Catalyst Development

One of the new features in SocketTools 7 will be support for IPv6 networks, in addition to IPv4 that most developers are already familiar with. Although IPv6 has been getting a lot of attention recently, it’s actually been around for quite a while now. Work on the protocol began in the early 1990’s and there have been public IPv6 networks that have existed for over a decade now. However, up to this point it has never gained much traction and IPv4 remains the dominant protocol used over the Internet. This is in the process of changing however, because we’re rapidly approaching the exhaustion of new IPv4 addresses. If you develop software that accesses the Internet, this affects you. Continue Reading »

We’ve been hard at work with the next version of SocketTools and plan for it to be released in the first quarter of 2011. There will be some significant changes in the next release, such as native support for 64-bit platforms and IPv6. We’re doing everything we can to make the transition as seamless as possible for developers who are currently using 6.0, but some coding changes will be required to accommodate those differences. For example, IPv6 addresses have a completely different format than the current IPv4 addresses you’re all familiar with, so any program that allows a user to input an IP address or stores an address needs to be reviewed. However, because of these changes, a lot of developers have been asking about what our plans are to continue to support for version 6.0, after the next version is released. Continue Reading »

One of the questions that we often get about the SocketTools Library Edition is about support for other C/C++ compilers and third-party languages. As a collection of standard dynamic link libraries (DLLs), SocketTools can be used by virtually any programming language available for the Windows platform. The documentation is primarily focused around Visual C++ development because that’s what the majority of developers who use the Library Edition are working with, but it’s by no means limited to just Microsoft’s compilers. As long as your favorite language is capable of calling functions in the Windows API, you can use the SocketTools Library Edition. Continue Reading »

SocketTools includes components for sending e-mail using SMTP, downloading and managing messages using POP3 or IMAP4 and a general purpose MIME component that can be used to parse messages and create new ones. However, one of the problems that developers often face is what to actually do with those messages once they have been sent or received. SocketTools 6.0 introduced a set of extensions to the Mail Message component that makes it easy to store, search and retrieve messages on the local system. Continue Reading »

One of the most popular additions to both SocketWrench and SocketTools has been the Internet Server component. It’s available as an extension to the existing Internet API for C/C++ programmers, an ActiveX control and as a .NET component. While SocketWrench has always included server functionality, we felt that creating a server application was more complex than it should be. With the Internet Server component, we’ve made the development process as simple as possible, removing the need to build the server framework and allowing you to focus on the actual work the server needs to do. Continue Reading »

Microsoft has announced the end of technical support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 on July 13, 2010. This means that after this date, paid support and operating system updates from Microsoft, including security updates, will no longer be available for those platforms. It’s recommended that you upgrade these platforms as soon as possible. For developers using Windows XP, all you need to do is install Service Pack 3 (SP3) to continue receiving updates for the operating system. You can download SP3 through Windows Update, or from the Microsoft Download Center. Continue Reading »

Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2010, which includes a new IDE, new language features and a new version of the .NET Framework. We’ve updated the current versions of our SocketTools .NET family of products to include assemblies that target version 4.0 of the .NET Framework. We also have some additional information about SocketTools compatibility with Visual Studio 2010 on our website. Continue Reading »

SocketTools 6.0 Service Pack 3 (SP3) has been released, with improvements made primarily to the FTP, HTTP and MIME components. This update also includes a change to the SocketWrench component which addresses an issue with how keep-alive packets are generated, and it corrects a general issue with the network debugging library that’s included with SocketTools. This update includes all of the previous updates for the product, and is free to customers who are using version 6.0. For more information about what has changed with this release, please read the release notes.

SocketTools 6.0 Service Pack 2 (SP2) has been released. We’ve improved the functionality of the DNS, FTP, HTTP, IMAP, POP3, MIME, NNTP and SMTP components along with some general improvements in the areas of security (SSL and SSH) and core network performance. This is a complete update of the product, along with the hotfixes that were created since the last service pack was released. It’s a free download to all customers who are using version 6.0. For more information, please review the release notes.

For hobbyist programmers who are interested in learning about Internet programming, we’ve released a free version of our popular SocketWrench ActiveX control. It has the standard features of our commercial product, but does not include support for secure connections or the Internet Server components. We’re offering this to developers as a way to both introduce our components, and help those who want to get started with an easy way to build Internet-enabled applications. Continue Reading »