[RESOLVED] [2008] Possible To Pass Data To Different Application?

I'm sure this is possible but I've got no clue of what I'm looking for to even start to learn this. Basically I want to create a form that can load data from one software application and feed it to another.

Is it possible to change settings in other forms by another piece of software like if there was a flag = True and I wanted to change it to flag = False or instead of loading Dim processorID As String = String.Empty I can input Dim processorID As String = 1234

Does this make sense?

And if it is possible, is it only good for other .net software or can it be coded in .net for vb5/6 apps?

Chris

It can be done but you have to know a certain amount about the other software to do it. Can you be a bit more specific about what you want to achieve?

Sure, well I'm trying to learn little by little as I go along so please forgive me, I'm nowhere near good at this yet so I've been hiring guys to do work for me and then looking over source to figure out what they're doing and how it's done.

So for example, in one application I have something like Dim str As String = "http://url.com/red.php?a=xyz" let's say I want to change that during runtime with another url or perhaps I have a setting I want to change before a certain application is run, what do I need to do to be able to change that?

Chris

You can't just tell an application to have a different value for a variable. If the application isn't designed to read input data that can be changed then you job is rather complex. You'd have to actually write into that process's memory space, and you'd have to know exactly where to write or you'd likely crash the app.

You still haven't really explained what you're trying to achieve. Why would someone who is just starting out be casually playing around with changing other process's internal data? Sounds a lot like hacking to me. If you can't provide an explanation then I'll assume it is. There are far more useful things you could be learning about UNLESS you have a very specific aim in mind. If you don't then basically it IS hacking.

I guess in a loose way it is hacking, by meaning that you change one value to another but I am merely trying to learn how to manipulate another application to which I have full ownership/source of. Nothing wrong here in that regard, it's me being curious, I didn't think I'd get anyone upset by asking.

I'm just trying to accomplish learning. I'm sure if you know how to hack an application then you must have learned this in the same manner I'm asking and this is not a hacking question it's curiosity. It's really how to pass data and change values between forms.

No biggie...didn't mean to upset you.

Chris

You haven't upset me but this site doesn't allow discussion of hacking. Like I said, if you want to become a VB.NET developer then there are countless topics that would be far more useful to you. If you want to be a hacker then VB.NET isn't the programming language you should be using anyway and you should get your information elsewhere.

That's fine but I don't see how this is hacking? Why do I need to hack my own software? I'm trying to learn how it's done, I mean it could be as simple as one application changing another's listbox items, I just want to learn how it's done.

Chris

To accomplish what you are trying to do, generally there will be some kind of communication module built into both programs. This module may be written using TCP or UDP, both of which are available in .NET and VB6 (along with many others, as they are network standards). You wouldn't be directly altering variables in either case, though. Instead, you'd be sending information to the other program, and it would be up to the other program to do something with it. This would be collaborative communication between the two programs, as they would both have to be written to handle the types of communications you want.

Alternatively, you could alter controls on forms in a much less collaborative way using API calls, but as far as altering the settings of variables directly, that would require memory writes, which would be considerably more risky.

Thanks Shaggy, I appreciate it.

Chris