How to send a class through named pipe in VB.net - vb.net

Question

Using VB2008, I have 2 applications on 2 computers that needs to communicate. I setup a named pipe and so far, it's working. I can send strings, back and forth between those 2 programs.
Now, I need to be able to send a class, or an object. I have read somewhere that Serialization is the way to go. So, on the client, I have:
Public Class cTest
Dim Var1 As Boolean
Dim Var2 As String = "a test"
Dim Var3 As New Collections.ArrayList
Public Sub AddItem(ByVal Item As String)
Var3.Add(Item)
End Sub
End Class
Private Sub Button8_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button8.Click
Dim oClasse As New cTest
oClasse.AddItem("StarWars")
oClasse.AddItem("StarTrek")
oPipe.SendToPipe(oClasse)
End Sub
End Class
Public Sub SendToPipe(ByVal test As cTest)
Dim xmlTest As New Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(GetType(cTest))
xmlTest.Serialize(pipeClient, test)
End Sub
On the server side (on the remote computer):
Public Function ReadString() As String
Dim len As Integer = 0
len = CType(ioStream.ReadByte(), Integer) * 256
len += CType(ioStream.ReadByte(), Integer)
Try
Dim serializer As New Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(GetType(cTest))
Dim Test As cTest
Test = CType(serializer.Deserialize(ioStream), cTest)
Catch ex As Exception
End Try
End Function
The serializer.Deserialize throw an exception saying the XML format is not correct.
what I'm doing wrong?
thanks for your time and help

Answer 1

finally, after a lot of testing and googling, I figured it out:
when using the following code on the client side it works:
Dim oClasse As New cTest
oClasse.AddItem("StarWars")
oClasse.AddItem("StarTrek")
Using PStream As IO.Pipes.NamedPipeClientStream = New IO.Pipes.NamedPipeClientStream(".", "VisionEnginePipeRead1", PipeDirection.Out, PipeOptions.None, TokenImpersonationLevel.None)
PStream.Connect()
Dim xmlTest As New Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(GetType(cTest))
xmlTest.Serialize(PStream, oClasse)
End Using
and this, on the server side:
Dim Test As cTest
Using PStream As NamedPipeServerStream = New NamedPipeServerStream(pipeName, PipeDirection.In, 1, PipeTransmissionMode.Byte, PipeOptions.None)
PStream.WaitForConnection()
Dim serializer As New Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(GetType(cTest))
Test = CType(serializer.Deserialize(PStream), cTest)
End Using

Answer 2

If I were you I would use WCF Self Hosted Services and let the two communicate using callbacks

Answer 3

This started as a comment but I was running out of room. I am no expert on named pipe communications but, it has been a couple hours, and it may be that that is not really the problem.
You need to first test the serialization/deserialization in the same application. In other words start by taking the pipes out of the picture. This will isolate whether this is a serialization issue or a named pipe issue. Assuming that you code will work when done in the same application, then you need to compare the xml generated by the two applications - have them both do a Serialize. If the xml is identical (which I doubt) then pass it through the pipe and compare it again.
Going further out on a limb here but you may see that the namespace is different for the ctest object. If this is the case it may help to define your shared classes in a library which is shared between the two applications.