Introduction

This article is meant to be a step by step guide to give its reader a gist of .Net Remoting. I've tried to search good tutorials, but it was rather hard to find one that could work on my PC! So here's my first shot at a .Net Remoting tutorial in VB.net. It shouldn't be hard to get it running, if you'd follow this few steps.

Background

It's important for you to understand what's going on before we dive into the code (don't worry, it's not really hard). First off, we will have a remotable object called Manager, which will be a singleton object (defined later). Clients will send their messages by calling a method in the one and only one (singleton) Manager object called SendText, which in turn will raise an event, evtReceiveText. This event will be handled by all the chat clients, which then will display the received message on the textbox, txtReceivedMsgs.

OK, let's conceptualize it, we have one and only one remotable object, called the Manager, from the namespace InBetween (which conceptually, sits in between the server and client, serializing messages to and fro). Next, we have one Server, which will register or create a new instance our own well known service or application, called ChatApplication. Next, we will have the clients themselves, who will implement the Manager's event called, evtReceiveText, which is an event raised to all clients when anyone sends any message.

Now, for those who've done some remoting, I'm not going to use a config file (an XML file to configure the application's name and port, etc), but rather I'll be using these two:

On the client side, to get the Manager object (more comments on as we go on):
theManager = CType(Activator.GetObject(Type.GetType("InBetween.Manager,InBetween"), "http://UP:7777/ChatApplication"), InBetween.Manager)

On the server side, to register the well known service (more comments on as we go on):
System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingConfiguration.RegisterWellKnownServiceType( _
Type.GetType("InBetween.Manager, InBetween"), _
"ChatApplication", WellKnownObjectMode.Singleton)

Using the code (Manager.vb)

(Note: I've included the .config files, just in case you want to try using them)

1. To start, create an empty solution.
2. Add a new class library project called InBetween.
3. Change the default .vb name to Manager.vb
4 . Copy the code below (Be sure to read the comments as we go on)

This guy down here is the remotable object.

    
Imports System

    'We are going to declare an event delegate 

    'Event delegates sound really big... but what this is doing is that:

    ' "I want to be able, from this class, to raise a type of an event called 
    'ReceiveText..." 

    ' "And, I want those who use Manager class to handle that event"

    ' "...Now, I'm going to pass username As String and text As String."

    ' "It's gonna be up to you, how you're going to handle it"

    Public Delegate Sub ReceiveText(ByVal username As String, ByVal text As String)
    
Public Class Manager

    Inherits MarshalByRefObject
    
 'Why inherit MarshalByRefObject?

    'Enables access to objects across application domain boundaries 

    'in applications that support remoting.

    'Src: .NET Framework Class Library MarshalByRefObject Class [Visual Basic]

    'Let's break it down (in simple english)... 

    'MarshalByRefObject is the means which allows objects like this class here, 
    to 

    'communicate across boundaries, via remoting.

    'An application domain is a partition in an operating system process where one 
    or more applications reside.
    
 'What's this? I thought we already declared an event handler?

    'Here's where we need to declare the event itself. 

    'Delegates, as its name suggests are 'ambassadors' who advertises this event

    'That's why in our Client.vb, we say "theManager.evtReceiveText", 
    and not 'theManager.ReceiveText'

    Public Event evtReceiveText As ReceiveText
    
 Public Overrides Function InitializeLifetimeService() As Object

    'This function, if overriden, allows us to tell the Manager object how long

    'it should live. If by any reason we'd like to have it stay a 'lil longer, we 
    renew it and so forth

    'We won't do anything here. So what happens is that 

    'the Manager object is governed by a default lifetime.

    Return Nothing

    End Function
    


    Public Function SendText(ByVal username As String, ByVal text As String)

    'Later in the client.vb code, you would see that chat clients (like John Doe), 
    will 

    'raise thise event by calling SendText with the appropriate paramaters.

    'This event is then propagated to ALL clients, like Jones and so forth.

    'On Jones' PC (for example), Client.vb would handle this event by displaying 
    something like

    '"John: yada yada" on the txtReceivedMsgs. 

    'Of course John's client window sould also show the same

    RaiseEvent evtReceiveText(username, text)

    End Function
    

    
 Public Function getHash() As String

    'this is just a handy function to reaffirm that all your clients are communicating

    'with a ONE and only Manager object

    'Which means (in simple English), 

    'John and the Jones will see the very same hash code which was assigned to the 
    Manager object

    Return Me.GetType.GetHashCode().ToString

    End Function
    
End Class
    

Using the code (Server.vb)

1. Add a new Console Application project called Server, or whatever you want to call it.
2. Change the default .vb name to Server.vb
3. Don't forget to add a reference to InBetween, 'cause we're going to make the first ever call to it and calling its getHash method.
4 . Copy the code below (Be sure to read the comments as we go on)

This is the guy that's in charged of registering our service, the ChatApplication. We notice that we create a singleton as shown below.

    
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels

    Imports System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Http

    Imports System.Runtime.Remoting

    Imports System

    Imports InBetween
    


    public class Server
    
 Public Shared Sub Main()

    Dim server1 As Server

    server1 = New Server()

    End Sub
    
 Public Sub New()
    
 'Create a HTTP channel for our use

    'We'll 'talk' on this port

    'IMPORTANT: Make sure you don't have anything running on this channel!

    Dim chan As IChannel = New HttpChannel(7777)
    
 'Register it

    ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(chan)
    
 'I could have read the config from an xml file with :

    'System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingConfiguration.Configure(your.config.file)

    '(XML format) 

    'Refer .NET Framework Class Library RemotingConfiguration.Configure Method [Visual 
    Basic]

    'BUT somehow, I just couldn't make it work! So I went for this great 1 line 
    code shown below:
    
 'Notice these things:

    '1. We are registering a service: RegisterWellKnownServiceType

    '2. It's of type: Type.GetType("InBetween.Manager, InBetween")

    ' InBetween is the namespace, Manager is the class

    '3. We're calling that application, ChatApplication

    '4. It's of type: Singleton

    ' Why Singleton and not singlecall? If u chose singlecall, 

    ' everyone client (John and the Jones) would be creating their own Manager objects

    ' which would mean no message ever gets across to anyone

    System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingConfiguration.RegisterWellKnownServiceType( 
    _

    Type.GetType("InBetween.Manager, InBetween"), _

    "ChatApplication", WellKnownObjectMode.Singleton)
    
 'I registered the Manager class and called getHash 

    'Read Manager.vb for more details on getHash

    Dim Manager1 As New Manager()

    Console.WriteLine("The Manager object's ID:" & Manager1.getHash())

    System.Console.WriteLine("Hit ENTER to exit...")
    
 'We don't want this object to die out too fast, so we just put a 

    'ReadLine here to sustain the object's lifetime

    System.Console.ReadLine()
    
 End Sub

    End Class
    

Using the code (Client.vb)

Now, here's where we design the client.

1. Add a new Windows Application project called Client.
2. Change the default .vb name to Client.vb. If you're planning on copy and pasting, skip to 5.
3. Add two multilined textbox called txtReceivedMsgs and txtMsgToSend to handle received messages and to type messages into, respectively
4. Add a simple button, btnSend
5. Again, add a reference to InBetween and System.Runtime.Remoting. We need the latter too, because we're going to need to create a HTTPChannel object.
5. Copy the code below, make sure you name the variables as above (if you've created the interface yourself). (Be sure to read the comments as we go on)

    
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Http
    
Public Class Client

    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
    
 Private theManager As InBetween.Manager
    
#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "
    
 Public Sub New()

    MyBase.New()

    'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.

    InitializeComponent()
    
 'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
    
 Dim chan As HttpChannel
    
 'Create a HTTP channel for our use

    'IMPORTANT: Make sure you don't have anything running on this channel!

    chan = New HttpChannel("8888")
    
 'Registers a channel with the channel services.

    System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(chan)
    
 'Creates a proxy for a currently running remote object

    'This remote object is the our InBetween.Manager's instance

    'NOTE: Change 'UP' to your Chat server's name

    'http://UP:7777/ChatApplication

    theManager = CType(Activator.GetObject(Type.GetType("InBetween.Manager,InBetween"), 
    "http://UP:7777/ChatApplication"), InBetween.Manager)
    
 'Add our event handler here

    'In other words, tell this fellar, "when you receive an event called evtReceiveText

    '(of type InBetween.Manager), then use the sub called HandleReceivedMsg

    'to handle it

    Try

    AddHandler Me.theManager.evtReceiveText, AddressOf Me.HandleReceivedMsg

    Catch e1 As Exception

    'Our simple exception handler

    MessageBox.Show(e1.Message)

    End Try
    
 'Cosmetic, I'm against it, but...

    '(This displays a caption on your client window that says "Client on <PC 
    NAME>")

    Me.Text = "Client on " & Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.ComputerName()
    
 'Now, you would notice that the getHash(), will return a string that identifies 
    

    'the 'theManager's hash code. This Hash code will appear on ALL clients. 

    'Why? Simple, we are dealing with ONE and only ONE instance of InBetween's Manager 
    class

    'We specified singleton on the server (Module1.vb), remember?

    'It's easy to remember, a 'single' 'ton', "SINGLE-TON"

    MessageBox.Show(Me.theManager.getHash())

    End Sub
    
 'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.

    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)

    If disposing Then

    If Not (components Is Nothing) Then

    components.Dispose()

    End If

    End If

    MyBase.Dispose(disposing)

    End Sub
    
 'Required by the Windows Form Designer

    Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer
    
 'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer

    'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer. 

    'Do not modify it using the code editor.

    Friend WithEvents txtReceivedMsgs As System.Windows.Forms.TextBox

    Friend WithEvents btnSend As System.Windows.Forms.Button

    Friend WithEvents txtMsgToSend As System.Windows.Forms.TextBox

    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()

    Me.btnSend = New System.Windows.Forms.Button()

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs = New System.Windows.Forms.TextBox()

    Me.txtMsgToSend = New System.Windows.Forms.TextBox()

    Me.SuspendLayout()

    '

    'btnSend

    '

    Me.btnSend.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(280, 160)

    Me.btnSend.Name = "btnSend"

    Me.btnSend.TabIndex = 0

    Me.btnSend.Text = "&Send"

    '

    'txtReceivedMsgs

    '

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(0, 8)

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs.Multiline = True

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs.Name = "txtReceivedMsgs"

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs.ReadOnly = True

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(360, 88)

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs.TabIndex = 1

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs.Text = ""

    '

    'txtMsgToSend

    '

    Me.txtMsgToSend.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(0, 104)

    Me.txtMsgToSend.Multiline = True

    Me.txtMsgToSend.Name = "txtMsgToSend"

    Me.txtMsgToSend.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(360, 48)

    Me.txtMsgToSend.TabIndex = 2

    Me.txtMsgToSend.Text = ""

    '

    'Client

    '

    Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)

    Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(360, 189)

    Me.Controls.AddRange(New System.Windows.Forms.Control() {Me.txtMsgToSend, Me.txtReceivedMsgs, 
    Me.btnSend})

    Me.MaximizeBox = False

    Me.Name = "Client"

    Me.StartPosition = System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition.CenterScreen

    Me.Text = "Client"

    Me.ResumeLayout(False)
    
 End Sub
    
#End Region
    
 Private Sub btnSend_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) 
    Handles btnSend.Click

    'What happenning here?

    'Once we press our 'Send' button,

    'we raise an event via SendText method of Manager (InBetween)

    'Then just, erase our textbox - txtMsgToSend

    'Easy isn't it? 

    'To follow the event, peek at InBetween's Manager's SendText method

    Me.theManager.SendText(Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.ComputerName, Me.txtMsgToSend.Text)

    txtMsgToSend.Text = ""

    End Sub
    

    
 Sub HandleReceivedMsg(ByVal username As String, ByVal text As String)

    'Ok, here's what happens...

    'John Doe sends u a message, the Manager object raises an event,

    'your client intercepts it, and execution drops down here...

    'You then append the text here...

    '"... and I thought chat programs were hard..." well anyway, here's 
    the line that does it

    Me.txtReceivedMsgs.AppendText(username & " : " & text & 
    vbCrLf)

    End Sub
    
 Private Sub Client_Closing(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) 
    Handles MyBase.Closing
    
 Try

    'Ok, let's undo what we've done

    'We've added a handler, (remember?), so now we need to remove it

    'You basically do this, ...

    RemoveHandler theManager.evtReceiveText,
    //     AddressOf Me.HandleReceivedMsg

    Catch e1 As Exception

    'Exception handling for... err, simple ppl like us...

    MessageBox.Show(e1.Message)

    End Try

    End Sub
    
 Private Sub Client_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) 
    Handles MyBase.Load
    
 End Sub

    End Class
    

Run It! (Conclusion)

1. Build the solution. You will be prompted to set the startup object, just do so.
2. As you're waiting, note these points:

• We could have used the .config files, but I prefer to code it to show you how to do without the .config
• As each client window loads up, you'll see the same hash code. It's the hash code of the singleton Manager object.
• We're using the same http port (7777) on both side (client and server). We could use TCP if we wanted to. You'd better make sure John Doe's ftp server (or any other application) isn't running at that port too (at the same time)!
• Our Well-known object was exposed on the server end

3. Just before you really run it, place the server.exe into the same directory as client.exe. Place other clients on other PCs
4. Run the server.exe first, then, all the clients.
5. Chat!

So what's the conclusion?

• The most important thing to note is: We've done a server activation
• MSDN says "... Server-activated objects are objects whose lifetimes are directly controlled by the server. The server application domain creates these objects only when the client makes a method call on the object, not when the client calls new (New() in Visual Basic) or Activator.GetObject(); this saves a network round trip solely for the purpose of instance creation. Only a proxy is created in the client application domain when a client requests an instance of a server-activated type... There are two activation modes (or WellKnownObjectMode values) for server-activated objects, Singleton and SingleCall..." .NET Framework Developer's Guide Server Activation [Visual Basic]
• Our first method call to the object was in Server.vb. We could also have made the first call from client.vb. Try this, remove the comment on theManager = New InBetween.Manager() in client.vb, and in server.vb, comment these:
  Dim Manager1 As New Manager()
Console.WriteLine("The Manager object's ID:" & Manager1.getHash())
So you see, it still works the same... I had to make the first call to getHash() in Server.vb because I wanted to get the Hash code on server.vb to display. So let me recap: the reason why we call this Server activated is because our object's lifetime was directly controlled by the server via Singleton activation. We didn't instantiate anything by saying Dim Manager1 As New Manager(), that just registered the object. The actual object existed only after we made the method call.

Points of Interest

Strange thing to note: The first client to be executed, must be run from the same directory of the server.exe! Subsequent clients need not be started in the same directory as server.exe. Yes that's strange, otherwise, you'd get this silly error which makes no sense:
System.IO.FileNotFoundException
File or assembly name Client , or one of its dependencies, was not found.

Yes, it's a known problem, you might want to read more on this here: http://www.dotnet247.com/247reference/msgs/12/63594.aspx

I might want to come out with a good walkaround that later on, but till then, all the best in remoting! Spend a sec' to rate me, will ya? Thanks

Etc

• For those who've done COM before, "what the difference between .Net remoting and remotely activated COM?&quo; // t;. Unlike COM, remoting does not start the host or server application for you. This is an important difference between .NET remoting and remote activation in COM.
• MSDN calls our Manager.vb a remotable type. Our Server.vb is the host application
• Your host application domain is not limited to our simple chat program, but they may be Windows Services, console applications, Windows Forms applications, Internet Information Services (IIS) processes, or ASP.NET applications.
• General Host Tasks (eg. what you should think about when coding your own host)
  • What's my host application domain going to be like? (Windows Services, console applications, Windows Forms applications, Internet Information Services (IIS) processes, or ASP.NET applications)
  • Which activation model should I use? (Client/Server activation)
  • Choose a channel (HTTP or TCP) and a port. Register it using ChannelServices.RegisterChannel. Remember, you can't use the same port as Uncle Joe's FTP server...
• General Client Tasks (eg. what you should think about when coding your own client)
  • What's my client application domain going to be like? (Windows Services, console applications, Windows Forms applications, Internet Information Services (IIS) processes, or ASP.NET applications)
  • Which activation model should I use? (Client/Server activation)
  • Should I use the client activation URL (eg. ProtocolScheme://ComputerName:Port/PossibleApplicationName
    ) or the well-known object URL (eg. ProtocolScheme://ComputerName:Port/PossibleApplicationName/ObjectUri) of the remote type.
  • Choose a channel (HTTP or TCP) and a port. Register it using ChannelServices.RegisterChannel.
• If you want to try to use the .config file, which I don't like, bear in mind that most of the problems using .NET remoting occur because some of these settings are either incorrect or do not match the configuration settings for client applications. It is very easy to mistype a name, forget a port, or neglect an attribute. If you are having problems with your remoting application, check your configuration settings first.
  
  

History

Friday 13, 2003: Uploaded first version.
Saturday 14, 2003: Uploaded second version (due to great ratings).
Monday 16, 2003: Added the Etc section