🚀 go-pugleaf

"Lance Robaldo" <RRobaldo@wltsoftware.com> wrote in message
news:43fce21e$1@newsgroups.borland.com...

> If I write a program using TServerSocket to handle incomming
> messages, can other Vendors access my socket using other tools?

Yes.  That is the nice thing about using sockets for communication.  They
are vendor-independant and cross-platform.

> I know I can easily write a client using TClientSocket, but can
> someone using Microsoft VB access my socket and send a message?

Yes.

> Or is the interface created by TServerSocket Borland specific?

The core socket interface is vendor-independant and standardized.  Vendors
can (and some do, like Microsoft) add custom extensions as well.

> My goal is to write an NT service application that just sits there
> waiting for data to process.  When it gets the data, (the "data" is
> actually a big String) it will process it and return the data to the
> client program.

That is perfectly fine.  Sockets work very well for that, especially from an
NT service.

> I'm assuming that TSocketServer is the best way to do this, but I won't
> be writing the client program, another vendor will and I need whatever I
> do to be compatable with them.

It will be.

> This project will probably not be run across the internet.  In
> all likelyhood both programs will reside on the same machine.

In that case, you have additional options available.  Named pipes work
particularly well on NT-based system.  As long as the vendor is targetting
the NT platform, then they can access a pipe that your service runs.

Sockets tend to be more flexible then pipes, though.


Gambit