How can a small desktop app communicate with ASP.NET webpage?

Question

I have built a small Windows application which finds the MAC address of the computer. I also have an ASP.NET webpage. When my Login page loads, I am running that executable.

I am trying to get MAC address value. How can I achieve this?

Can my desktop application return that value to my web page?

Here is what I have tried so far.

Desktop application code:

public string GetSystemMACID()
{
    string systemName = System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.ComputerName;
    try
    {
        ManagementScope theScope = new ManagementScope("\\\\" + Environment.MachineName + "\\root\\cimv2");
        ObjectQuery theQuery = new ObjectQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter");
        ManagementObjectSearcher theSearcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(theScope, theQuery);
        ManagementObjectCollection theCollectionOfResults = theSearcher.Get();

        foreach (ManagementObject theCurrentObject in theCollectionOfResults)
        {
            if (theCurrentObject["MACAddress"] != null)
            {
                 string macAdd = theCurrentObject["MACAddress"].ToString();
                 return macAdd.Replace(':', '-');
            }
        }
    }
    catch (ManagementException e)
    {
    }
    catch (System.UnauthorizedAccessException e)
    {

    }
    return string.Empty;
}

The return value is just assigned to a Label.

Can anyone suggest me if it is possible at all? Any suggestions are welcome.

Why not just ask for the `MAC` directly in the `ASP.NET` code? Also, you are aware that this will give you the `MAC` of the server? — Filip Ekberg, Aug 22 '12 at 12:13
@FilipEkberg Ya I tried that but it gives server MAC , am I trying to do something that is not possible? — Priyank Patel, Aug 22 '12 at 12:15
If you want the client MAC, you will need to use ActiveX, Java, Silverlight or something like that. Or run the Windows Application on the client machine, have it send it to a web service. — Filip Ekberg, Aug 22 '12 at 12:16
Have a look at this post http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9904100/how-to-get-client-machines-mac-address-in-a-web-application — Justin Harvey, Aug 22 '12 at 12:17
@FilipEkberg Ya I would like to run the app and send its value to the web service. — Priyank Patel, Aug 22 '12 at 12:17

Mark · Answer 1 · 2012-08-22T13:00:54.327

You could set up your site to accept a query parameter that is called MACAddress. Have the desktop app POST to the website; POSTing the value of the cookie. This may help:

using System.Net;

...

var httpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
httpWebRequest.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
httpWebRequest.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
httpWebRequest.Method = "POST";

byte[] requestBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(queryString);
httpWebRequest.ContentLength = requestBytes.Length;

using (var requestStream = httpWebRequest.GetRequestStream())
{
    requestStream.Write(requestBytes, 0, requestBytes.Length);
    requestStream.Close();
}

The query string will look like

"MACAddress=" + macAdd

-------------update upon request---------------

Within your Desktop Application, add the using statement. You may need to add the reference to the Dll within solution explorer too.

Then, make a method called PostMacAddress as follows:

public void PostMacAddress(string url, string macAdd)
{
   var httpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
   httpWebRequest.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
   httpWebRequest.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
   httpWebRequest.Method = "POST";

   var queryString = "MACAddress=" + macAdd; 

   byte[] requestBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(queryString);
   httpWebRequest.ContentLength = requestBytes.Length;

   using (var requestStream = httpWebRequest.GetRequestStream())
   {
      requestStream.Write(requestBytes, 0, requestBytes.Length);
      requestStream.Close();
   }
}

I'm not sure what it is you're not understanding (not trying to be mean). I'm simplifying here, but, POSTing is an HTTP protocol for sending data to a website. Another one is GET (protocol for reading data).

Hope that helps!

-------updating to show the web side...-----------

In your Page_Load method, you'll want to get the QueryString like this:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
     if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.QueryString["MACAddress"])
         lblMacAddress.Text = Request.QueryString["MACAddress"];
}

+1 for POSTing data. However, despite the payload of the post being syntatically the same as a query string, it is not called a query string, as a qs is part of the URL. POSTed data is sent in the body of the request. Also worth mentioning that values in the POST data should be encoded. There's no cookies either. — spender, Aug 22 '12 at 12:24
@Mark Thanks for the answer.Sorry but I am not able to understand it well.Little explanation will be helpfult.Thanks. — Priyank Patel, Aug 22 '12 at 12:25
@Mark I understand that I am posting data to my website,the code you provided is helpful.My confusion is how do I retrieve it on my web page?Sorry it might sound dumb. — Priyank Patel, Aug 22 '12 at 12:47

How can a small desktop app communicate with ASP.NET webpage?

1 Answers1