Collect Live Data, Save to Database

[adambom]

I am beginning to develop an application in VB .NET that is designed to collect live data from a hardware device over a network and save it to a database so I can do stuff with the data.

How would I go about collecting data from a remote location and saving it to a database?

[Shuja Ali]

Welcome to the forum :wave:

In order to collect data from the remote device you will have to connect to it. The device must have come with some sort of hardware driver and an interface. Do you mind telling us what kind of device it is?

[adambom]

Hi,

The device is a controller that monitors input from temperature sensors. It receives the data, and handles it, and when it is called up, it parses the data and broadcasts it via TCP/IP over a secured network. Each controller has a unique IP address that can be used to establish a connection.

The whole package comes with proprietary software that interfaces with the controller and allows the end user to call up the hardware and receive a feed of live data. I have to figure out how it interfaces with the device.

This software is controlled by the user and is tedious and time consuming. My programming task is to automate the process of calling the controllers, downloading the data, and running reports on it.

I have a feeling the solution will involve collecting the data via xml, but I have no idea how to go about getting a hold of it.

Thanks for the advice

[Shuja Ali]

The whole package comes with proprietary software that interfaces with the controller and allows the end user to call up the hardware and receive a feed of live data. I have to figure out how it interfaces with the device. I am sure that the interface must be providing some kin dof object model that you can use from within .NET to communicate with it. I have not done much of hardware interaction via .NET, but you may want to approach the company that manufactures these devices to get better insight.
I have a feeling the solution will involve collecting the data via xml, but I have no idea how to go about getting a hold of it.I would suggest you to go through a tutorial on ADO.NET (http://www.csharp-station.com/Tutorials/AdoDotNet/Lesson01.aspx). That will give you a better understanding of how to do database manipulation using .NET.

[adambom]

Hi all,

I posted yesterday in the database forum, but figured this post was better suited in this forum.

I'm writing an application in .NET that will connect to several remote controllers via TCP/IP and act as a data log for the information that these controllers are receiving from temperature sensors. Each controller has a unique IP address and a port number assigned to it, however I do not have physical access to the controllers.

I have looked into the TcpClient object in VB .NET and it looks like the way I need to go, but I don't have any experience with this sort of protocol.

How exactly do I set up a connection and how do I then communicate with the remote device?

Thanks

[Shuja Ali]

[Merged Threads]

I have merged the thread from the database forum so that people here will get some insight as to what exactly the requirement is.

[Shuja Ali]

I found something on the codeproject that may help you.
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/VbNetSendReceiveTcp.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/vb/UnoLibsNet_V2.aspx

[adambom]

Thanks, those apps look useful for testing out my connection. I think i know how to go about connecting, but I still have a couple more questions.

1) When I create the TCPClient, do I need to create a corresponding TCPServer with listeners, or is that already taken care of?

2) Does anyone have any kind of idea what kind of messages I would send to the server to get it to respond the way I want it to, or am I just going to have to experiment?

Thanks