SocketTools Features

The SocketTools scripting components are designed to be used with scripting languages such as VBScript and JScript, as well as traditional programming languages such as Visual Basic, Visual C++ and Visual C#.NET. The components in the Scripting Edition can be used in Active Server Pages (ASP) on the server side, dynamic HTML pages on the client side and with the Windows Scripting Host, as well as with traditional Windows applications. Virtually any programming language which is capable of using COM objects can take advantage of the SocketTools Scripting Edition.

Features of the SocketTools Scripting Edition include:

  • The scripting components provide a simple interface that is easy to use and understand. There are no complicated function calls, and most methods support optional arguments that only need to be specified if required by the application. Most complex operations can be performed with only a few lines of code.
  • There are no external dependencies on third party libraries and each component is completely self-contained. We do not require that you redistribute large shared libraries like the Microsoft Foundation Classes or Visual C++ runtime libraries. Not only does this make redistribution of your software easier, it can reduce the overall footprint for applications which do not need to use these libraries themselves.
  • The components provide broad-based compatibility with a variety of scripting languages, such as VBScript and JScript, as well as traditional programming languages such as Visual Basic and Visual C++. Methods and events are designed to use variant data types to ensure a high degree of compatibility with all development tools.
  • The scripting components use a threading model which is ideal for host environments like Active Service Pages (ASP) on Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS). Typical ActiveX controls use the "Apartment" threading model which can lock the session down to a single thread and have a negative impact on overall performance. The Scripting Edition components use the "Both" threading model which does not incur this kind of performance penalty.
  • A comprehensive design which supports both high-level operations as well as lower-level methods at the protocol level. For example, the File Transfer Protocol component has methods such as PutFile and GetFile which allow an application to easily upload and download files in a single method call. It also includes lower-level methods like OpenFile to open a file on the remote server and access it in a fashion similar to traditional file I/O operations.
  • Support for event notification if the scripting language provides that capability. The scripting components are designed to work synchronously, without requiring the implementation of event handling routines. This allows developers to easily write programs using a procedural programming style without the inherent complexity of an event-driven model. However, if the programming language or scripting host supports event handling, then the components do provide event notifications which can be used by the program to update the user interface, modify a form object or perform some other function.
  • The Secure Scripting Edition enables applications to take advantage of complex security features, such as support for the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) standards and 128-bit encryption without requiring any knowledge of data encryption or certificate validation. The components use the Windows CryptoAPI to provide security services, which means that there are no third-party security libraries that must be installed by your users. Taking advantage of the security features in the SocketTools Secure Scripting Edition is as simple as setting a few properties before connecting to the server. The protocol negotiation, data encryption and decryption is handled transparently by the component. From the perspective of the application developer, it is just as if it were a standard connection to the server.

The SocketTools Scripting Edition includes everything professional software developers need to create complex scripts and applications that take advantage of the standard Internet protocols. This enables developers to focus on their core application technology rather than the details of how a particular protocol is implemented or understanding the specifics of Windows Sockets programming.


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