asp.net real time notification

[hamking01]

I'm trying to create a real-time notification system when a user inserts data into a asp.net form. I could send the notifications by email, but users were wanting real-time notification. I'm thinking about creating a desktop application that creates an icon in the systray and will bring up a pop up notice. Simialar to the google gmail notification program or msn's messenger notices of new emails. I haven't done any desktop app development and was wondering if this would be an hard task to take on. Or if there may be another method of doing this? I've googled the subject but can't seem to find anything on it. Could anyone provide links where I can look into this? Thanx


Also posted this in the VB.net forum.

 

[NoCoolHandle]

Not being a java person, I can't speak from certainty, but this seems to be something that java is designed for..

A aspx type alternative might be to create a webservice that your desktop app checks up on periodicly... or a cached page... autorefresh in the browser with dhtml..

Email would be easy with the sendmail api (do I have that right - it relpaces cdonts for aspx)

One of the issues you are likley to come across is firewalls and webservices do a great job of getting around that issue.. What I am uncertain of is if the server can raise an event back to a client... My guess is you will need a client app to call the webserver and raise an event if something important has changed..

HTH

Rob
PS sorry for the rambling

 

[DaZZleD]

To answer your question NoCoolHandle, once the page has left the server there's no way the server knows what happens to it, therefore cannot interact with it anymore. That's one reason for which asp.net uses the ViewState. Because it needs to reconstruct the page once back to the server and reintegrate it to the OOP design it was before sending it to the requesting party.

To do this in a web page, I think that the best option is to have a frame that continuouselly refreshes (say every 10 seconds) and that checks for new emails and upon receiving any, it displays a different text. A webservice would not be needed in this case.

However if want to do this in a windows application, NoCoolHandle is right. You should consider using a webservice to get rid of alot of stress.

If you need to do this both ways, then definitelly use a webservice to avoid writing code in two places and having to update both upon a modification to one of them.

--------------------------
"two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do" - the unknown sage

 

[NoCoolHandle]

Dazzeled - never a thougth that a WEBPAGE (asp/html/jsp/aspx...) could talk back an forward...HOWEVER a java code component CAN....

 

[DaZZleD]

you said this:

What I am uncertain of is if the server can raise an event back to a client...

that's why I answered to you.

Anyway you are right about the java component. However this also requires extra software installed on the client's machine (JRE) which is not always acceptable therefore a webservice sollution is more agreed.


--------------------------
"two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do" - the unknown sage