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Volkan Alkılıç
Volkan Alkılıç

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Using Named Pipes in C# for Interprocess Communication

Named pipes are a type of interprocess communication (IPC) mechanism that allow data to be exchanged between two or more processes on a computer. They are called "named" pipes because they are identified by a unique name, rather than by a file descriptor like other types of pipes in Unix-like systems.

Named pipes are useful for a variety of purposes, including:

  • Enabling processes that run on different computers to communicate with each other over a network
  • Allowing processes to communicate with each other even if they don't have permission to access each other's memory or files
  • Allowing multiple processes to read and write to the same pipe concurrently
  • In C#, named pipes can be created and used through the System.IO.Pipes namespace. To create a named pipe, you can use the NamedPipeServerStream or NamedPipeClientStream class, depending on whether you want to create a server or client pipe.

Here is an example of how to create a named pipe server in C#:

using (var server = new NamedPipeServerStream("my_pipe_name"))
{
    Console.WriteLine("Waiting for client connection...");
    server.WaitForConnection();
    Console.WriteLine("Client connected.");

    // Read and write data through the pipe
}

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And here is an example of how to create a named pipe client in C#:

using (var client = new NamedPipeClientStream(".", "my_pipe_name", PipeDirection.InOut))
{
    Console.WriteLine("Connecting to server...");
    client.Connect();
    Console.WriteLine("Connected to server.");

    // Read and write data through the pipe
}

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Once a named pipe has been created, you can use the Read() and Write() methods of the NamedPipeServerStream or NamedPipeClientStream class to read and write data to the pipe.

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Top comments (4)

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pingkunga profile image
Chatri Ngambenchawong

pipe is very powerful. In my work I apply pipe to communicate between VB6 > .NET application

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pefthymiou profile image
Panagiotis Efthymiou

Would it be possible to provide a simple example of that?

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pingkunga profile image
Chatri Ngambenchawong

I write blog about this here >> naiwaen.debuggingsoft.com/2022/03/... (In Thai), you see source code and git repo.

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pefthymiou profile image
Panagiotis Efthymiou

Thanks! I'll have a look.