Introducing .NET Remoting

Click on File->New->Project. Choose to create a new "C# Library" and name it ResumeServerLibrary then click on OK. This will create the "shared vocabulary" that both our .NET Remote client and Server will use to communicate.

The full code is below, if you would like to skip the database access portions, replace the ResumeLoader object with:

public class ResumeLoader : System.MarshalByRefObject
{

	public ResumeLoader()
	{
		System.Console.WriteLine("New Referance Added!");
	}

	public Resume GetResumeByUserID(decimal userID)
	{
		return new Resume(1);
	}
}

The namespaces required for the object. Please remember, if you're getting errors that the System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp namespace does not exist, make sure you added the referance to System.Runtime.Remoting.dll by going to Project->Add Referance.

using System;
using System.Runtime;
using System.Data.SqlClient;

The namespace we're using for this particular object is DotNetRemoteTest, the object below is a MarshalByRefObject which means that instead of passing ResumeLoader over the wire, we're creating a referance and all of the work including the database work happens completely on the server side.

namespace DotNetRemoteTest
{

	public class ResumeLoader : System.MarshalByRefObject
	{
		private SqlConnection dbConnection;

		public ResumeLoader()
		{
			this.dbConnection = new System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection();
			this.dbConnection.ConnectionString =
		"data source=GRIMSAADO2K;initial catalog=underground;integrated security=SSPI;pers" +
				"ist security info=True;workstation id=GRIMSAADO2K;packet size=4096";
/*Your connection string will be different. Database connections are beyond the scope of this article
 *If you do not know how to create a database connection, please use the alternate version of this object */
			System.Console.WriteLine("New Referance Added!");
		}

		public Resume GetResumeByUserID(decimal userID)
		{
			Resume resume = new Resume();
			try 
			{
				dbConnection.Open();
				SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(
	"SELECT ResumeID, UserID, Title, Body FROM Resume as theResume WHERE theResume.UserID="+ userID +""
	, dbConnection
				);
				SqlDataReader aReader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
				if(aReader.Read())
				{
					resume.ResumeID=aReader.GetDecimal(0);
					resume.UserID=aReader.GetDecimal(1);
					resume.Title=aReader.GetString(2);
					resume.Body=aReader.GetString(3);
				}
				aReader.Close();
				dbConnection.Close();
			} 
			catch(Exception x) { resume.Title="Error:"+x; }
			return resume;
		}
	}

The Resume object needs to be serializable in order to be a return type of a remotely referanced .NET Remote object. The reason for this is the object will have to be turned into raw data to be passed over the network, then re-assembled into an object again on the other end.

This object is extremely simple, and to add to the simplicity of this tutorial, the constructor even initializes the fields with some default content.

	[Serializable]
	public class Resume
	{
		private decimal resumeID, userID;
		private String body, title;

		public Resume(decimal resumeID)
		{
			this.ResumeID=resumeID;
			this.UserID=1;
			this.Body="This is the default body of the resume";
			this.Title="This is the default Title";
		}

		public decimal ResumeID
		{
			get	{ return resumeID; }
			set { this.resumeID=value; }
		}
		public decimal UserID
		{
			get	{ return userID; }
			set { this.userID=value; }
		}
		public String Body
		{
			get	{ return body; }
			set
			{
				this.body=value;
			}
		}
		public String Title
		{
			get	{ return title; }
			set
			{ this.title=value; }
		}

	}//END OF RESUME OBJECT

}//END OF DotNetRemoteTest namespace

Compile this project and you should have a DLL avaiable now to be added to your other assemblies.