RDP Application Development
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8/28/2008
The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is part of Microsoft Windows Terminal Services. Understanding RDP requires a basic understanding of Terminal Services and Terminal Services sessions.
Terminal Services provides functionality similar to a terminal-based, centralized host, or mainframe environment in which multiple terminals connect to a host computer. Each terminal provides a conduit for input and output between a user and the host computer. A user can log on at a terminal and then run applications on the host computer, accessing files, databases, network resources, and so on. Each terminal session is independent, with the host operating system managing multiple users contending for shared resources.
The primary difference between Terminal Services and the traditional mainframe environment is that the terminals in a mainframe environment only provide character-based input and output. A Remote Desktop client or emulator provides a complete graphical user interface. This includes a Windows operating system desktop and support for a variety of input devices, such as a keyboard and mouse.
In the Terminal Services environment, an application runs completely on the Terminal Server. The Remote Desktop client performs no local execution of application software. The server transmits the graphical user interface to the client. The client transmits the user's input back to the server.
In This Section
- Terminal Services Sessions
Provides an overview of Terminal Services sessions.
- Terminal Services Programming Guidelines
Describes programming guidelines for Terminal Services.
- Bitmap Cache for RDP
Provides information about the RDP bitmap cache.
- Virtual Channels Implementation
Describes how to use virtual channels to create a custom client/server application for the Terminal Services environment.