Communicate a message from iphone to Mac/PC

[LastLine]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to start a new application up - the concept's really simple I guess.

You press a button labelled '1' on the iPhone and it sends a message to the PC or Mac that makes the mac/PC respond exactly as if the number '1' had been pressed on the computer's own keyboard.

Now I think I'm going to have to do some serious reading around on this one and I'm happy to put that in so I'm not looking for a "Oh this is the answer" response, but can someone offer me some help to get me going in the right direction, I'm aware of applications such as Rowmote that essentially do this already and that they have their own desktop based client's - where do I start looking into how to do this? Published books, online guides etc are all great ways to start looking into this but does anyone know which ones? Any help much appreciated.

[Duncan C]

Originally Posted by LastLine

Hey guys,

I'm looking to start a new application up - the concept's really simple I guess.

You press a button labelled '1' on the iPhone and it sends a message to the PC or Mac that makes the mac/PC respond exactly as if the number '1' had been pressed on the computer's own keyboard.

Now I think I'm going to have to do some serious reading around on this one and I'm happy to put that in so I'm not looking for a "Oh this is the answer" response, but can someone offer me some help to get me going in the right direction, I'm aware of applications such as Rowmote that essentially do this already and that they have their own desktop based client's - where do I start looking into how to do this? Published books, online guides etc are all great ways to start looking into this but does anyone know which ones? Any help much appreciated.

TCP socket connections are the usual way to do this. The problem you'll face is that most users don't have a dedicated IP address, and those that do are frequently behind a firewall.

If you have a dedicated server then both the iPhone and the desktop apps can connect to the server, exchange IP addresses, and then establish a peer-to-peer connection.

There are also other options like AIM, or Apples new (not-yet-released) game system, but each of those has it's pros and cons.

[JasonR]

This link will get you started on Bonjour between a Mac and an iPhone: Cocoa for Scientists (Part XXVIII): Bonjour and How Do You Do? | MacResearch. Bonjour is an easy way for your iPhone client and Mac server to find each other. There's also an SDK for Bonjour on Windows: Open Source - Apple Developer

[Duncan C]

Originally Posted by JasonR

This link will get you started on Bonjour between a Mac and an iPhone: Cocoa for Scientists (Part XXVIII): Bonjour and How Do You Do? | MacResearch. Bonjour is an easy way for your iPhone client and Mac server to find each other. There's also an SDK for Bonjour on Windows: Open Source - Apple Developer

I'm pretty sure Bonjour only works for computers that are on the same LAN. I assumed the OP wanted a solution when computers were at different locations using different connections to the internet. Things are more complicated in that case.