Catalyst Development

A number of years ago, we published a newsletter called SocketTips which provided general programming tips, how-to’s and code snippets to help developers make the most of SocketTools in their applications. We’re going to pick up where we left off, and start with covering some of the new features and functionality that was introduced in SocketTools 5.0. Each of these articles will be categorized as SocketTips, so they’ll be easy to search and reference in the future. If anyone has any ideas about articles they would like to see written, please let us know. For the first tip, we’ll talk about how to simplify your code using URLs with the FTP and HTTP components.
Continue Reading »

As a software developer, most of your time is spent creating, maintaining and debugging code. However, one of the aspects of development that is often overlooked is the actual build process itself. Of course, we all build projects from the IDE, but when it comes to production releases many developers — particularly those working on smaller projects — just follow the path of least resistance and do what is easiest at the time to get the product built and out the door. In the beginning, that often means manually compiling and copying files or creating a few batch files to do the job. The problem is, although that approach can be convenient at first, it is also prone to error and quickly becomes time consuming even for a small project. And the larger and more complex your build process becomes, managing multiple makefiles, batch files and scripts become even more unwieldy. Continue Reading »

A minor update for SocketTools 5.0 has been released, addressing some problems reported by developers along with a general update to the documentation. Build 5.00.5010 is a free update for all licensed developers who have purchased version 5.0. Release notes are included with the product and the product section on our website. You can download the current version of SocketTools using the same link that was provided to you when you ordered the software. For developers who are using the SocketTools Subscription, an updated subscription download is also available.

Based on feedback, we have also decided to include the documentation in PDF format as part of the installation, rather than making it a separate download. You can find the PDF documentation in the Help folder where you installed SocketTools. To view and print the document, you’ll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Please keep in mind that the documentation for SocketTools is extensive, and we do not recommend that you print the entire PDF document (for example, the SocketTools .NET documentation is over 3,200 pages). We suggest that you just print out those specific sections for the components and/or classes that you are interested in.

One of the most frequent questions that we get from developers evaluating our software is “Which edition of SocketTools should I buy?” It used to be that the answer was fairly straight-forward. The Visual Edition was for programmers who were using languages like Visual Basic, PowerBuilder or FoxPro. The Library Edition was primarily for C/C++ programmers, or those who simply preferred to use DLLs rather than ActiveX controls. Today, things are a bit more complex than that because development suites like Visual Studio and Borland Developer Studio provide multiple languages and target different platforms. SocketTools itself has also grown, adding scripting components for web developers and .NET assemblies which support multiple versions of the .NET Framework.

To make things easier for new customers to decide which edition of SocketTools best meets their needs, we’ve created a Product Wizard that will ask you a few questions and based on that information, recommend the most appropriate product. For example, if you specify that you’re programming in Visual C# on Windows XP and your program is an e-commerce application that needs to submit data to a website, as well as upload and download files then the Product Wizard will recommend the SocketTools Secure .NET Edition. Links are provided for more information about that edition, along with links to specific sections of the online technical reference that are related to the components you’ll be using. The idea was to put specific information about a relevant product all in one place, eliminating the need to search and guess which product would be the best choice. We hope that you find it to be useful, and we welcome any feedback you might have.

We’re pleased to announce that SocketTools 5.0 has been released. The new version includes support for the new Windows Vista operating system, improvements in multithreading and overall performance, better firewall and proxy server support and much more. This new version also includes updated versions of SocketWrench, the File Transfer Control and Internet Mail Control. Continue Reading »

The official release for SocketTools 5.0 has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 21st and developers who have purchased version 4.5 since January 1st will get a free upgrade to the new version. This new version of SocketTools contains a lot of “under the hood” improvements to the core networking code, along with interface changes to make the components even easier to use. Continue Reading »

One of the errors that developers occasionally ask about is the “Handle not owned by the current thread” error; what it actually means and the situations in which it can occur. This doesn’t tend to be an error message that developers using the SocketTools ActiveX controls encounter, and before the .NET Edition was released, it was almost exclusively an issue related to the Library Edition. The reason this error exists, the justification for the threading model that is used and how things are changing in version 5.0 involves a bit of a history and the origins of SocketTools.
Continue Reading »

With the general consumer release of Vista right around the corner, you may be thinking about upgrading your development system. It’s not a difficult process, but there are some things that you need to be aware of, and planning ahead of time can save you from a lot of frustration. Continue Reading »

An issue that frequently comes up when talking about Windows Vista is backwards compatibility and the security changes. The User Account Control system is the most prominent change which everyone will notice when they first start using the operating system. However, there are more significant changes under the surface that affect how programs are written, and what those programs can do. This has some developers asking questions about the future of the platform, and to what extent an operating system should restrict the actions of a user, rather than facilitate them.
Continue Reading »

In Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system, it is common for regular users to run with administrative privileges. In fact, most Windows applications today make the assumption that the user is a member of the Administrators group and therefore has unrestricted access to the entire system. Vista changes this with the User Account Control (UAC) system, which limits access to critical system resources, even when the user has administrative privileges. Whenever you attempt to install an application, copy files in a protected folder, modify the registry or change the system configuration, UAC will block the operation and prompt the user to confirm the action being taken. When UAC is enabled, all applications effectively run with restricted privileges, regardless of the groups the current user is a member of.
Continue Reading »