Remoting Example: Dynamic Publication

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This topic is specific to a legacy technology that is retained for backward compatibility with existing applications and is not recommended for new development. Distributed applications should now be developed using the  Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

.NET Remoting supports only default constructors with server-activated remotable types. To publish an object after creating it with a specific constructor and have complete control over the publication of that specific instance, you can publish your instance programmatically.

1t63e8ff.Caution(en-us,VS.100).gifCaution:
.NET Remoting does not do authentication or encryption by default. Therefore, it is recommended that you take all necessary steps to verify the identity of clients or servers before interacting with them remotely. Because .NET Remoting applications require FullTrust permissions to execute, if an unauthorized client were granted access on your server, the client could execute code as though it were fully-trusted. Always authenticate your endpoints and encrypt the communication streams. For more information see Security in Remoting.

To compile and run this sample

  1. Type the following commands at the command prompt:

    vbc -t:library remote.vb
vbc -r:System.Runtime.Remoting.dll -r:remote.dll server.vb
vbc -r:System.Runtime.Remoting.dll -r:remote.dll client.vb

    csc -t:library remote.cs
csc -r:System.Runtime.Remoting.dll -r:remote.dll server.cs
csc -r:System.Runtime.Remoting.dll -r:remote.dll client.cs

  2. Open two command prompts pointing to the same directory. In one, type server. In the other, type client.

  3. To stop publishing the remotable object in stages, press ENTER at the server command prompt, and rerun the client to observe the different exceptions thrown for the different stages. This application runs on a single computer or across a network. To run this application over a network, replace "localhost" in the client configuration with the name of the remote computer.

Remote

Imports System

Public Class ServiceClass
   Inherits MarshalByRefObject
   Private m_startTime As DateTime

   Public Sub New()
      Console.WriteLine("ServiceClass created without constructor. Instance hash is " & Me.GetHashCode().ToString())
      m_startTime = DateTime.Now
   End Sub   

   Overrides Protected Sub Finalize()
      Console.WriteLine("I'm being collected after " & (New TimeSpan(DateTime.Now.Ticks - m_startTime.Ticks)).ToString() & " seconds.")
      MyBase.Finalize()
   End Sub    

   Public Function GetServerTime() As DateTime
      Console.WriteLine("Time requested by a client.")
      Return DateTime.Now
   End Function   

   Public ReadOnly Property InstanceHash() As Integer
      Get
         Return Me.GetHashCode()
      End Get
   End Property 
End Class

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace Remote
{
    public class ServiceClass : MarshalByRefObject
    {
        private DateTime m_startTime;

        public ServiceClass()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("ServiceClass created without constructor. Instance hash is " + GetHashCode().ToString());
            m_startTime = DateTime.Now;
        }

        ~ServiceClass()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("I'm being collected after " + (new TimeSpan(DateTime.Now.Ticks - m_startTime.Ticks)).ToString() + " seconds.");
        }

        public DateTime GetServerTime()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Time requested by a client.");
            return DateTime.Now;
        }

        public int InstanceHash
        {
            get { return GetHashCode(); }
        }
    }
}

Server

Imports System
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Http

Module Module1

  Sub Main()
    Dim channel As New HttpChannel(8080)
    ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(channel, False)

    Dim object1 As New ServiceClass()

    ' Creates the single instance of ServiceClass. All clients
    ' will use this instance.
    Dim ref1 As ObjRef = RemotingServices.Marshal(object1, "object1uri")
    Console.WriteLine("ObjRef.URI: " & ref1.URI)

    Console.WriteLine("Running. Press Enter to end publication.")
    Console.ReadLine()

    ' This unregisters the object from publication, but leaves
    ' the channel listening.
    RemotingServices.Disconnect(object1)
    Console.WriteLine()
    Console.WriteLine("Disconnected the object. Client now receives a RemotingException.")
    Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to unregister the channel.")
    Console.ReadLine()
    ' At this point, the ServerClass object still exists. The server
    ' could republish it.

    ' This unregisters the channel, but leaves the application 
    ' domain running.
    ChannelServices.UnregisterChannel(channel)
    Console.WriteLine("Unregistered the channel. Client now receives a WebException.")
    ' The ServerClass object still exists. The server could
    ' reregister the channel and republish the object.
    Console.WriteLine("The host application domain is still running. Press Enter to stop the process.")
    Console.ReadLine()

    ' The ServiceClass object's Finalize method writes a message to
    ' the console. A single object will almost always succeed in 
    ' running its Finalize method before the Console is finalized;
    ' in a larger application, you could ensure that all objects 
    ' finalize before the application ends by calling the garbage 
    ' collector and waiting.
    GC.Collect()
    GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
  End Sub
End Module

using System;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Http;
using Remote;

namespace Server
{
    class Server
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            HttpChannel channel = new HttpChannel(8080);
            ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(channel, false);

            ServiceClass object1 = new ServiceClass();

            // Creates the single instance of ServiceClass. All clients
            // will use this instance.

            ObjRef ref1 = RemotingServices.Marshal(object1, "object1uri");
            Console.WriteLine("ObjRef.URI: " + ref1.URI);

            Console.WriteLine("Running. Press Enter to end publication.");
            Console.ReadLine();

            // This unregisters the object from publication, but leaves
            // the channel listening.
            RemotingServices.Disconnect(object1);
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("Disconnected the object. Client now receives a RemotingException.");
            Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to unregister the channel.");
            Console.ReadLine();

            // At this point, the ServerClass object still exists. The server
            // could republish it.

            // This unregisters the channel, but leaves the application 
            // domain running.
            ChannelServices.UnregisterChannel(channel);
            Console.WriteLine("Unregistered the channel. Client now receives a WebException.");

            // The ServerClass object still exists. The server could
            // reregister the channel and republish the object.
            Console.WriteLine("The host application domain is still running. Press Enter to stop the process.");
            Console.ReadLine();

            // The ServiceClass object's Finalize method writes a message to
            // the console. A single object will almost always succeed in 
            // running its Finalize method before the Console is finalized;
            // in a larger application, you could ensure that all objects 
            // finalize before the application ends by calling the garbage 
            // collector and waiting.
            GC.Collect();
            GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
        }
    }
}

Client

Imports System 
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp
Imports System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Http

Public Class ClientProcess
   <MTAThread()> _
   Public Shared Sub Main()
      
      Dim channel As New HttpChannel(0)
      ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(channel, False)

      ' Registers the remote class. (This could be done with a
      ' configuration file instead of a direct call.)
      RemotingConfiguration.RegisterWellKnownClientType(Type.GetType("ServiceClass, remote"), "https://localhost:8080/object1uri")

      ' Instead of creating a new object, this obtains a reference
      ' to the server's single instance of the ServiceClass object.
      Dim object1 As ServiceClass = New ServiceClass()

      Try
         Console.WriteLine("ServerTime: " & object1.GetServerTime())
      Catch ex As Exception
         Console.WriteLine("Exception of type: " & ex.GetType.ToString & " occurred.")
         Console.WriteLine("Details: " & ex.Message)
      End Try

   End Sub     
End Class   

using System;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Http;
using Remote;

namespace Client
{
    public class ClientProcess
    {
  [MTAThread]
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            HttpChannel channel = new HttpChannel();
            ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(channel, false);

            // Registers the remote class. (This could be done with a
            // configuration file instead of a direct call.)
            RemotingConfiguration.RegisterWellKnownClientType(
                Type.GetType("Remote.ServiceClass, remote"),
                "https://localhost:8080/object1uri");

            // Instead of creating a new object, this obtains a reference
            // to the server's single instance of the ServiceClass object.
            ServiceClass object1 = new ServiceClass();

            try
            {
                Console.WriteLine("ServerTime: " + object1.GetServerTime());
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Exception of type: " + ex.ToString() + " occurred.");
                Console.WriteLine("Details: " + ex.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}

See Also

Reference

RemotingServices.Marshal Method
RemotingServices.Disconnect Method
ChannelServices.UnregisterChannel Method

Other Resources

Remoting Examples