Executing applications across a network (possible OT)

[hamishd]

Sorry for cross-posting; I'm not sure which group would be more
appropriate, if any.

At present I have 2 applications (installed on the same workstation):
(A) is the main application which is running most, if not all, of
the time. Only one instance of (A) can be running at once.
(B) is an application which send messages to (A). These messages
instruct (A) on what data files to process. This is achieved by
calling (A) with ShellExecute(), passing arguments specifying the
location of a data file (this data file could be any file over the
network of workstations). When (A) receives these arguments, it adds
the data file to it's list of jobs to process.

The above process has been working well. Data can be accessed and
processed anywhere on the network. The downside is the operators can
only "send" data from one workstation.

What I now want to do is install (B) onto all workstations in the
network. Does ShellExecute() work over a network? If not, how to get
around this? What other methods can I use to notify (A) of jobs to
process?

Thanks.

 

[Jerry Coffin]

Sorry for cross-posting; I'm not sure which group would be more
appropriate, if any.

At present I have 2 applications (installed on the same workstation):
(A) is the main application which is running most, if not all, of
the time. Only one instance of (A) can be running at once.
(B) is an application which send messages to (A). These messages
instruct (A) on what data files to process. This is achieved by
calling (A) with ShellExecute(), passing arguments specifying the
location of a data file (this data file could be any file over the
network of workstations). When (A) receives these arguments, it adds
the data file to it's list of jobs to process.

The above process has been working well. Data can be accessed and
processed anywhere on the network. The downside is the operators can
only "send" data from one workstation.

What I now want to do is install (B) onto all workstations in the
network. Does ShellExecute() work over a network? If not, how to get
around this? What other methods can I use to notify (A) of jobs to
process?

None of this is really topical here, but if you ask about
NetScheduleJobAdd somewhere that it's topical (e.g. comp.os.ms-
windows.programmer.win32) you'll probably get some helpful replies.

If you want to do something a bit more portable, you might consider
something like a small UDP-based server that listens to a port of your
choice, and when it receives a packet, it's assumed to be a path to a
file to process, so it adds it to the list of files to process.