VB6 - Wireless Network API Exposed

[Doogle]

I've been doing some work with the WLAN API and thought that some may be interested. It's not complete yet but there's enough to get anyone interested in 'playing' a reasonable start.

The attached is a small project which will display the attributes of all available Wireless Networks to the Immediate Window and populate a ComboBox with the Available Networks Profile Names. Click on 'Show Wireless Networks' to start.

Clicking on a Profile Name will disconnect from the current network and attempt to connect to that network (Note that I have only tested this part on an unsecured network - feedback on other types of networks would be appreciated). Clicking on the 'Disconnect' button will disconnect from the currently connected network.

The WLAN_NOTIFICATION_CALLBACK routine is used to show the various stages involved in Connection and Disconnection, which are also displayed to the Immediate Window.

A word of warning, when running from the IDE make sure you exit via the 'Exit' button. This ensures that the Notification process is terminated in a proper fashion. If you don't do that, then you'll find that the IDE crashes within 1 minute.

Microsoft Documentation is here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...(v=VS.85).aspx

This is only applicable to XP SP2 and above (XP SP2 users can download the API from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...displaylang=en)

Feedback appreciated

[whatsup]

i need this, and hope to make something usefull of it
i'll test it, and report sometime later
thanks.

[whatsup]

i just tried it on vista and got a crash.
i run it outside the ide, (i don't have vb6 on vista)
the crash was from the vb6vm.dll (something like this)

but thank you anyway, i can test this with the sdk link you gave

[coolcurrent4u]

hello, do you have any code for bluetooth, or will this one work

[Doogle]

I don't have any Bluetooth capability so haven't played with it. There is a Bluetooth API set. Details here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms834669.aspx

[coolcurrent4u]

it lloks as if there is no support for bluetooth api for windows generally, but Windows CE. I heard that bluetooth device can be used by using mscomm, but don't know the specific command on how to use it

[npac4o]

Hi,

I had a question but I have found a solution. Instead of deleting the post, I will post the code, somebody could find it useful:


In the declaration section of Doogle code:

Private Type WLAN_BSS_ENTRY

    dot11Ssid As DOT11_SSID
    phyId As Long
    dot11Bssid(5) As Byte
    dot11BssType As DOT11_BSS_TYPE
    dot11BssPhyType As DOT11_PHY_TYPE
    rssi As Long
    LinkQuality As Long
    inRegDomain As Boolean
    BeaconPeriod As Long
    timestamp As Currency
    hostTimestamp As Currency
    CapabilityInformation As Long
    chCenterFrequency As Long
    WlanRateSet As Long
    ieOffset As Long
    ieSize As Long

End Type

Private Declare Function WlanGetNetworkBssList _
                Lib "wlanapi.dll" (ByVal hClientHandle As Long, _
                                   pInterfaceGui As GUID, _
                                   ByVal pDot11Ssid As Long, _
                                   ByVal dot11BssType As Long, _
                                   ByVal bSecurityEnabled As Long, _
                                   ByVal pReserved As Long, _
                                   ppWlanBssList As Long) As Long

And this is when enumerating networks:

 
Dim lBSS As Long
lngReturn = WlanGetNetworkBssList(lngHandle, udtList.InterfaceInfo.ifGuid, 0&, DOT11_BSS_TYPE.DOT11_BSS_TYPE_ANY, False, 0&, lBSS)
CopyMemory udtBSS, ByVal lBSS, LenB(udtBSS)

This is how can get additional wireless network information, like channel, transfer rates, rssi, and etc. More info @Microsoft

Thanks.

[couttsj]

With a little rearranging I got this program to work. Does anyone know why it does not show 5.0 GHz networks?

J.A. Coutts

[couttsj]

With a little rearranging I got this program to work. Does anyone know why it does not show 5.0 GHz networks?

J.A. Coutts

It appears to be related to either the Adapter or the OS, as a Win 10 machine showed the 5.0 GHz networks before it crashed. When I checked the Network availability provided by MS on the Win 8.1 machine, the 5.0 GHz also did not show up.

J.A. Coutts