice doesn't matter. You can use C# or VB.NET (or, if
you want, C/C++, although you'd use a different development environment for
that).

Paul T.

I have multiple ppc's connected via wifi to a lan.I also have regular

PC's on the same network, but these are connected with cables. This network
is completely cut off from outside sources. The regular PC's have static IP
addresses while the PPC's are dynamic. I want to write a small program that
will allow the ppc's to see a list of ppc's currently connected, and then to
click on one of them and to browse and transfer files off each other from a
set "shared" folder. But I want it to work like this: When a ppc connects,
it is to send its new IP address to "server pc" that keeps track of the
current IP addresses the PPC's have. It will then send the current IP
addresses of the other connected PPC's to the unit, which will then when it
attempts to click on a particular unit on his screen will set up a Direct
Connection thr the LAN, bypassing the "server pc". All I want the "server
pc" to be used for is just to keep track and send out the current IPs. You
could say that I want to sort of model this after I'M programs.

Can you please tell me how would i go about this, I am pretty much a

newbie regarding programing, so if you could please explain to me all of the
steps required clearly. Also which language would be the best to use for
this.