The Finger protocol is used to return information about a user
on a remote server, as well as general information about the server
itself. The library provides an interface for connecting to a
server, requesting information about a user and returning that
information to the program. The Finger protocol is sometimes used
in conjunction with internal e-mail applications, as well as a
general information tool for corporate intranets. Finger servers
are most commonly found on UNIX based servers, but implementations
are available for the Windows platform as well.
The first step that your application must take is to initialize
the library and then establish a connection. The following
functions are available for use by your application:
FingerInitialize
Initialize the library and load the Windows Sockets library for the
current process. This must be the first function call that the
application makes before calling the other Finger API
functions.
FingerConnect
Connect to the remote host, using either a host name or IP address.
This function returns a client handle which is used in subsequent
calls to the library.
FingerUser
Return information about the specified user. The type and format of
the information returned about a user is determined by the remote
server. Most servers return information such as the date and time
the user was last logged in and if the user has any new mail
waiting. They may also return the contents of one or more files
created by the user which they feel might be of interest to
others.
FingerRead
Read the data returned by the server. This can be stored in memory
or written to a file. Similar to how local file I/O is performed,
your application would typically call this function in a loop until
all of the data has been read or an error occurs.
FingerDisconnect
Disconnect from the server and release the memory allocated for
that client session. After this function is called, the client
handle is no longer valid.
FingerUninitialize
Unload the Windows Sockets library and release any resources that
have been allocated for the current process. This is the last
function call that the application should make prior to
terminating.