InetAsyncConnectEx Function  
 
SOCKET WINAPI InetAsyncConnectEx(
  LPCTSTR lpszHostName,  
  UINT nPort,  
  UINT nProtocol,  
  UINT nTimeout,  
  DWORD dwOptions,  
  LPCTSTR lpszLocalAddress,  
  UINT nLocalPort,  
  LPSECURITYCREDENTIALS lpCredentials,  
  HWND hEventWnd,  
  UINT uEventMsg  
);

The InetAsyncConnectEx function is used to establish a connection with a server.

This function has been deprecated and may be unavailable in future releases. It was designed for use in legacy single-threaded applications and requires the application to have a message pump to process event messages. It should not be used with applications which are designed to execute as a service or those which do not have a graphical user interface.

The application should create a background worker thread and establish a connection by calling InetConnectEx within that thread. If the application requires multiple simultaneous connections, it is recommended you create a worker thread for each connection.

Parameters

lpszHostName
A pointer to the name of the server to connect to; this may be a fully-qualified domain name or an IP address.
nPort
The port number the server is listening on; a value of zero specifies that the default port number should be used.
nProtocol
The protocol to be used when establishing the connection. This may be one of the following values:
Value Description
INET_PROTOCOL_TCP Specifies the Transmission Control Protocol. This protocol provides a reliable, bi-directional byte stream. This is the default protocol.
INET_PROTOCOL_UDP Specifies the User Datagram Protocol. This protocol is message oriented, sending data in discrete packets. Note that UDP is unreliable in that there is no way for the sender to know that the receiver has actually received the datagram.
nTimeout
The number of seconds to wait for a response before failing the current operation.
dwOptions
An unsigned integer used to specify one or more socket options. The following values are recognized:
Value Description
INET_OPTION_BROADCAST This option specifies that broadcasting should be enabled for datagrams. This option is invalid for stream sockets.
INET_OPTION_DONTROUTE This option specifies default routing should not be used. This option should not be specified unless absolutely necessary.
INET_OPTION_KEEPALIVE This option specifies that packets are to be sent to the remote system when no data is being exchanged to keep the connection active. This is only valid for stream sockets.
INET_OPTION_NODELAY This option disables the Nagle algorithm. By default, small amounts of data written to the socket are buffered, increasing efficiency and reducing network congestion. However, this buffering can negatively impact the responsiveness of certain applications. This option disables this buffering and immediately sends data packets as they are written to the socket.
INET_OPTION_RESERVEDPORT This option specifies the socket should be bound to an unused port number less than 1024, which is typically reserved for well-known system services. If this option is specified, the process may require administrative privileges.
INET_OPTION_NOINHERIT This option prevents the socket handle from being inherited by child processes created by the application. Using this option can mitigate situations in which a child process does not close the handle, leaving it open after the parent process has disconnected from the server.
INET_OPTION_TRUSTEDSITE This option specifies the server is trusted. The server certificate will not be validated and the connection will always be permitted. This option only affects connections using either the TLS protocol.
INET_OPTION_SECURE This option specifies that a secure connection should be established with the remote host. The specific version of TLS and other security related options are provided in the lpCredentials parameter. If the lpCredentials parameter is NULL, the connection will default to using TLS 1.2 and the strongest cipher suites available. Older versions of Windows prior to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 only support TLS 1.0 and secure connections will automatically downgrade on those platforms.
INET_OPTION_SECURE_FALLBACK This option specifies the client should permit the use of less secure cipher suites for compatibility with legacy servers. If this option is specified, the client will allow connections using TLS 1.0 and cipher suites that use RC4, MD5 and SHA1.
INET_OPTION_PREFER_IPV6 This option specifies the client should prefer the use of IPv6 if the server hostname can be resolved to both an IPv6 and IPv4 address. This option is ignored if the local system does not have IPv6 enabled, or when the hostname can only be resolved to an IPv4 address. If the server hostname can only be resolved to an IPv6 address, the client will attempt to establish a connection using IPv6 regardless if this option has been specified.
INET_OPTION_FREETHREAD This option specifies the socket returned by this function may be used by any thread, and is not limited to the thread which created it. The application is responsible for ensuring that access to the socket is synchronized across multiple threads.
lpszLocalAddress
A pointer to a string that specifies the local IP address that the socket should be bound to. If this parameter is NULL, then an appropriate address will automatically be used. A specific address should only be used if it is required by the application.
nLocalPort
The local port number that the socket should be bound to. If this parameter is set to zero, then an appropriate port number will automatically be used. A specific port number should only be used if it is required by the application.
lpCredentials
A pointer to a SECURITYCREDENTIALS structure. This parameter is only used if INET_OPTION_SECURE is specified for a TCP connection. This parameter may be NULL, in which case no client credentials will be provided to the server. If client credentials are required, the fields dwSize, lpszCertStore, and lpszCertName must be defined, while other fields may be left undefined. Set dwSize to the size of the SECURITYCREDENTIALS structure.
hEventWnd
The handle to the event notification window. This window receives messages which notify the application of various asynchronous socket events that occur.
uEventMsg
The message identifier that is used when an asynchronous socket event occurs. This value should be greater than WM_USER as defined in the Windows header files.

Return Value

If the function succeeds, the return value is a handle to the socket. If the function fails, the return value is INVALID_SOCKET. To get extended error information, call InetGetLastError.

Remarks

When a message is posted to the notification window, the low word of the lParam parameter contains the event identifier. The high word of lParam contains the low word of the error code, if an error has occurred. The wParam parameter contains the socket handle. One or more of the following event identifiers may be sent:

Value Description
INET_EVENT_CONNECT The connection to the remote host has completed. The high word of the lParam parameter should be checked, since this notification message will be posted if an error has occurred.
INET_EVENT_DISCONNECT The remote host has closed the connection. The process should read any remaining data and disconnect.
INET_EVENT_READ Data is available to read by the calling process. No additional messages will be posted until the process has read at least some of the data from the socket. This event is only generated if the socket is in asynchronous mode.
INET_EVENT_WRITE The process can now write data. This notification is sent after a connection has been established, or after a previous attempt to write data has failed because it would result in a blocking operation. This event is only generated if the socket is in asynchronous mode.

The dwOptions argument can be used to specify the threading model that is used by the library when a connection is established. By default, the handle is initially attached to the thread that created it. From that point on, until the it is released, only the owner may call functions using that handle. The ownership of the handle may be transferred from one thread to another using the InetAttachThread function.

Specifying the INET_OPTION_FREETHREAD option enables any thread to call any function using the socket handle, regardless of which thread created it. It is important to note that this option disables certain internal safety checks which are performed by the library and may result in unexpected behavior unless access to the socket is synchronized. If one thread calls a function in the library, it must ensure that no other thread will call another function at the same time using the same socket handle.

Requirements

Minimum Desktop Platform: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
Minimum Server Platform: Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
Header File: cswsock11.h
Import Library: cswskv11.lib
Unicode: Implemented as Unicode and ANSI versions

See Also

InetAsyncConnect, InetConnect, InetDisableEvents, InetDisconnect, InetEnableEvents, InetInitialize