The SocketTools .NET Edition is a collection of managed code classes that simplify the task of developing TCP/IP networking applications in Visual Studio .NET using any of the available programming languages such as Visual Basic and C#. The Visual Edition is ideal for the developer who requires the flexibility, ease of use and rapid development features of a component without the complexities of working with the native socket class or in-depth knowledge of how the various Internet protocols are implemented. The SocketTools .NET  Edition consists of fourteen core networking components which can be used to develop applications that meet a wide range of needs. SocketTools covers it all, including uploading and downloading files, sending and retrieving email, remote command execution, terminal emulation, and much more.

The SocketTools Secure .NET Edition also includes support for the industry standard Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Transport Security Layer (TLS) and Secure Shell (SSH) protocols which are used to ensure that data exchanged between the local system and a remote host is secure and encrypted. The Secure Edition includes implementations for the major secure protocols such as HTTPS, FTPS, SFTP, SMTPS, POP3S, IMAPS and more. Your data is protected by industrial strength 128-bit encryption, with full support for client certificates. Using the popular SocketWrench control that is part of SocketTools, you can also write your own, custom secure server applications. Because the security functionality is built-in to each of the SocketTools class libraries, there's no need to use additional security classes, understand the details of certificate management, data encryption or how the security protocols work. Just set a few properties, and the SocketTools classes take care of the rest.

For developers who have used the ActiveX version of SocketTools, you'll immediately find yourself in familiar territory. The SocketTools .NET class interface has properties, methods and events that are very similar to the control that you've used in languages like Visual Basic 6.0. It is important to keep in mind that SocketTools .NET is a managed code class, not a wrapper around the ActiveX control, so there will be some inherent differences. However, whenever possible the class interface was designed to make the transition from the ActiveX control as easy as possible.

The following are just some of the features in the SocketTools 6.0 .NET Edition:

• Managed code class written in C# that can be used with any .NET  language
• An interface that is very similar to the components in the SocketTools Visual Edition
• Fully compatible with the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems
• Fully compatible with Visual Studio .NET 2003, Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008
• Low resource utilization and no external dependencies on third-party libraries
• An interface design that greatly simplifies the development of networking applications
• Support for both synchronous and asynchronous network connections
• Easily create both secure client and server applications
• Thread-safe implementation with full support for multithreaded applications
• 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 10 years of experience developing Internet components

In addition, the SocketTools 6.0 Secure .NET Edition offers:

• Support for the standard SSL and TLS security protocols with 128-bit encryption
• Support for the SSH protocol and integrated support for SFTP as part of the FTP class
• Enhanced features specific to the Vista platform, such as support for AES encryption
• The ability to 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 external, third party security libraries

Developer's Guide

To help you get started using SocketTools, the Developer's Guide covers a variety of programming topics related to SocketTools, as well an overview of each of the controls included in the product. Even if you have experience working with previous versions of SocketTools, we recommend that you review the Developer's Guide. If you are using a language other than Visual Basic, you'll also find some very helpful information about how to make the most of SocketTools in other programming languages such as Visual C#.NET and Visual C++.

Technical Reference

The Technical Reference provides extensive documentation on all of the functions in each of the SocketTools controls. It's here that you'll find information on the various properties, methods and events provided by the component. If it is your first time using a particular class, we recommend that you first read the overview of that class  in the Developer's Guide.

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