Visual Basic two-way communication with Java

We have VB client and a Java Server.
So we need a tool to be capable of sending messages from the VB client and receive messages from the Java Server.
We don't want to install in the Client Side any app-server, our idea is only give them an .exe or similar file to start the Client.

Do you know if ICE could fit for us?
We were thinking in a kind-of rpc messaging and I don't know if ICE could do that job and if it is difficult or hard to configurate.

Do you have any example of the way we could do it (VB side and Java Side).

The VB Client could be a VB 6 version.
The Java Server could be 1.4.2 J2EE server into a apache+tomcat server or directly from the JVM.

Many Thanks!!


Marcos

Hi Marcos, welcome to the forum!

Ice may be a solution for you, but the Visual Basic mapping requires Visual Basic .NET 2003. If you are able to upgrade to this version of Visual Basic, then I suggest that you download the Ice manual to learn more about it.

Take care,
- Mark

If we use Visual Basic .NET 2003 we don't have the need to install anything more an .exe (with .com, .dll, etc.)? Or we should need to get installed an IIS, or some webservers?

The Visual Basic and Java language mappings for Ice do not require a web server. For Visual Basic, you would create a regular Windows executable, and you would need to distribute some DLLs with it. If you are interested in a web server application, you could consider using the Ice extension for PHP.

Take care,
- Mark