Instant Message

[jackgreat]

Hi Guys,

I have a vb.net (VS 2005) application which downloads files from my webserver and shows its contents to user. And I make files at my end and upload files to webserver so that the application and download & process it. This happens at fixed intervals.

Now I intent to send an instant alert (or message) to users who are using that application. For example: If I type a message and send "Hello everyone" then all those people who are currently using that product should get a popup with this message. My webserver is a hosted on a unix based system. It enables me to show html content and post files & stuff online.

In order to achieve my goal of sending an alert which users should get immediately what do I need to do?

Any info & guidance will be really appreciated.

Thanks,
Jack

 

[rcombs4]

I know this isn't much help but it's a start.

I'm assuming that you are using a webservice on your webserver? I'm only assuming this because I don't know what you need to do but assume if you have a application that supports two-way communication a simple message would be easy. But if you are using a webservice I don't think it can be done. a webservice only allows for the client to initiate communication with the server, not the other way around.

Now for my sake I hope you are using a webservice or my post is just a waste.

 

[LeonR]

Hmm, could be a little tricky if I understand the situation correctly.

A couple of ways that spring to mind are :-

1.)

All applications check a location on the server every x seconds to see if anything was uploaded for them to display.

This IMO feels sloppy and resource hogging.


2.)

The users application tells the webserver (maybe parse the data to a script..) the IP of the host/itself, which there will be a port listening on (assuming its not behind NAT or something).

A message could be sent to the list of application IP's logged at the server, and connect to each one on the port they have open ready for connection.

3.)

Could you write any kind of program to sit on the server which keeps a constant tunnel open to the client application?


I'm not sure if that really helped or not, but I thought I would add my thoughts incase it does.

Thanks,
Leon

 

[jackgreat]

Thanks guys for your help. What I have done is write an application that checks for a file every 2 min. If the file exists, get it and show its contents. This is fine for now and it will serve our purpose for a while. The instant messaging would be great but some users have firewalls and antivirus at their end which may hamper opening/listening to ports. This is what I think.