Visual Basic 6.0 Internet Programming [With Includes Plug-In Visual Basic Components, Browsers]

I always heard alot about Winsock programming but never got the big picture until I read Gary Frankin's book. If I wanted to write Winsock applications from scratch, and had a lot of time to work on it, I might trying writing them using Windows API's... But, I don't want to make a career out of Winsock programming. My primary goal was to have two computers communicate over a facilities Ethernet network. This book showed me how to do that. I can even do it over the Internet now. I think that's great stuff.So, yes, Gary does teach the use of a third party ocx: dsSocket TCP/IP Custom Control by Dolphin Systems at a cost of $99 http://www.dolphinsys.com/dssocket.htm . But there are others equally expensive: Socket/x by Mabry Software at a cost of $179. https://www.mabry.com/socketx/index.htm . As a programmer, if using a third party ocx saves me 3 hours of programming time, it's worth it... And, these ocx's will save you more time than that.This book isn't about ASP & website programming like so many others are, here you'll learn how to get computers to communicate on networks. I recommend this book if this is what you are looking for...

You can skim this book and raid the CD-ROM for quick solutions, or you can dive deeply into it for real understanding and insight. This book de-mystifies the internet, and puts powerful knowledge and tools at your finger tips. If there is a better internet programming resource out there, I haven't seen it.

Coming from an AS400 world, I've used most of the examples and applied them to AS400 TCP/IP server applications - FTP, POP3, and sockets stuff to name a few. Even though the book does talk about the dsSock control, it looks very familar to the winsock control and I was able to relate to it. Also, great section on ASP for dynamic web pages. The tons and tons of sample code throughout the book helped me out tremendously. Well done Carl.

What is the most annoying thing? Buying a book and finding out it is over your head or filled with simple procedures you learned back in VB 101. Not here.... take a look....Carl wrote an excellent teaching aid while learning VB6 w/ the internet. I am disturbed by the previous critiques, Carl not only offered a 3rd Party Socket control for those who wanted a quicker solution without getting dirty in the nitty gritty, but he also went above and beyond covering my favorite WinSOCK. In fact, he provides a FULL library of utilities, most common errors you will receive and the RFC's. SMTP, POP3, NNTP, it's all here! If you are even considering creating your own email program and don't have a clue as to what I've mentioned, START HERE.The examples and FULL SOURCE code he supplies was documented and written WELL. He did not skimp on comments within the source code which you can easily modify and compile into your own .DLL, thus including it your application.This book has saved MONEY if you consider what books cost. The book may look thin, but it offers more information on books twice it's size. There is no....try this or try that....it's....this is how you do it... a relaxing and refreshing approach.Looking for sending/receiving email? Even a newsreader? How about FTP? If this doesn't entice you, take another step, because Carl teaches you how to send/receive arrays via the internet! Create that client/server program for your company, easily!!!Before I end this..... after having a problem unrelated to his actual code, I took a stab and emailed Carl asking him a question. Within five minutes, he replied, with suggestions AND another utility!Thank you Carl! I will be purchasing your next book, and eagerly add it to my collection!

Carl Franklin, the VB word's Internet guru has released his newly revised book on the Internet titled Visual Basic 6.0 Internet Programming. Carl, has been using and writing about Internet programming before most programmers even knew what it was. He speaks on it at VBITS, writes articles about it in the Visual Basic Programmers Journal and even has written the coolest Internet based training program around, called WorldTrain. So this book is the sum of his many years programming with Visual Basic for the Internet.This book is great because you can sit down and read it from cover to cover and learn a ton of information on the Internet. It can also be used as a reference while you are programming. The appendices contain full listings of the protocols that Carl writes about. The book is also really easy reading. If you are just getting into Internet programming, it's very easy to follow. Carl makes it all very easy to understand without letting it get bogged down with so much technical stuff that might just end up being confusing.The book is also packed full of sample code to get your projects up and running very quickly. He even wraps much of the code into Classes that you can just load into your project and go to town!The book starts off by explaining just what all these Internet buzz words are. Like TCP/IP, Ports, Name Resolution and Sockets. It's been a while since I have done Internet programming, so this was a nice refresher for me.He then starts explaining Winsock and what it means to us. This is the core of what we use to communicate with the Internet. For most of the book, Carl uses Dolphin Systems' dsSocket ActiveX control to provide a layer between VB and the Winsock API. Even though this is a third-party control, it's much easier to use than going straight to the API. I have been using this control as long as Carl has and I have never found a problem with it. If Carl had to teach you how to program straight to the Winsock API, the book would have been three times as thick and just as much more difficult to understand. There is a Microsoft Winsock control also, but he does not recommend using it.The book then teaches you about all you can do on the Internet in a chapter by chapter method. It starts off talking about NTP (Network Time Protocol), WHOIS and Finger. The next chapter dives into USENET news services and it's related protocols. Here, you learn how to connect to NNTP servers to read and post articles.Chapter 5 delves into Electronic Mail. Carl explains and shows how to send and receive mail and files using the SMTP and POP3 protocols. By the end of this chapter, you will know how to retrieve and send mail from mail servers. It's not as hard as you might think. It even shows you how to UU encode and decode files (you can't send binary files directly with mail).The next chapter shows you how to FTP files to and from servers. The next chapter is on the World Wide Web. Here Carl shows you how t