This section gives information on what is required to get started using the Universal Messaging API for C#. This API is available in the DLL "Nirvana DotNet.dll" for developing native Microsoft Windows applications.

The API requires Microsoft .Net Framework, which you can download from the Microsoft Download website at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/. The .NET installer will automatically set up the environment such that C# applications can be compiled and run natively on Microsoft Windows. Please see the Environment Setup section below for information on how to compile and run C# applications that use the Universal Messaging API for C#.

To subscribe to a channel using an SSL interface, extra requirements must be met. The Universal Messaging API for C# supports client certificate authentication as well as anonymous SSL. For client certificate authentication, the location of the client certificate and private key password, as well as the trust store must be known to the application. For instructions on how to run C# applications using an SSL enabled interface, please see C# Client SSL Configuration.

It is recommended that you use Microsoft Visual Studio to compile C# applications. Visual Studio will set up the required environment for compiling C# applications. However, to make use of the Universal Messaging API, the location of the Universal Messaging library will need to be referenced such that it can be found by the compiler.

The library can be found in the <InstallDir>\UniversalMessaging\dotnet\bin directory. For native Windows applications the "Nirvana DotNet.dll" library is required.

The Universal Messaging DLL used to compile C# applications is unlike C++ in that this library is used both at compile time and at runtime. At compile time, the location of the library is specified as a reference such that it can be used by the compiler. At runtime this library is looked for in the same directory as the executable. For information on how to run an application without the DLL in the same directory, see Globally Accessible DLLs.

The <InstallDir>\UniversalMessaging\dotnet\bin directory contains precompiled sample C# applications that use Universal Messaging API for C#. These applications can be run on a machine running Microsoft Windows which has .NET installed as described above.

The source code for each application can be found in <InstallDir>\UniversalMessaging\dotnet\examples along with a batch file which can be used to compile the application:

This will compile the channeliterator sample application and place the executable in the dotnet\bin directory.