[c#] Example of Named Pipes

Linux dotnet core doesn't support namedpipes!

Try TcpListener if you deploy to Linux

This NamedPipe Client/Server code round trips a byte to a server.

  • Client writes byte
  • Server reads byte
  • Server writes byte
  • Client reads byte

DotNet Core 2.0 Server ConsoleApp

using System;
using System.IO.Pipes;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Server
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var server = new NamedPipeServerStream("A", PipeDirection.InOut);
            server.WaitForConnection();

            for (int i =0; i < 10000; i++)
            {
                var b = new byte[1];
                server.Read(b, 0, 1); 
                Console.WriteLine("Read Byte:" + b[0]);
                server.Write(b, 0, 1);
            }
        }
    }
}

DotNet Core 2.0 Client ConsoleApp

using System;
using System.IO.Pipes;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Client
{
    class Program
    {
        public static int threadcounter = 1;
        public static NamedPipeClientStream client;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            client = new NamedPipeClientStream(".", "A", PipeDirection.InOut, PipeOptions.Asynchronous);
            client.Connect();

            var t1 = new System.Threading.Thread(StartSend);
            var t2 = new System.Threading.Thread(StartSend);

            t1.Start();
            t2.Start(); 
        }

        public static void StartSend()
        {
            int thisThread = threadcounter;
            threadcounter++;

            StartReadingAsync(client);

            for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++)
            {
                var buf = new byte[1];
                buf[0] = (byte)i;
                client.WriteAsync(buf, 0, 1);

                Console.WriteLine($@"Thread{thisThread} Wrote: {buf[0]}");
            }
        }

        public static async Task StartReadingAsync(NamedPipeClientStream pipe)
        {
            var bufferLength = 1; 
            byte[] pBuffer = new byte[bufferLength];

            await pipe.ReadAsync(pBuffer, 0, bufferLength).ContinueWith(async c =>
            {
                Console.WriteLine($@"read data {pBuffer[0]}");
                await StartReadingAsync(pipe); // read the next data <-- 
            });
        }
    }
}