Two computers sharing a file

General
1

Hi,

I am considering developing a system where two pieces of software could read/write the same file.

Computer 1 reads a specific file, and its software behaves based on the values recorded in that file.

Computer 2 writes values to the file so that the values in that file can be read by the Computer 1.

The way I am considering to have it done is as follows:

  1. Computer 2 creates a file in a specific DropBox folder
  2. If needed, Computer 2 overrides the file in the DropBox folder
  3. Computer 1 reads the file in the DropBox folder on as needed or on the time laps basis (the folder is going to be a shared folder)

The downside of this approach is that I will need to create to DropBox accounts and I will need to have internet access for this system to work.

Is there any better way to accomplish this rather than using a shared folder on DropBox?

Any advice is highly appreciated.

Thank you,

Val

2

To be clear about the parameters, neither computer is on the same network and neither can act as an Internet server to the other necessitating a middleman, yes?

3

where are the two computers in relation to each other?
On the same LAN? if so, have one computer “host” the file, and created a shared network area
Or a central web based file server… but this will complicate things a tad bit more.

NOTE : if Step 3 attempts to happen from Computer 1, while Computer 2 is doing Step #2 YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS

If computer 2 is only going to “write”, and computer 1 is onlly going to always “read”… you could FTP the file from computer 2 to computer 1 as required…

4

Computer 2 is only going to write, and Computer 1 is only going to read.

I was thinking of installing a DropBox app on both computers and set a shared folder where the file is going to be located. Doing so, I could have a set location for the Computer 2 to save the file, and the location from where the Computer 1 will find the file to read.

With this setting Computer 1 and Computer 2 might be either on the same LAN or just have access to the internet.

Computer 2 will have an Application 2 on it. In the Application 2, a user can change properties of different GUI elements that will be recorded into the text file.

Computer 1 will have a timer running every 1 second reading the text file and adjusting some GUI elements on its Application 1 based on those variables.

Achieving this via a shared folder (shared DropBox folder) is rather straightforward to me. I am just curious if there is a better way to do it.

Dave, you mentioned sending the file from Computer 2 to Computer 1 via FTP. Can you guide me in the right direction on how to do it?

Thank you, guys, very much for your advices.

Val

5

there are lots of ways to do this… its been a while… but cURL is probably the easiest…
Somewhere on this forum I posted a bunch of simple cURL protocols (free) that can be used with Shell function
and I think MBS (not free) has some functions as well