Product Reviews
Review: IP*Works! V5 VB Edition
IP controls that you can drop into your projects.
IP*Works! is designed to provide you with implementations of all the
major Internet protocols that you're likely to need. This includes old
favorites like finger, ping, and whois; more complex protocols including
IMAP, SNMP, and LDAP; and even generic TCP/IP and UDP clients and servers.
This version even includes a SAX2-compliant XML parser and a SOAP client,
so you can build applications that play with new stuff. In all, there
are 34 components here, covering the full range of protocols.
/n doesn't charge a runtime royalty; buy these components once, and you're
ready to go. The VB Edition includes a license for the Scripting Edition
as well, providing you with scriptable copies of the components for situations
where you don't need events. The components use asynchronous sockets and
are independent of other libraries.
A big bonus is the printed manual that lists all methods, properties,
and events of each control -- very useful when you're just trying to figure
out which bits to use for what. The ones that I tested did their job with
no noticeable impact on my development machine. The only complaint I have
is that the sample code is even rougher in places than I would expect
for a demo; some won't even compile out of the box. But fortunately it's
easy to figure out the fixes, and then to strike off using the controls
on your own. In addition to the VB Edition, /n also sells versions of
the controls designed for ASP pages, C++, Delphi, Java, Kylix, and even
C++ on Linux, among others.
About the Author
Mike Gunderloy, MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, is a former MCP columnist and the author of numerous development books.