SocketTools

SocketTools 8 includes support for both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms, as well as support for the IPv6 protocol. The product editions have also been consolidated to make it simpler for developers to choose the right development tools for their products.

There are now three SocketTools Editions:

SocketTools .NET Edition:

The SocketTools .NET Edition is a suite of managed code classes that makes it easy to add Internet functionality to your software.

• Supports Visual Studio 2005-2015
  
• Thread-Safe Classes for VB.NET and C#
  
• Supports 32-bit and 64-bit Windows
  
• IPv4 and IPv6 Connections
  
• Secure Connections (SSL/TLS/SSH)
  
• Asynchronous Connections
  
• Client and Server Applications

SocketTools ActiveX Edition:

The SocketTools ActiveX Edition is a suite of ActiveX controls that enables you to add Internet functionality to your applications.

• Supports Visual Basic 6.0 and .NET
  
• Lightweight ATL based ActiveX controls
  
• Includes 32-bit and 64-bit controls
  
• IPv4 and IPv6 Connections
  
• Secure Connections (SSL/TLS/SSH)
  
• Supports Asynchronous Connections
  
• Client and Server Applications

SocketTools Library Edition:

The SocketTools Library Edition is a suite of Windows libraries that simplifies Internet application development.

• Native libraries (DLLs) and C++ classes
  
• Extensive API With Over 800 Functions
  
• Includes 32-bit and 64-bit Libraries
  
• IPv4 and IPv6 Connections
  
• Secure Connections (SSL/TLS/SSH)
  
• Supports Most Programming Languages
  
• Client and Server Applications

Key Features:

• Components that implement the SSH protocol
• Integrated support for file transfers using SFTP
• Custom server application building support
• Stored mail message management on the local system
• Support for file verification and automatic file type detection
• Full compatibility with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista and Windows Server 2008
• Improved performance and reliability
• Enhanced security features
• Improved support for firewalls and proxy servers
• Improved support for non-standard e-mail messages
• Targeting of multiple frameworks using the SocketTools .NET Edition
• Improved control over resource use
• Backwards compatibility with previous versions of SocketTools
• Expanded technical reference documentation
• Expanded and updated example code

SocketTools - Features

SocketTools .NET Edition

The SocketTools .NET Edition is a collection of managed code classes, designed to simplify the integration of Internet functionality into applications built using the Visual Studio development platform. The SocketTools .NET Edition is ideal for the Visual Basic or C# developer who requires the ease of use and rapid development features of a component, without the complexities of the native socket classes and without requiring in-depth knowledge of how the various Internet protocols are implemented. SocketTools .NET includes nineteen class libraries and components which can be used to develop applications that meet a wide range of needs. Included are classes for uploading and downloading files, sending and retrieving email messages, remote command execution, terminal emulation, and much more.

For developers who have used the SocketTools Visual Edition, you'll immediately find yourself in familiar territory. The SocketTools .NET class libraries have properties, methods and events that are very similar to the ActiveX control that you've used in languages like Visual Basic 6.0. Although there are some inherent differences with the managed code .NET classes, whenever possible the interfaces were designed to make the transition from the Visual Edition as easy as possible.

For those developers who require encrypted connections using the industry standard SSL and TLS security protocols, we recommend that you use the SocketTools Secure .NET Edition, which includes integrated support for a variety of secure application protocols, along with advanced features such as secure proxy connections and support for client certificates.

The following are just some of the features in the SocketTools .NET Edition:

• Managed code classes written in C#, compatible with any Visual Studio.NET language
• Class interfaces that are very similar to the SocketTools COM interfaces
• Low resource utilization and no external dependencies on third-party libraries
• A comprehensive product with 19 .NET class libraries for all of the major protocols
• Fully compatible with Visual Studio.NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005
• Includes both high level and lower level interfaces for maximum flexibility
• Support for both synchronous and asynchronous network connections
• Thread-safe implementation with full support for multithreaded applications
• Support for proxy servers using FTP and HTTP, including automatic proxy detection
• An extensive Developer's Guide and online Technical Reference
• A professional technical support staff and extensive online support resources
• No runtime licensing fees or additional royalties

The following protocols are supported by the SocketTools .NET Edition:

• Domain Name Services
• File Encoding and Compression
• File Transfer Protocol
• Finger Protocol
• Gopher Protocol
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• Internet Control Message Protocol
• Internet Message Access Protocol
• Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
• Network News Transfer Protocol
• Post Office Protocol
• Remote Access Services
• Remote Command Protocol
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
• Telnet Protocol
• Terminal Emulation
• Time Protocol
• Whois Protocol
• Windows Sockets (SocketWrench)

SocketTools Scripting Edition

The SocketTools Scripting Edition consists of scripting components based on the Component Object Model (COM) standard. These components are primarily designed for use with scripting languages such as VBScript and JavaScript and have an interface that is similar to the ActiveX controls in the Visual Edition. They are most commonly used with Active Server Pages (ASP) and other server-side scripting host environments like PHP. However, they are not limited strictly to scripting languages. They can also be used with Visual Basic and Visual C++, as well as any other programming language that supports the use of COM objects.

The advantage of the Scripting Edition is a simpler, high-level interface without the inherent overhead of full ActiveX controls. Like the libraries in the Library Edition, the scripting components can be used in a wide variety of languages. They have lower resource utilization than controls, and have significant performance benefits when used in a multithreaded environment, such as server-side scripts running on a webserver. However, the components do impose some additional processing overhead that standard DLLs dont have, and because they must be registered with the operating system when theyre installed, it can make redistribution more complex. They can also be more complex to use with those languages that dont provide extensive support for COM and variant data types. The Scripting Edition is best suited for:

• Scripting languages such as VBScript and JavaScript
• High-level languages which support the use of COM objects
• Server-side scripting host environments such as ASP and PHP
• Client-side scripting in dynamic web pages (DHTML)
• Standalone applets which do not have a significant user interface
• Simplified application development and testing
• Developers who prefer a higher-level programming interface

• JavaScript
• VBScript
• Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

• Standard COM based components compatible with virtually any scripting language
• Optimized for server-side scripting in Active Server Pages (ASP) and PHP
• Full support for client scripting in Internet Explorer using VBScript and JScript
• Low resource utilization and no external dependencies on third-party libraries
• A comprehensive product with 18 components for all of the major protocols
• Fully compatible with Visual Studio.NET, including Visual Basic.NET and C#
• Includes both high level and lower level interfaces for maximum flexibility
• Thread-safe implementation with full support for multithreaded applications
• Support for proxy servers, including secure proxies, using FTP and HTTP
• An extensive Developer's Guide and online Technical Reference
• A professional technical support staff and extensive online support resources
• No runtime licensing fees or additional royalties.

SocketTools Library Edition

The SocketTools Library Edition consists of 16-bit and 32-bit dynamic link libraries (DLLs) that are suitable for use with virtually any Microsoft Windows development environment or scripting tool. The application program interface for the Library Edition makes it easy to use with any language, not just C or C++. A total of nineteen libraries provide client interfaces for the major application protocols:

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
• Domain Name Service (DNS)
• Telnet
• Finger Protocol
• Gopher Protocol
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
• Internet Control Message Protocol (Ping)
• Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)
• Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)
• Post Office Protocol (POP3)
• Remote Command Execution (RCMD)
• Time Protocol
• Whois Protocol
• Audio Player
• Image Viewer
• Terminal Emulation
• SocketWrench.

All of the libraries share many common attributes. The network libraries support both synchronous (blocking) and asynchronous modes of operation. All of the libraries are thread-safe and can be used in multi-threaded applications. Full support is provided for 16-bit and 32-bit Microsoft Windows platforms, illustrative samples, comprehensive online help and a complete Users Guide and Technical Reference in PDF format for easy printing. The Library Edition offers the functionality, features and performance needed to build professional applications for the Internet and intranet. The controls are run time and royalty free.

Features include:

• Domain Name Services Library: used by applications to resolve domain names into Internet addresses and to provide information about a domain such as the name of the mail servers that are responsible for receiving e-mail for users in that domain. Perform standard queries against a nameserver with the ability to enumerate all mail exchange (MX) records sorted in priority order. The library supports addition record types such as SOA, HINFO and TXT records
• File Encoding and Compression Library: encode and decode files using the standard encoding methods of Base64, Quoted-Printable and Uuencoding. The library supports yEnc file encoding, and URL, UTF-7 and UTF-8 text encoding. Additional data compression options have been added including the ability to select the algorithm and level of compression
• File Transfer Protocol Library: high level functions for uploading or downloading a file in a single function call and lower level remote file I/O functions for direct control over the transfer by an application. Direct transfers to and from memory buffers and files, the ability to control the features that are enabled for a specific server and the ability to change file modification time and permissions are included with full support for implicit and explicit SSL/TLS connections for use with secure server implementations
• Finger Protocol Library: returns information about a user on a remote server and general information about the server itself. The library provides an interface for connecting to a server, requesting information about a user and returning information to the program. Obtain information about a user on a remote host such as the last time of logging in, unread mail and projects in progress. The Finger protocol can be used to list the users on a system and validate that a user is active
• Gopher Protocol Library: document retrieval protocol that pre-dates the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that is most commonly used with internal corporate networks to provide access to documents. The library supports the retrieval of documents using one function call, storing the contents in memory or in a file on the local system
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol Library: download the entire contents of a document and store it in memory using one function call. Post data to a server to enable the output of the script to be returned to a program in memory without requiring that the data stream is read and processed manually. Full support is provided for HTTP 1.1 including persistent connections and chunked data processing and for secure SSL/TLS connections to a Web server including support for client certificates
• Internet Control Message Protocol Library: used to determine if a remote host is reachable and how packets of data are routed to the system. It is implemented in the ping and tracert command line utilities. The Ping command is used to check if a system is reachable and the amount of time that it takes for a packet of data to make a round trip from the local system to the remote host and back again. The Tracert command is used to trace the route that a packet of data takes from the local system to the remote host and can be used to identify potential problems with overall throughput and latency. The library can be used to build in this type of functionality in applications providing the ability to send and receive ICMP echo datagrams in order to perform analysis
• Internet Message Access Protocol Library: an application protocol that is used to access a users e-mail messages stored on a mail server. The messages on an IMAP server are retained on the server and processed remotely and can be managed on a server by creating new mailboxes, moving and deleting messages and previewing sections of a message. The library integrates with the Mail Message (MIME) library
• Mail Message Library: enables applications to create e-mail messages that conform to the Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) standard. Create complex multi-part messages including those with alternative content formats such as plain text and styled HTML in the same message. Attach files, extract attachments, create custom headers, export messages and perform other message related functions. The Mail Message library integrates with the IMAP, NNTP, POP3 and SMTP libraries to provide the services needed to process mail messages and news articles
• Network News Transfer Protocol Library: used with servers that provide news services and similar in functionality to bulletin boards or message boards where topics are organised hierarchically into newsgroups
• Post Office Protocol Library: provides access to a users new e-mail messages on a mail server. Functions are provided for listing and retrieving messages and storing them in files or in memory. Downloaded messages are usually removed from the server. The library is used typically in conjunction with the Mail Message library
• Remote Command Protocol Library: used to execute a command on a server and return the output of the command to the client. The SocketTools library provides an interface to the protocol, enabling applications to execute a command remotely and process the output and is most commonly used with UNnix-based servers. The SocketTools library supports the rcmd and rshell remote execution protocols and provides functions that can be used to search the data stream for specific sequences of characters enabling the writing of Microsoft Windows applications that serve as light-weight client interfaces to commands being executed on a Unix server or another Microsoft Windows system. The library can be used to establish a remote terminal session using the rlogin protocol
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Library: enables applications to deliver e-mail messages to one or more recipients. The library provides an API for addressing and delivering messages and extended features such as user authentication and delivery status notification. There is no requirement to install third-party e-mail applications or specific types of servers on the local system. The SocketTools library can be used to deliver mail through standard Unix-based mail servers to Microsoft Windows systems running Exchange or Lotus Notes and Domino. The SocketTools library can be used to deliver messages directly to the recipient or to route them through a relay server such as an Internet Service Providers mail system. The Mail Message library can be integrated with this library to provide an interface for composing and delivering mail messages
• Telnet Protocol: used to establish a connection with a server that provides a virtual terminal session for a user. Its functionality is similar character based serial terminals, enabling a user to login to the server, execute commands and interact with applications running on the remote host. The Telnet library provides an API for establishing the connection, negotiating certain options (such as whether characters will be echoed back to the client) and handling the standard I/O functions needed by the program and functions that enable a program to scan the data stream for specific sequences of characters. It can be combined with the Terminal Emulation library to provide complete terminal emulation services for a standard ANSI or DEC-VT220 terminal
• Terminal Emulation Library: a comprehensive API for emulating an ANSI or DEC-VT220 character terminal with full support for standard escape and control sequences, colour mapping and advanced features. The library functions provide a high level interface for parsing escape sequences and updating a display and lower level primitives for managing the virtual display directly such as controlling the individual display cells, moving the cursor position and specifying display attributes. The library can be used in conjunction with the Remote Command or Telnet Protocol library to provide terminal emulation services for an application or independently
• Time Protocol Library: an interface for synchronising the local systems time and date with that of a remote server. The library enables developers to query a server for the current time and then update the system clock
• Whois Protocol Library: an interface for requesting information about an Internet domain name. The organisation that registers a domain must provide contact and technical information such as the primary name servers for that domain. The WhoIs protocol enables an application to query a server that provides registration information. The SocketTools library provides an API for requesting that information and returning it to the program so that it can be displayed or processed
• Windows Sockets (SocketWrench) Library: a low level interface for sending and receiving data over the Internet or an intranet. The SocketWrench library provides a simpler interface to the Microsoft Windows Sockets API and enables the creation of client and server applications.

SocketTools Visual Edition

The SocketTools Visual Edition comprises 16-bit Visual Basic (VBX) controls and 16-bit and 32-bit ActiveX (OCX) controls for use with visual development environments such as Visual Basic, Visual C++ and Delphi. A total of twenty controls provide client interfaces for the major application protocols such as the File Transfer Protocol, Hypertext Transfer Protocol, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, Domain Name Service and Telnet. All versions of Visual Basic from 3.2 and later are supported and the ActiveX controls can be used with any 32-bit development tool that supports COM and the ActiveX control specification.

The controls share many common attributes. The network controls support both synchronous (blocking) and asynchronous modes of operation and also include the ability to log the Windows Sockets function calls for debugging purposes. All of the controls are thread-safe and can be used in multithreaded containers, such as Internet Explorer. With the exception of the visually oriented controls (the browser, image viewer and terminal emulation controls), they can also be used as simple Automation objects, without requiring that they be placed on a form or inside another container.

Full support is provided for 16-bit and 32-bit Microsoft Windows platforms, illustrative samples, comprehensive online help, a tutorial to help developers to star, a complete Users Guide and Technical Reference in PDF format for easy printing. The SocketTools Visual Edition provides functionality and a range of features for building Internet and intranet applications. The controls are completely royalty free.

Features include:

• Domain Name Service Control: ddded new features that allow all mail exchange servers to be returned
• File Encoding and Decoding Control: corrected the problem where an error in decoding a quoted-printable-encoded file was not reported and the resulting decoded file was corrupted. The error occurs properly when quoted-printable-decoding is applied to the same data twice
• File Transfer Protocol Control: corrected the problem where a leading blank would be included in the name of some files in file listings from servers that use UNIX-style listing formats
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol Control: corrected the problem for 16-bit versions of control in which the GetFile method would return a corrupted version of files larger than 64K bytes. The problem in which the server response 100 (meaning "continue") was not handled according to the governing standards for Protocol Version 1.1 has been corrected. The control has been enhanced so that multiple response headers of the same type are retained and can be enumerated. New methods have been added to support POSTing of data that contains embedded nulls or other binary data
• Mail Message Control: corrected the problem where importing a message file failed with this circumstance: a token (string without embedded blanks) in a header that is longer than 23 characters and contains a non-printing character (such as a tab). Corrected a problem that caused some quoted-printable-encoded file attachments to be extracted as 0-length files. The control has been enhanced so that multiple Received headers are retained and can be enumerated. Corrected a problem where the tokens would not be decoded if two encoded tokens in a header were separated by a white space character other than a space (such as a tab)
• Post Office Protocol Control: corrected the problem where periods at the beginning of a line that were added when a message was being sent were not being stripped when a message was downloaded
• Remote Access Services Control: corrected the problem where an attempt to connect would result in an invalid buffer error
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Control: corrected the problems where valid e-mail addresses with embedded quotes were not being parsed correctly. Added increased support for Microsoft Exchange use of bracketed e-mail addresses
• Telnet Control: corrected the problem where setting property LocalEcho = True had no effect. Added Break method. Samples include:
  • Visual FoxPro, FTP: Modified so that it transfers files
  • VB6, DNS: Added retrieval of all mail exchanges
  • Selected VB 6 samples: Added tracing menu
  • VB6, Telnet: Add emulation preferences menu as well as tracing
  • VB 6, SocketWrench, Check Mail: sample added
  • VB 6, Socket Wrench, Send Mail: sample added.

SocketTools Standard Subscription 4.5

The SocketTools Standard Subscription 4.5 includes the standard components that are part of the SocketTools family of products, but does not include the File Transfer or Internet Mail controls, nor can they be used to establish secure connections.

The following are features in the SocketTools Standard Subscription plan:

• Standard ATL based ActiveX controls compatible with any COM compliant development tool
• Standard Windows dynamic link libraries (DLLs) with minimal overhead
• Low resource utilization and no external dependencies on third-party libraries
• A comprehensive product with 18 ActiveX controls and libraries with over 800 functions
• Fully compatible with Visual Studio.NET, including Visual Basic.NET and C#
• Includes both high level and lower level interfaces for maximum flexibility
• Support for both synchronous and asynchronous network connections
• Thread-safe implementation with full support for multithreaded applications
• Support for proxy servers, including secure proxies, using FTP and HTTP
• An extensive Developer's Guide and online Technical Reference
• A professional technical support staff and extensive online support resources
• No runtime licensing fees or additional royalties
• A trusted company with over 9 years experience developing Internet components

• Domain Name Services
• File Encoding and Compression
• File Transfer Protocol
• Finger Protocol
• Gopher Protocol
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• Internet Control Message Protocol
• Internet Message Access Protocol
• Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
• Network News Transfer Protocol
• Post Office Protocol
• Remote Access Services
• Remote Command Protocol
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
• Telnet Protocol
• Terminal Emulation Protocol
• Time Protocol
• Whois Protocol
• Windows Sockets (SocketWrench)

SocketTools Universal Subscription

The SocketTools Universal Subscription includes every control, scripting component and library included with all of the standard and secure SocketTools editions as well as the popular File Transfer and Internet Mail controls.

The following are features in the SocketTools Universal Subscription plan:

• Secure ATL based ActiveX controls compatible with any COM compliant development tool
• Secure Windows dynamic link libraries (DLLs) with minimal overhead
• Catalyst File Transfer Control enables applications to upload and download files easily
• Catalyst Internet Mail Control provides a simplified interface for sending and managing e-mail
• Low resource utilization and no external dependencies on third-party libraries
• A comprehensive product with 18 ActiveX controls and libraries with over 800 functions
• Fully compatible with Visual Studio.NET, including Visual Basic.NET and C#
• Includes both high level and lower level interfaces for maximum flexibility
• Support for both synchronous and asynchronous network connections
• Thread-safe implementation with full support for multithreaded applications
• Support for proxy servers, including secure proxies, using FTP and HTTP
• Support for the standard SSL and TLS security protocols with 128-bit encryption
• Enable security features with just a few lines of code
• Support for both implicit and explicit SSL and TLS connections
• Create both secure client and server applications
• Support for client certificates when required by the remote host
• Support for using certificate files as well as using the Windows certificate store
• No dependencies on third party SSL libraries
• An extensive Developer's Guide and online Technical Reference
• A professional technical support staff and extensive online support resources
• No runtime licensing fees or additional royalties
• A trusted company with over 9 years experience developing Internet components

• Domain Name Services
• File Encoding and Compression
• File Transfer Protocol
• Finger Protocol
• Gopher Protocol
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• Internet Control Message Protocol
• Internet Message Access Protocol
• Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
• Network News Transfer Protocol
• Post Office Protocol
• Remote Access Services
• Remote Command Protocol
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
• Telnet Protocol
• Terminal Emulation Protocol
• Time Protocol
• Whois Protocol
• Windows Sockets (SocketWrench)

Support

Support is available in the following subscriptions:

• Standard Support Subscription: for the single developer with occasional technical questions requiring a guaranteed response time. This subscription plan has the following features:
  • Unlimited technical support by e-mail and fax for any installation, development, debugging and re-distribution problems for a single product
  • All responses are guaranteed within two business days with most questions responded to by the next business day
  • Automatic e-mail notification of new product updates, service packs and hotfixes as they become available
  • A 25% discount on purchases of additional product licences
  • A 15% renewal discount if purchased within 30 days of subscription expiry.
• Priority Support Subscription: for the single developer with frequent technical questions requiring telephone and e-mail support. This subscription plan has the following features:
  • Unlimited technical support by telephone for any installation, development, debugging and re-distribution problems for a single product
  • Unlimited technical support by e-mail and fax for any installation, development, debugging and re-distribution problems for a single product
  • All responses are guaranteed within one business day with most questions responded to on the same day
  • Precedence over standard support problems including corrections made to a product, product component or library
  • Corrections that require a source code change to resolve a problem will be made available to the developer as a hotfix at no additional charge
  • Free updates to new versions of the product as it is released
  • Automatic e-mail notification of new product updates, service packs and hotfixes as they become available. Subscribers are entitled to free service pack updates and hotfixes for the product
  • A 25% discount on purchases of additional product licences
  • A 15% renewal discount if purchased within 30 days of subscription expiry.
• Premium Support Subscription: for multiple developers with one or more licences providing telephone and e-mail support for multiple Catalyst products. This subscription plan has the following features:
  • Unlimited technical support by telephone for any installation, development, debugging and re-distribution problems for multiple licences and/or multiple products
  • Unlimited technical support by e-mail and fax for any installation, development, debugging and re-distribution problems for multiple products
  • All responses are guaranteed within one business day with most questions responded to on the same day
  • Precedence over standard and priority support problems including corrections made to a product, product component or library
  • Corrections that require a source code change to resolve a problem will be made available to the developer as a hotfix at no additional charge
  • Free updates to new versions of a product as it is released. Each product may be updated if the subscriber has purchased multiple products
  • Automatic e-mail notification of new product updates, service packs and hotfixes as they become available
  • A 35% discount on purchases of additional product licences
  • A 15% renewal discount if purchased within 30 days of subscription expiry.

  	Free Support	Incident Support	Standard Support	Priority Support	Premium Support
  e-mail Support	60 days	One incident	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
  Telephone Support		One incident		Unlimited	Unlimited
  Guaranteed Response Time		Same day	2 days maximum	1 day maximum	1 day maximum
  Support Coverage		Hourly, one incident	Annual, one product	Annual, one product	Annual, multiple products
  Update Notification			X	X	X
  Free Updates and Hotfixes1	X	X	X	X	X
  Free Product Upgrades2				X	X
  On-Demand Hotfixes		X		X	X
  Multiple Licence Discounts			25%	25%	35%
  Renewal Discount			15%	15%	15%

  ¹ Includes service pack updates and hotfixes for the same version of the product, where the product build number changes but the major and minor version number does not change. ² Includes updates to later versions of the same product, where the major or minor version number has changed.
  

  SocketTools - System Requirements

  • Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT 4x, 2000 or XP
  • Intel Pentium processor
  • 64 MB RAM
  • 10 MB available hard disk space.