remoting/serialization problem

[occcy]

hey! i've a nice remoting/serialization problem: i call a method of my server object, which needs a font parameter. if i access this font parameter in my server method i get a remoting exception. the cause of this problem is clear (?): if i read a property value of this font object, the server tries to call the property accessor on client side... meanwhile i call my method without font parameter and with parameters like fontname, fontsize(...) instead... but that's not the smoothest way, i think! is there a way to use font parameters without exception? font implements iserialization - but why becomes it not serialized? thanks in advance

[Heath Stewart]

Yes, the Font is serializable, but what channel are you using for remoting? If you are hosting your remoting object in IIS, it can only use the HttpChannel. HTTP - by nature - is one way. The server can't initiate communications with the client. With you pass the name, size, etc., these are all value types (except for strings, which behave similarily) and are pass-by-value without using them as properties or the ref and out keywords. Also, what exactly is the exception? The Type and message would help.

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[occcy]

I'm using a TCP Channel. The Exception is something like that: "The Remotechannel has no Channelreceiver, it means that the Server has no registered Serverchannel or that the Application has no matching Clientchannel to communicate with the Server." The type of the exception is System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingException

[Heath Stewart]

What type of client- or server-activated type are you using (and which one of those is it)?

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[occcy]

it's a client-activated object (registered client type).

[Heath Stewart]

It's obvious the server is having trouble communicating with the client. What's not obvious is how you are registering the WKO on the server and connecting to it on the client. If you're using a config file to configure the remoting (both on the server and on the client, which in most cases is a better way so you don't have to recompile), could you post the relevent sections? Don't forget to escape your < and >, or check the "Do not treat <'s as HTML tags" below before posting.

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[occcy]

okay! i register my object in source code. here's an extract of the code to do this: //client: public void ConnectToServer(Type ObjectType) {  TCPChannel Channel=new TcpClientChannel("ClientChannel",null);  ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(Channel);  RemotingConfiguration.RegisterWellKnownClientType(ObjectType,"tcp://server:10000/server.rem"); } //server: public void PublishObject() {  TCPChannel Channel=new TcpServerChannel("ServerChannel",10000);  ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(Channel);  ServerObject Obj=new ServerObject();  RemotingServices.Marshal(Obj,"server.rem",typeof(ServerObject)); }

[occcy]

My MethodCall looks like that: Font MyFont=new Font("Arial",10); ServerObject.DoSomething(MyFont); The method throws an exception e.g. by accessing the Height Property.

[Heath Stewart]

Actually, this looks like a server-activated type. Using RemotingConfiguration.RegisterActivatedClientType would create the client-activated type. I'm having a friend look at this thread, though. He's a little better with this type of Remoting stuff than I.

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[Tom Larsen]

One thing that worries me from inspecting this code snip is that you might be mixing your client and server types. You register ObjectType as your remoted object but then use another object ServerObject on the server. The object being remoted must be the same or implement the same interface. This is important because even if ObjectType is derived from ServerType the Remoting Framework only has registered/recognizes ObjectType as remotable. ServerType is just another type it will handle outside of the Remoting Framework. Both the client and server parts need to be dealing with the same object or deal with an interface or you get the wrong behavior. Next once you seem to be using RemotingServices.Marshal in the wrong context. Marshal is used to transfer a MarshalByRefObject across application domains which has little to do with actually "publishing" the service. What I recommend doing is using configuration files on both the client and the server and using RemotingConfiguration.Configure. The client config file from your code snip should look something like this:

<configuration>
<system.runtime.remoting>
<application>
<client url="tcp://server:10000">
<wellknown
type = "ObjectType,ObjectAssembly"
url = "tcp://server:10000/server.rem" />
<!-- or atlernatively, the client activated version
<activated type="ObjectType,ObjectAssembly" />
-->
</client>
<channels>
<channel ref="tcp" port="10000" />
</channels>
</application>
</system.runtime.remoting>
</configuration>

Your server config file should look something like this:

<configuration>
<system.runtime.remoting>
<application>
<service>
<wellknown mode="SingleCall" type="ObjectType, ObjectAssembly" objectUri="server.rem" />
<!-- alternatively, the client activated version
<activated type="ObjectType, ObjectAssembly" />
-->
</service>
<channels>
<channel ref="tcp" port="10000" />
</channels>
</application>
</system.runtime.remoting>
</configuration>

If you use config files you don't have to worry about setup or teardown of ch

[occcy]

Many thanks for this hint. I'll change my remoting stuff in this way. But solves it the problem of serialization of my Font object too?