convenient Client-Server communication framework (like WCF)

andipandi

Is there a framework, technology or similar that allows

• WCF like ease of use (error/exception passing, transferring types, callbacks)
• safe communication
• Xamarin (preferrably Forms/cross-platform), otherwise Android) to Windows service
• support for tcp/ip, bluetooth as well as offline caching

Apart from maybe bluetooth support, this should be standard requirements.

Does any framework allow for this?

Normally, I like WCF (well, it gets the job done, though if you hit something it does not support, it's tough luck), but ran into issues with the configuration options, also, I read that Xamarin does not properly support it and also I wonder whether WCF is a technology that Microsoft will support in the future. I also read posts here about people not recommending it.

I don't like to serialize/deserialize/error handle everything via REST, as for bluetooth, I don't even have a clue.

laheller

I am using the below library for network communication:
https://www.nuget.org/packages/NetworkCommsDotNet/

Easy to use and high performance.

andipandi

@laheller
Many thanks, that looks like an option. It seems free to use, Apache license allows commercial usage.
It still seems a little low level, so the main advantage I would get is that Bluetooth and TCP/IP functionality would be provided by the same package, also it seems to have encryption.
On the other side, their website is a little broken, displaying internal error messages as well as claiming there is a forum which is not there, as well as the last update on nuget coming from 2017. Source seems to be available though, though actively maintained would be a lot better.
Did you ever come across any bugs or missing features? My project should live many years with minimal maintenance caused by external libraries

laheller

@andipandi said:
@laheller
Many thanks, that looks like an option. It seems free to use, Apache license allows commercial usage.
It still seems a little low level, so the main advantage I would get is that Bluetooth and TCP/IP functionality would be provided by the same package, also it seems to have encryption.
On the other side, their website is a little broken, displaying internal error messages as well as claiming there is a forum which is not there, as well as the last update on nuget coming from 2017. Source seems to be available though, though actively maintained would be a lot better.
Did you ever come across any bugs or missing features? My project should live many years with minimal maintenance caused by external libraries

So far I used this library in a small project where on a smartphone (as a server) I got some sensor data sent them via TCP and displayed them in realtime on a desktop (as a client) on a graph. It worked perfectly.