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copied!<p>Your problem in fact is to allow your <code>Console</code> application to control the <code>Winforms</code> application. So to make it simple, I make this demo and it's easy to implement your own way:</p> <p>Your <code>Console</code> application code:</p> <pre><code> //Must add reference to System.Drawing.dll //using namespaces: using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Drawing; //.......................... class Program { //This is used to send custom message to your Winforms [DllImport("user32")] private static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hwnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam); //This is used to find your winforms window [DllImport("user32", CharSet=CharSet.Auto)] private static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string className, string windowName); //This is used to register custom message so that it's ensured to be unique [DllImport("user32")] private static extern int RegisterWindowMessage(string msgName); //Our main method static void Main(string[] args) { int red = RegisterColorCode(Color.Red); int yellow = RegisterColorCode(Color.Yellow); while (true) { Console.Write("Enter color letter: "); string r = Console.ReadLine().ToLower(); int msg = 0; if(r == "r") msg = red; if(r == "y") msg = yellow; //You can define more colors if (hwnd == IntPtr.Zero) hwnd = FindWindow(null, "Winforms Application"); if(hwnd != IntPtr.Zero) SetBackColor(msg); } } IntPtr hwnd = IntPtr.Zero; static int RegisterColorCode(Color c){ return RegisterWindowMessage(c.ToString()); } static void SetBackColor(int colorCode){ SendMessage(hwnd, colorCode, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero); } } </code></pre> <p>Your <code>Winforms</code> application code:</p> <pre><code>public class Form1 : Form { [DllImport("user32")] private static extern int RegisterWindowMessage(string msgName); public Form1(){ InitializeComponent(); red = RegisterColorCode(Color.Red); yellow = RegisterColorCode(Color.Yellow); //Set your form caption to a specified (must be unique at the time it runs) Text = "Winforms Application"; } int red,yellow;//you can define more private int RegisterColorCode(Color c){ return RegisterWindowMessage(c.ToString()); } protected override void WndProc(ref Message m) { switch(m.Msg){ case red: yourButton.BackColor = Color.Red; return; case yellow: yourButton.BackColor = Color.Yellow; return; } base.WndProc(ref m); } } </code></pre> <p>This is a very simple application model, it uses <code>Message</code> to communicate with other windows. However it has some limitation. As you can see, we have to define <code>certain Color codes</code> which can be sent from this to that in both sides. I'm trying to send any data from this to that via the <code>Message.WParam</code> and <code>Message.LParam</code> pointers. However it's not such easy. Different processes have different blocks of memory which are protected.</p> <p>I use <code>FindWindow</code> to find the <code>winforms window</code>, which is not always true (there may be some other windows having the same caption). However it's just for demonstrative purpose, it's not complete, it's just a demo. You can search for how to find the exact window (it's not too complicated, just more code to work with).</p> <p>If you want to send arbitrary data between windows, you can try other <code>IPC</code> approaches. If I can improve this answer (so that we can send arbitrary color from <code>Console</code> to your <code>winforms</code>), I'll update later.</p> <h2>UPDATE</h2> <p>The solution above works great for simple requirement, it just sends <strong>custom messages</strong> to signal what the sender wants the receiver to do. However to send arbitrary data, you have to send the message <code>WM_COPYDATA = 0x4a</code>. There is a struct of <code>COPYDATASTRUCT</code> which contains data to be sent and some code to identify what the sender wants the receiver to do. Here is the demo for you:</p> <p>Console code:</p> <pre><code> class Program { [DllImport("user32")] private static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hwnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, ref COPYDATASTRUCT lParam); [DllImport("user32", CharSet=CharSet.Auto)] private static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string className, string windowName); static void Main(string[] args) { IntPtr hwnd = IntPtr.Zero; while (true) { //require entering 3 elements of a Color: RED GREEN BLUE (each one is maximum at 255 and minimum at 0 Console.Write("Enter color R G B: ");//should enter something like 100 200 50 string[] s = Console.ReadLine().Split(new string[]{" "}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries); Color colorToBeSent = Color.FromArgb(int.Parse(s[0]),int.Parse(s[1]), int.Parse(s[2])); COPYDATASTRUCT data = new COPYDATASTRUCT(); try { data.dwData = new IntPtr(123456); data.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(Color)); data.lpData = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(data.cbSize); Marshal.StructureToPtr(colorToBeSent, data.lpData, true); if (hwnd == IntPtr.Zero) hwnd = FindWindow(null, "Winforms Application"); if (hwnd != IntPtr.Zero) { SendMessage(hwnd, 0x4a, IntPtr.Zero, ref data); } } finally { Marshal.FreeHGlobal(data.lpData); } } } public struct COPYDATASTRUCT { public IntPtr dwData; public int cbSize; public IntPtr lpData; } </code></pre> <p>Winforms code:</p> <pre><code>public class Form1 : Form { public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); } protected override void WndProc(ref Message m){ if(m.Msg == 0x4a)//WM_COPYDATA { COPYDATASTRUCT data = (COPYDATASTRUCT) m.GetLParam(typeof(COPYDATASTRUCT)); if (data.dwData.ToInt32() == 123456)//Check if this is sent from your Console { Color c = (Color)Marshal.PtrToStructure(data.lpData, typeof(Color)); yourButton.BackColor = c; return; } } base.WndProc(ref m); } public struct COPYDATASTRUCT { public IntPtr dwData; public int cbSize; public IntPtr lpData; } } </code></pre>

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