SocketTools Beta 4

[Mike Stefanik]

SocketTools is a collection of Internet classes which allow you to do things like upload and download files, send email messages and retrieve them from your mailbox, retrieve web pages and execute scripts on a web server, and so on. It also includes some utility classes for things like data compression and encoding.

[Steven Picard]

Mike, what will the final price for this be?

I downloaded it and will be playing around with it in my free time.

ETA: I have been trying to access your website but it doesn't seem to be loading.  I'll try again a little later.

[Mike Stefanik]

I can't really say what a final price would be, it'll be something inline with the retail price of Aurora when its released. In other words, it's not going to be a $400 library when the compiler sells for $95 (just pulling numbers out of the air there). When the time comes and it looks like Aurora is getting close to release, I'll also talk with Paul about some ideas. For example, bundling it with the compiler, etc. We'll have to see where things go and what kind of interest there is.

I just checked our website, didn't see any particular problems but I'll give it a kick in the shins nonetheless.

[Steven Picard]

Your web sites loading now.
(It must have been an Internet hiccup or something on my end)

[Shannara]

I really have to bring this back up. Are there any Aurora files included with this (like with the PB counterpart) ?

[Mike Stefanik]

You mean declarations for using the SocketTools API directly? Keep in mind that the Aurora classes are implemented differently than how our Library Edition API works, which is designed for really any programming language that can call functions exported from a DLL. The download here is for a collection of classes in Aurora that completely wrap the API; you can't call the API directly.

It's really apples and oranges to some extent. The idea was to provide a collection of Internet classes based on SocketTools, but bound to the language so that they could only be used with Aurora.

[Shannara]

Oops, thank for the info I already installed ST Library Edition for PB (again), and was looking to do the same for Aurora (again), and hopefully EBasic down the line. Thanks for the reply.

[Mike Stefanik]

I can look into getting you the definitions for the API functions in the SocketTools Library Edition. I think I still have the ones that I did for iBasic way back when, so hopefully they'll be compatible with EBasic.

[Mike Stefanik]

Here's a link to download the iBasic definitions, if you're feeling adventurous:

ftp://ftp.catalyst.com/pub/cstools/support/ibasic.zip

[Shannara]

Thanks for that link. Yeah, I have the library edition, was hoping to use it with Aurora. But thats ok. Is there another beta version for the Aurora classes that have an expiration date farther then 12.31.06? Meanwhile, I'll check out the iBasic info Thanks.

[Mike Stefanik]

I'll make sure an updated version of the SocketTools classes are posted before the package expires at the end of the year.

[Shannara]

Thank you, Mike.

[Rock Ridge Farm (Larry)]

The links are not working

[Mike Stefanik]

I just checked them, they seem to be fine. Anyone else having an issue downloading from our site?

[Shannara]

I have been able to download both links ok.

[seberbach]

Mike:  I tried to download from your link, 8:55 o'clock E.S.T, but received an error message.

I immediately tried again with flashgot method using Firefox, and after a hesitation, downloaded OK, but the sections were very unequal in speed downloading. A  problem exists, but is intermittent.

Steve

[Mike Stefanik]

One thing that we do is limit the maximum number of anonymous download sessions per host address, and overall. So there can be times where we'll fail the operation with an error that the maximum number of anonymous sessions has been exceeded. Unfortunately we frequently get hammered by "special" people and/or bots, so that needs to be there. I can look into increasing that limit and we'll see what happens.

One of the downsides to having a relatively common domain name and site that's been around for a while, we're constantly getting beat on. You should see our security logs, its ridiculous. I can't imagine what running servers at Microsoft or IBM is like. That must be a nightmare for administrators.

Edit: I tweaked the FTP server configuration a bit, so we'll see how that goes. Thanks for testing it, let me know if you run into any other difficulties.

[Mike Stefanik]

In case anyone is interested, I uploaded an updated version. Some internal bug fixes, no changes to the class interfaces themselves.

[Rock Ridge Farm (Larry)]

Is this correct? ftp://ftp.catalyst.com/pub/cstools/beta/cstacl45.exe
I get an error every time I try to go there.

[Mike Stefanik]

That's it. Let me guess. You're using Firefox and getting a 550 or similar error when you click on the link. If that's the case, I'd recommend using a real browser or FTP client.

Edit: You can also download it using HTTP from http://www.catalyst.com/pub/cstools/beta/cstacl45.exe if that works better for you. If you can't get to our website either, then there must be some other issue. Trying doing a traceroute (the "tracert" command from the command prompt) to www.catalyst.com and see what that says.

[Ionic Wind Support Team]

Firefox is a real browser, so is Mozilla which I have used exclusively for many years now.  It doesn't work with Mozilla either which means your server has a misconfiguration somewhere.

One thing I have learned long ago is never assume everyone is using IE, because we aren't    You couldn't pay me to use IE to surf the web.  Before switching to Mozilla exclusively the amount of spyware that would get through IE on my wifes and kids machines was just astronomical.  It got 'old' really fast having to spend days removing and tracking down malicious files.

Better to provide an http link to the file, in a secure directory, then to force people to use a particular peice of software.

Paul.

[Mike Stefanik]

It's a standard FTP server (proftpd) running on Fedora Core. If you can generate any kind of a log and send it to me (PM or whichever), I'd be interested in seeing what it's doing. I dumped Firefox when IE7 came out, but I might have to pull it down just to see what its major malfunction is. It works fine in IE and from the FTP clients I've used. The only complaints I have ever gotten has been from Firefox/Mozilla people.

[Ionic Wind Support Team]

The http link works fine.   In Mozilla the ftp link just reports:

550 /pub/pub/cstools/beta/cstacl45.exe: No such file or directory

Note the two 'pub' references.  Are you using a virtual directory link to the file?

[Mike Stefanik]

Nope, it's right under /var/ftp, no links (hard or symbolic) or virtual servers used. No idea why it would be adding that second /pub there.

[Mike Stefanik]

Give the FTP link a try now and see if it works, just made a change to the server configuration.

I just downloaded Firefox and tested it and didn't have a problem. The extra /pub there got me thinking and I checked the proftpd configuration. It turns out, it was configured to do a default chdir into the /pub directory. Apparently that confuses Firefox/Mozilla, my guess would be because they're prepending the URL with whatever the current working directory is on login. Didn't bother IE or the FTP clients I use, but it sure seems to make FF twitchy.

In any case, thanks for pointing out the problem with those who have not yet yielded to our glorious overlords from Redmond.