Communication with a Windows Phone Device

Question

I'm planning to build a cross platform application where the windows store app should send messages to a selected windows phone device.

I'm wondering what possibilities do I have and are there any resources which provide examples / tutorials?

I was thinking about Push Notifications first. But I guess I'll need an additional web service to realize the communication. Maybe using microsoft azure mobile services for this would be an idea..

I've found an example to establish a connection via Bluetooth, but since most of the PC's don't have bluetooth this solution is not enough.

Is there a way to communicate over wifi or usb? I can't find any resources regarding this.

Many thanks..

 

Answer 1

What sort of communication do you need?

Both Windows Store and Windows Phone apps can communicate via sockets over several typical network options (wired, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.) and can set up local connections via PeerFinder. Non-local connections are trickier and generally need brokering through a server since firewalls will generally prohibit direct connections.

See Connecting to networks and web services (XAML) for details and samples.

Answer 2

A local connection is sufficient. 

It should be as easy for the user as possible to set this stuff up (or requries no setup at all!). So I guess there is no easier way then connecting the device via usb or just share the same wifi?

Thanks for the hint regarding PeerFinder! Didn't knew such thing exists. I'll read into this stuff but I think this will provide a acceptable solutinon.

I think the easiest way for the user would be to avoid a requirement for usb connection / wifi at all. But I guess it is not really possible without an additional web service.