NamedPipeServerStream Class

Named pipes provide one-way or duplex pipes for communication between a pipe server and one or more pipe clients. Named pipes can be used for interprocess communication locally or over a network. A single pipe name can be shared by multiple NamedPipeClientStream objects.

Any process can act as either a named pipe server or client, or both.

Note
For Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 Server, a maximum of 10 pipes can simultaneously connect over the network.

Note

The HostProtectionAttribute attribute applied to this type or member has the following Resources property value: MayLeakOnAbort. The HostProtectionAttribute does not affect desktop applications (which are typically started by double-clicking an icon, typing a command, or entering a URL in a browser). For more information, see the HostProtectionAttribute class or SQL Server Programming and Host Protection Attributes.

The following example demonstrates a way to send a string from a parent process to a child process on the same computer using named pipes. This example creates a NamedPipeServerStream object in a parent process with a PipeDirection value of Out. The server then waits for a NamedPipeClientStream object in a child process to connect to it. In this example, both processes are on the same computer and the NamedPipeClientStream object has a PipeDirection value of In. The parent process then sends a user-supplied string to the child process. The string is displayed to the console.

This example is for the server process, which uses the NamedPipeServerStream class. For the entire code example, including the code for both the pipe client and server, see How to: Use Named Pipes to Communicate Between Processes over a Network.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Pipes;

class PipeServer
{
    static void Main()
    {
        using (NamedPipeServerStream pipeServer =
            new NamedPipeServerStream("testpipe", PipeDirection.Out))
        {
            Console.WriteLine("NamedPipeServerStream object created.");

            // Wait for a client to connect
            Console.Write("Waiting for client connection...");
            pipeServer.WaitForConnection();

            Console.WriteLine("Client connected.");
            try
            {
                // Read user input and send that to the client process.
                using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(pipeServer))
                {
                    sw.AutoFlush = true;
                    Console.Write("Enter text: ");
                    sw.WriteLine(Console.ReadLine());
                }
            }
            // Catch the IOException that is raised if the pipe is broken
            // or disconnected.
            catch (IOException e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("ERROR: {0}", e.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference