Copyright: Copyright © Mathias Schiffer 1997, 1998


Order form
msDNS 1.0

Sourcecode order form

Please print this form and send it to: M. Schiffer, Mattscho-Moll-Weg 26, D - 52064 Aachen, Germany

You may also e-mail appropriate information to: Schiffer@comports.com

If you're anxious to send creditcard-information by e-mail, please ask for our fax-number.

* = Neccessary, O = Please check appropriate

    * Name:	_____________________________________

Company:	_____________________________________

* Address:	_____________________________________

 * ZIP, City:	_____________________________________

  * Country:	_____________________________________

       E-mail:	_____________________________________

       Phone:	_____________________________________

I'd like to order the sourcecode for the msDNS control for 50 US$.

Please send me the sourcecode for Visual Basic 5.0

O  as a binary attachment to my above e-mail address

O on a 3.5"-floppy disk (1.44 MB) to my above address (additional 5 US$)

I'd like to pay the registration fee

O  with my creditcard no. _____________________________, expires: ____/____

O  American Express    O  EUROCARD /  MASTERCARD    O  VISA

O cash

 Please find the sum attached in my envelope.

O Überweisung/Scheck (Germany only):

Ich habe einen entsprechenden Betrag (nach Tageskurs, min. 35 DM / 18 Euro) auf Ihr Konto überwiesen oder einen Verrechnungsscheck beigelegt.

Bankverbindung: M. Schiffer, Konto 20 024 105 bei Sparkasse Aachen (BLZ 390 500 00)

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Ordering sourcecode
msDNS

Ordering the sourcecode

While the msDNS control is freeware, sourcecode for the control is not. You may want to use the sourcecode for your projects, as it reduces your distributions' size to do so. Furthermore, you won't have to worry about installation problems. You might also want some different functionality not yet included in the control - sourcecode should be your choice then.

You can order the sourcecode for msDNS (written in Visual Basic 5.0) for 50 US$ (e-mail delivery). For postal delivery on a 3.5"-floppy diskette (1.44 MB), a service fee of 5 US$ is added.

You may pay the sourcecode

 by creditcard (American Express, EUROCARD or MASTERCARD, VISA)

 or cash (by sending the sum via postal mail to the address given on the order form)

 your local currency is accepted when sending cash

 german users only: Sie können eine dem Betrag entsprechende Überweisung / Verrechnungsscheck zur Zahlung nutzen.

For details and to order, please see the order form now.


Freeware
msDNS

FREEWARE

This version of msDNS is freeware, but it has not been placed in the public domain (sourcecode for the control is not included). Enjoy.

If you're interested in the control's sourcecode, you can however order the sourcecode for 50 US$. Please see the sourcecode order information for closer details.


Event: SocketError

Description:	Fires after a reply from the DNS server has been received.

Syntax:	Private Sub DNS1_SocketError(ByVal Number As Integer, ByVal Description As String)

Setting:	Number returns an error number for identification in your code. If you want to bypass the information to the user, an error description is held in Description.

See also:	Status


Event: Ready

Description:	Fires after a reply from the DNS server has been received.

Syntax:	Private Sub DNS1_Ready(ByVal Status As Integer)

Setting:	The possible values for Status-parameter are:

dnsReady = 0	Query was successful and returned information.

dnsNotFound = 1	Query was successful but did not return information.

dnsError = 2	Query produced an error.

See also:	Status


Property: LocalHostName

Description:	Returns the hostname for the local machine. Read-only.

Usage:	DNS1.LocalHostName

Data Type:	String

Remarks:	If you need your local machine's IP address, just pass this property's string to the HostName-property.

See also:	HostName


Property: Status

Description:	Returns the last query's status. Read-only.

Usage:	DNS1.Status

Setting:	The settings for the Status-property are:

dnsReady = 0	Last query was successful and returned information.

dnsNotFound = 1	Last query was successful but did not return information.

dnsError = 2	Last query produced an error.

Data Type:	Integer

See also:	Ready


Property: HostName

Description:	Sets or returns a hostname ("friendly name").

When read, contains the hostname for the host specified by the HostIP -property.

When set, immediately invokes a DNS query for the HostIP-property. Your program's execution is halted until a result has been received in which case the Ready-event fires, providing you with query result status information.

Usage:	DNS1.HostName [=FriendlyName]

Where FriendlyName address is a string containing a hostname, for example "www.microsoft.com".

Data Type:	String

See also:	HostIP , Ready


Property: HostIP

Description:	Sets or returns an IP address.

When read, contains the IP address for the host specified by the HostName-property.

When set, immediately invokes a DNS query for the HostName property. Your program's execution is halted until a result has been received in which case the Ready -event fires, providing you with query result status information.

Usage:	DNS1.HostIP [=IP address]

Where IP address is a string containing a valid IP address.

Examples for valid IP addresses:

"123.456.7.8"

"123.456.777.888"

"123.456.007.008"

...you get the idea.

Data Type:	String

See also:	HostName , Ready


Reference
msDNS

Reference

Properties

HostIP

HostName

LocalHostName

Status

Events

Ready

SocketError


Introduction
msDNS

Introduction

What is msDNS?

msDNS gives you the "friendly" hostname or an IP-address (depending on which of the two is missing) for a TCP/IP-networked computer by querying your DNS server. It does however use synchronous calls (subject to change), meaning it will stop your program from execution for as long as msDNS tries to get a reply from the DNS server.

Quick tour

Simply put the control on a form and either set its HostName-property to a friendly name (like www.microsoft.com) or set its HostIP-property to a given IP address. As soon as you have set one of these properties, msDNS immediately tries to connect to your DNS-server to query the value for the missing property. Your program gets halted from execution until a reply has been received. The evnts SocketError and Ready inform you about the query's result. The last result is always readable from the control's status-property.

Additionally, the LocalHostName-property informs you about your computer's "friendly" hostname. If you need you IP address, just pass it to the control's HostName-property.


System requirements
msDNS

System requirements

You can use msDNS with any programming language or other product (e.g. Microsoft Visual Basic, ActiveX-supporting WebBrowsers (should be interesting in this case), Microsoft Access 97, Borland Delphi, ...) that supports usage of OCX-controls. However, the runtime-library for Microsoft Visual Basic 5 (SP2 or above) is required for the control to work.

This runtime-library (MSVBVM50.DLL) is quite large, it has therefore not been added to this archive (among others, it is included with Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and above). If you don't have a copy of the runtime-library yet, you can download it from many places on the internet; for example from http://www.winsite.com or http://www.simtelnet.com which both have mirrors all over the world.

You might want to try "FTP-Search" to find a download-location close to your geographical location: http://ftpsearch.ntnu.no/ftpsearch. Search for "msvbvm50.zip" (or "msvbvm50.cab" if you prefer cabinet-archives). Take care to get an SP2-version (or later).


The Windows Registry
msDNS

The Windows Registry

An OCX-control must always be registered with the Microsoft Windows Registry before you can use it.

A setup for this control has not been included because it would have enlarged the archive too much. You will need to register the control manually to view the product sample. You will probably not need to register it manually if you first load it in your development environment (IDE) because most IDEs automatically register a control when it is used in the IDE for the first time.

To register the control with the Windows Registry (this must also be done by the setup-program you use to distibute your application using the control - installation-wizards usually do this for you) just execute this commandline:

regsvr32.exe [path]\msDNS.ocx

Where [path] is the directory where the file msimouse.ocx is located (the system-subdirectory of your Windows-directory is recommended, in that case [path] can be left out as well as for the case that the location of msDNS.ocx is in the path-environment or in the Windows-directory).

Example: If the file msDNS.ocx is located in C:\MYCONTROLS\, the call would be

regsvr32.exe c:\mycontrols\msDNS.ocx

If you experience any problems first try unregistering the control and then registering it again (as described above): To unregister the control simply use:

regsvr32.exe -u [path]\msDNS.ocx

You can use "Start", "Run..." in Windows' Explorer to type in the above commands. You can also simply "drag" the file msDNS.ocx in the Windows Explorer over the file regsvr32.exe to register the control (unregistering however does not work this way).


Contact and Disclaimer
msDNS

Contact, Disclaimer

msDNS is a member of the

Visit the family on the internet:

http://www.comports.com/Schiffer

If you have any questions not covered in this helpfile, have suggestions for future versions or new controls, don't hesitate to contact the author (if you have a problem, please include information about your development environment, your operationg system, the version of this control and details about your hardware as much as a close description of your problem - do not send files unless requested):

Mathias Schiffer

Mattschoe-Moll-Weg 26

D - 52064 Aachen

Germany

E-Mail: Schiffer@comports.com

Disclaimer

All software included in this package - including its documentation - is copyrighted material that you may not modify in any way. You have the right and are encouraged to distribute the whole freeware-package in an unaltered state to anyone - that includes CD-ROMs, DVDs, disks, uploads to public servers and mailboxes, offering it on your homepage and whatever comes to your mind. If you distribute the software, a small notice to the author would be nice.

If you want to charge anything for the distribution do take measurements to ensure the user knows he does not pay for the control but for your distribution.

The material is provided "as is" and there are no warranties, neither expressively nor implicitely. Usage is all at your own risk. The author cannot be held liable for any harmful effects that arise using this software.

You are encouraged to mail the author to receive the latest version if you want to distribute it in any way. Although this is not a must, it is strongly recommended. You'll probably not want to distribute some outdated stuff - right?

(All trademarks, product names and whatever mentioned within this software are properties of their respective owners; especially Visual Basic and the IntelliMouse are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.)


webDNS Web Application

The webDNS web application is an OCX basing on msDNS. You can use it to offer a DNS lookup service on your Homepage for visitors using an ActiveX supporting browser. Usage is free.

webDNS, in short, offers these special properties, methods and events that enable you to even implement it in webscripting:

Special properties:

BackColor	Application's back color (applies to all intrinstic controls)

ForeColor	Application's forground color (applies to all instrinsic controls)

Language	0=English, 1=German

SetHostName	Used to set a hostname (for scriping or as an initial value)

See "SetIP-Notice"

SetIP	Used to set an IP address (for scriping or as an initial value)

Notice: Do not use more than one of the properties "SetHostName" and "SetIP" at once. If you do so, both queries will immediately get started (one after the other)

Special event:

DNSReply	Syntax: Private webDNS_DNSReply(ByVal Status As Integer, ByVal IP As String, ByVal HostName As String)

The parameters should be self-explanatory; the Status-parameter  is the same as for msDNS's Status -property. (for scriping)

Special method:

QueryDNS	Starts a DNS query (for scriping)


msIntelliMouse Helpfile
msDNS 1.0

Copyright © Mathias Schiffer 1998

FREEWARE

msDNS is a 32bit ActiveX-control (OCX) for usage with any programming language capable of using OCX-extensions (especially but not limited to Microsoft Visual Basic).

It has been designed to get a hostname associated with an IP and vice versa.

Help topics

 The Windows Registry

 System requirements

 Introduction

 Reference

 webDNS WebApplication

 Freeware

- Ordering the sourcecode

- Sourcecode order form

 Contact, Disclaimer

msDNS is a member of the "Invisible Toolz Family". Visit the family on the internet: http://www.comports.com/Schiffer