c# interprocess communication between .net 6 and framwork 4.8

Question

WCF is really easy to make, literally i think 10 lines you can setup the WCF, but just one problem....i did not work in .net 6, i tried, was happy, until i run the app, he compiles with the exact same code from 4.8 but start generating exception after exception

and after some google, it seams that .net 6 (core) did not support WCF anymore

so what is the best way to make a desktop .net framework 4.8 app and a .net 6 WPF app communicate between then, exchanging some flag and variables

the simplest way possible, preferable one unique way that can be implemented in both 4.8 and 6.0, but i don't mind if is different technologies in both end if it works and is simple

Answer 1

I would prefer Interprocess-Communication via NetNamedPipes (NamedPipeServerStream and NamedPipeClientStream) and using Protobuf serialization.

Answer 2

for people suffering with that, abandon WCF if you just wanna send/get simple flags/infos/strings use NamedPipeServerStream and NamedPipeClientStream as @egal_reloaded posted, some (ugly) code samples:

4.8:

server class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO.Pipes;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace PipeTetst_FrameWork48_WCF
{
    public class NamedPipeStreamServer
    {
        public void server()
        {
            var pipeServer = new NamedPipeServerStream("testpipe481", PipeDirection.InOut, 4);

            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(pipeServer);
            StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(pipeServer);

            do
            {
                try
                {
                    pipeServer.WaitForConnection();
                    string test;
                    sw.WriteLine("Waiting");
                    sw.Flush();
                    pipeServer.WaitForPipeDrain();
                    test = sr.ReadLine();
                    MessageBox.Show(string.Format("Received from client: {0}", test));
                }

                catch (Exception ex) { throw ex; }

                finally
                {
                    pipeServer.WaitForPipeDrain();
                    if (pipeServer.IsConnected) { pipeServer.Disconnect(); }
                }
            } while (true);
        }
    }
}

client class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Pipes;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace PipeTetst_FrameWork48_WCF
{
    public class NamedPipeStreamClient
    {

        public void client()
        {
            var pipeClient = new NamedPipeClientStream(".",
                "testpipe482", PipeDirection.InOut, PipeOptions.None);

            if (pipeClient.IsConnected != true)
            {
                pipeClient.Connect();
            }

            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(pipeClient);
            StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(pipeClient);

            string temp;
            temp = sr.ReadLine();

            if (temp == "Waiting")
            {
                try
                {
                    sw.WriteLine("Test Message");
                    sw.Flush();
                    pipeClient.Close();
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    throw ex;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

two button on a form in a TASK to not block the app(freeze):

private void button5_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    NamedPipeStreamServer server = new NamedPipeStreamServer();
    Task.Run(() => server.server()).ContinueWith(
        _ =>
        {
            MessageBox.Show("asd Server");
        }); // Scheduled to the ThreadPool
}

private void button6_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    NamedPipeStreamClient client = new NamedPipeStreamClient();
    Task.Run(() => client.client()).ContinueWith(
        _ =>
        {
            MessageBox.Show("asd client");
        }); // Scheduled to the ThreadPool
}

and the best part, this code os for .net framwork 4.8 traditional and .net 6 is the exact same code and WORKS!!

of course, you need to have 2 of this code above in 2 app different, and set the name of the pipes right

and the best part NO need to waste days trying to make something broken and unfinished like CoreWCF that need way too much code and is not reliable and only works in some frameworks and in each has a different code, and was almost 0 support they only have a half asset samples on GitHub that don't help with anything