Example of Named Pipes

Question

How do I write a simple--bare minimum needed for it to work--test application that illustrates how to use IPC/Named Pipes?

For example, how would one write a console application where Program 1 says "Hello World" to Program 2 and Program 2 receives message and replies "Roger That" to Program 1.

Answer 1

using System; using System.IO; using System.IO.Pipes; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Threading.Tasks;  namespace ConsoleApplication1 {     class Program     {         static void Main(string[] args)         {             StartServer();             Task.Delay(1000).Wait();               //Client             var client = new NamedPipeClientStream("PipesOfPiece");             client.Connect();             StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(client);             StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(client);              while (true)             {                 string input = Console.ReadLine();                 if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(input)) break;                 writer.WriteLine(input);                 writer.Flush();                 Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadLine());             }         }          static void StartServer()         {             Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>             {                 var server = new NamedPipeServerStream("PipesOfPiece");                 server.WaitForConnection();                 StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(server);                 StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(server);                 while (true)                 {                     var line = reader.ReadLine();                     writer.WriteLine(String.Join("", line.Reverse()));                     writer.Flush();                 }             });         }     } } 

Answer 2

For someone who is new to IPC and Named Pipes, I found the following NuGet package to be a great help.

GitHub: Named Pipe Wrapper for .NET 4.0

To use first install the package:

PS> Install-Package NamedPipeWrapper 

Then an example server (copied from the link):

var server = new NamedPipeServer<SomeClass>("MyServerPipe"); server.ClientConnected += delegate(NamedPipeConnection<SomeClass> conn)     {         Console.WriteLine("Client {0} is now connected!", conn.Id);         conn.PushMessage(new SomeClass { Text: "Welcome!" });     };  server.ClientMessage += delegate(NamedPipeConnection<SomeClass> conn, SomeClass message)     {         Console.WriteLine("Client {0} says: {1}", conn.Id, message.Text);     };  server.Start(); 

Example client:

var client = new NamedPipeClient<SomeClass>("MyServerPipe"); client.ServerMessage += delegate(NamedPipeConnection<SomeClass> conn, SomeClass message)     {         Console.WriteLine("Server says: {0}", message.Text);     };  client.Start(); 

Best thing about it for me is that unlike the accepted answer here it supports multiple clients talking to a single server.