Winsock Guide

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May 7th, 2004, 05:41 PM
Pino

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Winsock Guide
Ok long time no tutorial and I’ve been looking around and found no Winsock one on this forum! So I was inspired to write one

Ok fundamentals first!

Winsock is a control you can sue to transfer data between computers … simple aye ;) for the purpose of this guide we are o0nly going to use two computers one named Server and one name Client! To start sending messages to each other you must first be connected, this is the general idea….

*Server opens a port and begins to listen
*Client connects to server IP through the same port
*Server accepts connection
*Server and Client are connected and can send data

Ok so you know how it works we will begin some coding

As most if not all Winsock learners create a chat room for their first project… guess what were going to make? Yep you got it a 2-user chat room

SERVER

Ok firstly we will create the server!

We need the following items

1 form
2 text boxes
1 command button
1 label
1 winsock control

Our form is going to be called "frmchat" and the caption set to "Chat (Server)"

To insert the winsock control press ctrl + t then go down and select microsoft winsock control! Apply one to your form and rename it to "winsock"

textbox 1 is going to be our main chat section so this is where we will see all the chat messages the properties are below!

Multiline = true
Name = txtWindow
Scrollbars = vertical
Caption = ""

Our second text box is going to be the box we write in before sending the message to the other user! Properties are below

Multiline = true
Name = txtChatBox
ScrollBars = vertical
Caption = ""

The command button is going to be used to click and send the data to the other users the properties are below!

Name = cmdSend
Caption = "Send"

And finally we have the label which is just basicly to remind you that this is the server so just set its caption propertie to "server"
Screen shot below

(this is how it should look!)
screen shot attached

ok you need to create the exact same thing for the client in a new project just change the words from server to client, and save it we will use the client later

Coding

Ok lets get some coding done :)

Lets satrt with
VB Code:
```
Option explicit ' as all good coders do
```
ok because we are coding the server we need to ‘listen’ for incoming connections so we must start the server by doin this….
VB Code:
```
Private Sub form_Load()
winsock.localport = 15151'open the port on the local machine try to use ports between 3000 and 50000 
winsock.listen ' start listening, simple!
End sub
```
ok so now your server is listening we must hadle ‘connection requests this is when the client trys to connect to us!
VB Code:
```
Private Sub Winscock_ConnectionRequest(byVal RequestID as long)
 
winsock.close 'this resets our socket ready to accept the incoming connection
winscok.accept requestID 'accept the connection!
 
End sub
```
Ok so the connection ahs been handled and we are connected to the client! But what about data arriving? Yep you guessed it the Winsock data arrival sub!
VB Code:
```
Private Sub winsock_DataArrival(byval bytesTotal as long)
 
dim incommingData as string 'this stores the data we receive
 
winsock.getdata incommingData ' this stores the data in the variable we set above
 
' now we will display it in the textbox
 
txtwindow.text = txtwindow.text & vbnewline & incommingdata
txtwindow.selstart = len(txtwindow.text) 'this just positions the text box to focus on the newest piece of information!
End sub
```
the final thing we need for the server is so it can send data back to the client for this we will use the cmdSend_click sub!
VB Code:
```
Private Sub cmdSend_click()
Winsock.senddata txtChatBox.text ' sends the data in the textbox
 
txtwindow.text = txtwindow.text & vbnewline & txtchatbox.text 'displays data
txtwindow.selstart = len(txtmain.text) ' this just positions the text box to focus on the newest piece of information!
Txtchatbox.text = "" ' just empties the text box 
 
End sub
```
And there you have it the server is complete… you could include error handling and more complex stuff (might add additional guides in the future)!

Now we must complete the client! As I said before we will create the client to look exactly the same as the server just change the names around!

This time we must connect to the server!
VB Code:
```
Option Explicit 
 
Private Sub Form_Load() 
 
Winsock.RemoteHost = "127.0.0.1"  ' this is the Ip of the server 127.0.0.1 loops back to your own computer
Winsock.RemotePort = 15151  ' this is the port it must be the same as the server
Winsock.Connect  ' connect!
End Sub
```
after that the dataarrival and sending of data is the same as with the server! But we do have another sub you can use!
VB Code:
```
Public Sub winsock_connect()
 
'this sub tells us that we are coinnected to the server and we can alert the user
 
msgbox " we are connected "
 
end sub
```
This is just the bare minimal you need to set up client/server relationship and you can advance it in many ways, for example I have no form of error handling, you can insert error handling! ! I hope this has helped you!

Feel free to contact me

[email protected]

ps - I may get back with a complete project but i'm kinda really busy at the moment :-/
May 17th, 2004, 05:02 AM
naruponk

Thanks man!

This tutorial is very usefull to me.
:wave: :thumb:

VB Code:

Private Sub cmdSend_click()
Winsock.SendData txtChatBox.Text ' sends the data in the textbox
 
txtWindow.Text = txtWindow.Text & vbNewLine & txtChatBox.Text 'displays data
txtWindow.SelStart = Len( [COLOR=red]txtmain[COLOR] .Text) ' this just positions the text box to focus on the newest piece of information!
txtChatBox.Text = "" ' just empties the text box
 
End Sub

Were it is red it has a compile error

May 19th, 2004, 11:27 PM
naruponk

Hi,

When Client connected to server why i get error "Protocol not a socket" on server side

what i need to replace for RequestID?

thanks

Quote:

Originally posted by InFaMoUsZero=IG

VB Code:

Private Sub cmdSend_click()
Winsock.SendData txtChatBox.Text ' sends the data in the textbox

txtWindow.Text = txtWindow.Text & vbNewLine & txtChatBox.Text 'displays data
txtWindow.SelStart = Len( [COLOR=red]txtmain[COLOR] .Text) ' this just positions the text box to focus on the newest piece of information!
txtChatBox.Text = "" ' just empties the text box

End Sub

Were it is red it has a compile error

what was the error?

May 26th, 2004, 10:08 AM
Pino

Quote:

Originally posted by naruponk
Hi,

When Client connected to server why i get error "Protocol not a socket" on server side

what i need to replace for RequestID?

thanks

did you actually put a winsock control on your form?
May 27th, 2004, 07:29 AM
naruponk

did you actually put a winsock control on your form?
---------------------------------------------------------------

Yes,I did.

Ok, if my winsock get an error how can i assign it to still open
because ussually it will close if winsock's program get any error.

thanks:rolleyes:
May 27th, 2004, 09:01 PM
InFaMoUsZero=IG

it dont matter about what i put down lol i moved on to C++ VB was too easy :P
May 30th, 2004, 03:26 AM
Pino

Quote:

Originally posted by InFaMoUsZero=IG
it dont matter about what i put down lol i moved on to C++ VB was too easy :P

VB is only as easy as you make it! You can make as complicated as you want!
May 31st, 2004, 03:34 PM
vbNeo

Quote:

Originally posted by InFaMoUsZero=IG
it dont matter about what i put down lol i moved on to C++ VB was too easy :P

If you can't even resolve a WS error I wouldn't recommend moving on to C, do you even know how hard malloc() is to use?
Jun 1st, 2004, 05:36 PM
InFaMoUsZero=IG

ok i lied lol i tryed 2 pass myself off as abit of a pro :P but i wanna use C++
Jun 26th, 2004, 12:12 AM
Habibi
Hi,

The
VB Code:
```
txtWindow.SelStart = Len(txtmain.Text)
```
From where does the TxtMain.Text Comes ??
Jun 26th, 2004, 08:19 AM
deranged
When i try to send text, i get this error:

Code:

Run-time error '40006' Wrong protocol or connection state for the requested transaction or request.

at:
VB Code:
```
Winsock.SendData txtchatbox.Text
```
i get that on both client comp and server comp (they are side by side, same network, and yes i got the confirmation msg box, meaning i do have the local ip's right)
Jun 26th, 2004, 04:02 PM
Pino

that error useually means the 2 apps are not connected are you sure there connected?
Jun 27th, 2004, 04:19 AM
Pino

ok due to popular demand i'll get the source code up later on today, i've lost the origional through a reboot, and i'm workign today i'll do my best to get it online tonite

PINO
Jun 27th, 2004, 09:43 PM
naruponk

Thanks Pino,

I just need the simple code that can be used.

Thanks:)