Work with real-time data

[arhicoc]

I have a table with 20.000 records (persons).
Users on four or five computers insert, update or delete records but must at all times have access to real-time data.
If a user on a computer marks a person with a flag, or inserts a new person, all the users must see that in real-time.
Is there a way ?

I'm using a datagridview to display the information from the persons table.
Any suggestions please ?

A stupid solution was to execute a query on each rowenter event of the datagridview and retrieve information directly from the table and display it in text fields, but that does not solve my problem with the inserted records.

[dannystommen]

I think best way to do this is making a client/server application where the client subscribes to the server. If any client makes a change, all subscribed clients are notified.

A way to achieve this is using WCF.

Take a look here. This is a simple WCF project where this subscription pattern is used.

[BigEd781]

I agree with danny. If you have an object which can raise events when something happens, all you need to do is trap those events from the client side.

[arhicoc]

.NET Framework 2.0

[dannystommen]

.NET Framework 2.0

What do you mean with this? that you are not allowed to use .Net 3.5?

[arhicoc]

Nope. It just means I wonder if there is any solution to achieve this using .NET 2.0.

[dannystommen]

Yes you can achieve the same solution using Remoting. The subscription pattern is the same.

But why not use 3.5?

[arhicoc]

No reason whatsoever. Will give it a try.
Thank you very much.

[arhicoc]

Ok, following a simple example found I've got this:

Client:

namespace Remote
{
    public partial class Client : Form
    {
        public Client()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void Connectbutton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TcpChannel chan = new TcpChannel();
            System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(chan,true);
            RemoteClass oRemoteClass = (RemoteClass)Activator.GetObject(typeof(RemoteClass),"tcp://localhost:8025/Remote.RemoteClass");

            DataSet ds = new DataSet();
            ds = oRemoteClass.RunSql("SELECT * FROM persoane", "persoane");
            dataGridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables["persoane"];
            ChannelServices.UnregisterChannel(chan);
        }
    }
}

RemoteClass:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Sql;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels;

namespace Remote
{
    class RemoteClass : MarshalByRefObject
    {

        private string _cs = "Data Source=(local);Initial Catalog=tickets;Integrated Security=True;";

        public DataSet RunSql(string cSQL, string cTable)
        {
            SqlConnection _connection = new SqlConnection(_cs);
            SqlCommand _cmd = new SqlCommand(cSQL, _connection);
            SqlDataAdapter _adapter = new SqlDataAdapter();
            DataSet _dataset = new DataSet();

            try
            {
                _connection.Open();
                _adapter.SelectCommand = _cmd;
                _adapter.Fill(_dataset, cTable);
            }
            catch (Exception exception)
            {
                throw new System.Exception(exception.Message);
            }
            if (_connection.State != ConnectionState.Closed)
                _connection.Close();
            return _dataset;
        }

    }
}

and the Server:

namespace Remote
{
    public partial class ListenerForm : Form
    {

        TcpChannel channel = new TcpChannel(8025);

        public ListenerForm()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void Listenbutton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {            
            System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(channel,true);
            RemotingConfiguration.RegisterWellKnownServiceType(typeof(RemoteClass), "Remote.RemoteClass", WellKnownObjectMode.SingleCall);
            EventslistBox.Items.Add("http://localhost/Remote.RemoteClass:8025");
        }

    }
}

I was just wondering how can I make the updates to show on each client window.

In each client window there is a datagridview.

Also how can the server be informed of the clients connecting, leaving, making changes etc ?

[dannystommen]

Only took a quick look, but I believe this is a realtime Remoting example

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/c_sharp_remoting.aspx

[TheCPUWizard]

1) Remoting is VERY difficult to get "right" when dealing with cross-machine communication.

2) WCF is available as an "Extension" so it CAN be used with VS-2005, although it is MUCH preferred to use VS-2008 and .NET 3.5

[arhicoc]

This helped a lot:
http://windowsclient.net/learn/video.aspx?v=27881