Click here to Skip to main content
15,867,835 members
Articles / Programming Languages / C#
Article

Palantir - Remote Desktop Manager

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.90/5 (93 votes)
6 Aug 2007CPOL2 min read 487.4K   65.6K   315   107
Palantir is an application that allows users to manage remote desktop connections in one window. It also allows users to save existing connections for later use.
Screenshot - palantir.jpg

Screenshot - palantir3.jpg

Introduction

Palantir is an application that allows users to manage remote desktop connections in one window. It also allows users to save existing connections for later use.

Background

The remote desktop connections are managed with Microsoft RDP Client control. This control has all of the properties such as Server, UserName, Domain, etc. in order to set up a remote desktop connection. In addition to these properties, sharing printers, disk drives or color depth of the remote desktop can be managed via RDP Client control. Palantir enables users to create a remote desktop connection and save connection settings for later use. Users can also choose to start a remote desktop connection automatically when the application starts.

The settings can be saved into a file and restored from a setting file. Users can also connect to a computer via console. The application has a class named Machine that stores a remote desktop connection's properties. All of the remote connections created by user is stored in application's .settings file. This setting file has a property setting named MyMachine and its type is string. This property is converted into Hashtable while getting the settings. Palantir's solution consists of four projects which are GUI, Helper, BusinessObjects and a setup project.

Using the Code

The remote desktop connections are retrieved by the function below:

C#
public List<Machine> GetRemoteDesktops()         
{             
    List<Machine> lstMachine = new List<Machine>();             
    if (Settings.Default.MyMachine != "")             
    {                 
        Hashtable ht = 
            (Hashtable)BinarySerializer.BinaryTo(Settings.Default.MyMachine);
        foreach (DictionaryEntry de in ht)                     
        {                     
            Machine insMachine = (Machine)de.Value;                     
            lstMachine.Add(insMachine);                 
        }             
    }               
    lstMachine.Sort(delegate(Machine m1, Machine m2) 
    { 
        return m1.RemoteDesktopConnectionName.CompareTo(
            m2.RemoteDesktopConnectionName); 
    });             
    return lstMachine;         
} 

As seen in the code, this function deserializes the setting named MyMachine into a hashtable and inserts each dictionary entry in the hashtable into a list and returns the list. A remote desktop connection is saved and edited by the function below:

C#
public bool SaveRemoteDesktop(Machine parMachine, bool openedForEdit)   
{             
    if (Settings.Default.MyMachine == "")
    {                 
        Hashtable ht = new Hashtable(); 
        Settings.Default.MyMachine = BinarySerializer.ToBinary(ht); 
        Settings.Default.Save();
    }             
    Hashtable ht1 = 
        (Hashtable)BinarySerializer.BinaryTo(Settings.Default.MyMachine); 
    if (!parMachine.SavePassword) 
    {                 
        parMachine.Password = "";             
    }               
    if (!openedForEdit)             
    {                 
        foreach (DictionaryEntry de in ht1)                 
        {                     
            if (((Machine)de.Value).RemoteDesktopConnectionName == 
                parMachine.RemoteDesktopConnectionName)                     
            {                         
                MessageBox.Show("There is already a 
                                    remote connection with the same name.");                         
                return false;                     
            }                 
        }             
    }               
    ht1[parMachine.RemoteDesktopConnectionName] = parMachine; 
    Settings.Default.MyMachine = BinarySerializer.ToBinary(ht1);
    Settings.Default.Save(); 
    return true; 
}

If there's no currently saved remote desktop connection, we create a new hashtable and then serialize and save the settings file. After that, we deserialize the settings parameter into a hashtable and after checking if there's another connection with the same name, we save the remote desktop connection with the function's parameter Machine object. The methods below set the RDP Client control's settings and connect to the remote desktop which is passed as parameter.

C#
private void SetRdpClientProperties(Machine parMachine)   
{             
    rdpc.Server = parMachine.MachineName;             
    rdpc.UserName = parMachine.UserName;             
    rdpc.Domain = parMachine.DomainName;             
    if (parMachine.Password != "")             
    {                 
        rdpc.AdvancedSettings5.ClearTextPassword = parMachine.Password;   
    }             
    rdpc.AdvancedSettings5.RedirectDrives = parMachine.ShareDiskDrives;     
    rdpc.AdvancedSettings5.RedirectPrinters = parMachine.SharePrinters; 
    rdpc.ColorDepth = (int)parMachine.ColorDepth;             
    rdpc.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;           
} 
public void Connect(Machine parMachine)         
{             
    SetRdpClientProperties(parMachine);             
    rdpc.Connect();         
}           
public void ConnectViaConsole(Machine parMachine)         
{             
    rdpc.AdvancedSettings5.ConnectToServerConsole = true;    
    SetRdpClientProperties(parMachine);        
    rdpc.Connect();         
} 

Feedback

For bug reports and suggestions, feel free to contact me at io1981@hotmail.com.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Web Developer
Turkey Turkey
This member has not yet provided a Biography. Assume it's interesting and varied, and probably something to do with programming.

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionRemote connection application? Pin
harris00819-Mar-24 3:09
harris00819-Mar-24 3:09 
Questionconnect to remote server Pin
raman00317-Feb-24 9:03
raman00317-Feb-24 9:03 
QuestionHandle Leak Pin
Martin Titz4-Jan-24 14:02
Martin Titz4-Jan-24 14:02 
QuestionRemote Desktop ASPX Pin
Iyad Moussa23-Aug-21 1:12
Iyad Moussa23-Aug-21 1:12 
Questionhow to use this application Pin
AissamInfo8-Aug-20 0:05
AissamInfo8-Aug-20 0:05 
QuestionMerhaba ; Pin
serifcicek9211-Sep-19 20:43
serifcicek9211-Sep-19 20:43 
QuestionI need Help Pin
Member 1450539019-Jun-19 1:14
Member 1450539019-Jun-19 1:14 
QuestionPLEASE HELP (Win10)! Pin
LorneCash27-Mar-18 9:41
LorneCash27-Mar-18 9:41 
QuestionHow to run this program? Pin
Kenmod23-Mar-17 13:49
Kenmod23-Mar-17 13:49 
QuestionTebrikler Pin
Member 128924197-Dec-16 8:21
Member 128924197-Dec-16 8:21 
QuestionHow would you log off? Pin
RodrigoAraujo17-Nov-16 7:24
RodrigoAraujo17-Nov-16 7:24 
GeneralAmazing! Pin
Gilberto Teixeira1-May-16 6:25
Gilberto Teixeira1-May-16 6:25 
PraiseThanks For this Pin
Member 122564334-Mar-16 19:45
Member 122564334-Mar-16 19:45 
GeneralRe: Thanks For this Pin
Member 1374113023-Mar-18 3:59
Member 1374113023-Mar-18 3:59 
Questiontcp/ip? Pin
Member 872300322-May-15 7:06
Member 872300322-May-15 7:06 
QuestionServer Name can be a remote IP? (and you look REALLY CUTE in that pic, really) Pin
almend19-Feb-15 12:29
professionalalmend19-Feb-15 12:29 
Questionexe Pin
Member 1059457910-Feb-15 4:16
Member 1059457910-Feb-15 4:16 
QuestionGreat work Pin
Stylianos Polychroniadis9-Jan-15 23:53
Stylianos Polychroniadis9-Jan-15 23:53 
Questionthanks for code Pin
Member 102290085-Jan-15 23:20
Member 102290085-Jan-15 23:20 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Maik Kluwe29-Nov-14 11:57
Maik Kluwe29-Nov-14 11:57 
Questionan awsm rdp app.. Pin
Koustuv Ganguly18-Jul-14 5:48
Koustuv Ganguly18-Jul-14 5:48 
QuestionHow do i know ? Pin
expert-programmer4-Dec-13 8:12
expert-programmer4-Dec-13 8:12 
Questionwow... what a nice article... Pin
sankmahesh3-Dec-13 23:20
sankmahesh3-Dec-13 23:20 
SuggestionWhat a sexy developer:* Pin
Luca Alexandru1-Jun-13 12:23
Luca Alexandru1-Jun-13 12:23 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
ole.Grossklaus@gmx.de6-Mar-13 23:13
ole.Grossklaus@gmx.de6-Mar-13 23:13 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.