New to C# socket programming

Question

I am new to socket programming with C#. I am developing a client-server application with multiple clients. I am not quite sure how to form a communication between the server and its clients.

• Is it a good idea for the clients to send keyword messages (i.e. 'string') that will invoke the server to do something?
• Is it a good idea for the clients to send instances of certain classes (that I created) which need to be processed?
• Is it a good idea to send/receive files (I am using XML) between the server and the clients?

I am sorry if my questions are naive as this is my first experience developing an application with a client-server architecture.

I found this link which has an example of such an application but I was wondering if anyone knew any other websites/books/tutorials with explanations.

Answer 1

If you create a modern c# application you seldom need to resort to plain sockets to create a client-server application. Instead you can create a WCF service. (Pick a tutorial and try).

Using a WCF service instead of plain sockets will save you from a lot of plumbing work with creating a protocol, parsing and that kind of stuff.