Web Application and Windows Application Communication

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alex
  • Start date Start date
A

Alex

Is it possible to get a web application to communicate with a windows
application? I want to be able to create a web application which interacts
with a windows application, but I am not sure how. Does any one have more
information on how to do this?

For example, in my web application, I'd like to post some xml to a windows
application, which would then process it. I would also like to be able to
post the xml back to the web application from the windows app when finished
editing it.

Thanks,

Alex
 
Hi,

What you are trying to do can be accomplished with a web service
A web service is like COM component, except it doesn't run locally, but on a
web server, remote

Your desktop (windows) application will call a method of the web service,
which will return the XML file
Then desktop app will process the XMS and in the end will call another
method of the web service, passing it the processed XML file

Look on google for Web services

Also, VS.NET have new project templates for web services, and also in MSDN
library you can find documentation and walkthroughs on how to "consume" web
services in desktop applications (this is the "terminology" for what you try
to accomplish)

HTH

Regards,
Bogdan Zamfir
_____________________________

Independent consultant
 
A web service and an activex control are not alike - not in any way... Alex
wants a web application to be able to interact with a windows application
running on client's machine. Possibilities are all the things that can be
embedded in a web page using <Object> tag. For netscape/mozilla
compatibility a java applet is the only solution.

Abhijeet Dev
 
Does the Windows app. have to run on the client or can it run on the server?
Does the Windows app. have to be running all of the time? Why does it have
to be a "Windows application"?

It sure sounds to me like you just need to do postback processing on the
server and return the results back to the web page. That is pure ASP.NET.
 
Hi,

I didn't meant to say that ActiveX (COM) and Web services are alike. They
are just called in a very similar way.

He just said he want a windows app to interact with a web app, by retrieving
an XML file, editing it and posting it back.

This is a perfect processing scheme for a Desktop app to Web service
communication, no matter if they are runing on the same machine, or not.

But I think if he wants the back-end app to be a web app, probably the two
applications won't run on the same PC.
 
I appreciate all your help, after analyzing my situation, I came up with
this solution. I have a web application which will have a link in its
content, say <a href="edit://id=5422">edit://id=5422<a/>. Using this edit
protocol, which I created, I have a console app which will open on the
user's computer when this link is clicked. Once this console app runs, it
ingests the edit://id=5422 url, gets an xml file corresponding to this id
from a database, saves the file on the system, then opens the file in a
specified text editor for the user. Upon saving the file, I will need to add
a handler to listen for saving events.

I may have confused my original problem with my questions. I do appreciate
the help. Thanks,

Alex
 
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