dsSocket TCP/IP Custom Control

The dsSocket Custom Control provides TCP/IP network connectivity for Microsoft's Visual Basic and Visual C++ and other development environments. The control provides the capabilities of developing both client and server applications within the same control. Using properties and events the software developer can rapidly add network connectivity to their applications. A fully functional demo release is available for download. The demo includes sample source code and an online help file. The About box displayed in the demo release is not in the licensed release of the product.

Adding dsSocket to your application is an excellent way to provide network connectivity, whether for a local LAN or across the Internet. Our customers are using the control to develop large financial applications, web database servers, email applications and more.

The current shipping version of dsSocket is v1.90.0.1 and you can check this information using Windows Explorer. Navigate to your Windows\System32 directory and right-click on the file "dssock32.ocx". Select properties from the popup menu and then select the "Version" tab in the dialog box that is shown. The file version is displayed near the top of the Version information.

Additional Sample Applications with the Licensed Release

With the licensed release of dsSocket we ship additional sample applications with full Visual Basic source code. These include an FTP client application that will perform directory listings, retrieve files and upload files to an FTP server. Also provided is a Web server written in Visual Basic and using dsSocket for communications.

The dsWServe sample application implements a basic Web server. It will accept and process HTTP GET commands. As written the port number to listen on is hard coded, as is the local directory that will be used to read the HTML files and associated images from. The dsWServer sample application is an excellent example of how to create a server with dsSocket. A routine is provided that finds the first available control in an array of controls. A timer is used to implement cleanup requirements and unload controls that are no longer needed.


Differences between the VBX and OCX versions

The OCX contains additional functionality including methods that can be used in place of the Action property. It also provides support for UDP in addition to the support for TCP streams connections. Forward lookups are available that convert a host name into the equivalent IP address. A Reverse lookup can convert an IP address back to a host name.

The VBX does not support methods or forward and reverse lookups. It is, however, dynamically bound to the TCP/IP stack and can continue to function without TCP/IP installed on the computer. Network functionality will not be available in this case, but your aplication can continue to run.

The VBX version of dsSocket is no longer being shipped or supported.