The SocketWrench control provides a simplified interface for the
standard Windows Sockets API used to develop Internet and intranet
applications using the TCP/IP protocol. With SocketWrench, you can
create both client and server applications, as well as send and
receive UDP datagrams. SocketWrench also supports secure connections
using the standard Transport Layer
Security (TLS) protocol. Enabling the security features of the
control is done by setting a single property, and all of the data
that is exchanged between your application and the remote host will
be encrypted.
Instead of using complex API calls, virtually all network
functions can be performed by setting the control's properties and
responding to events. For developers who are not familiar with the
details of Internet programming, SocketWrench can also insulate them
from many of the common pitfalls, without sacrificing functionality
or flexibility.
Each instance of the control that you use corresponds to one
socket which may or may not be currently connected to a remote host.
If you need access to multiple sockets, you simply create multiple
instances of the control. This is most commonly needed when your
application acts a server and must be able to handle several
connections at one time.
The SocketWrench control is self-registering and compatible
with any programming language that supports the Component Object
Model (COM) and the ActiveX control specification. If you are using
Visual Basic 6.0, Service Pack 6 (SP6) is required. We recommend
installing all available updates for your development tools. Although
the Visual Basic 6.0 runtime is supported on Windows 11, the IDE
itself is no longer officially supported by Microsoft. Legacy IDEs
and compilers may also require elevated (administrator) privileges
to run properly.
The control is supported on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2,
and later versions of both desktop and server editions of Windows.
For Windows 7, Service Pack 1 (SP1) is the minimum requirement. For
Windows 8 systems, the 8.1 update must be installed. On ARM-based
platforms, the minimum supported version is Windows 10 build 1709.
SocketWrench includes components for both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit
(x64) Windows platforms. All modern versions of Windows are 64-bit,
but we continue to include 32-bit components for compatibility with
legacy development tools such as Visual Basic 6.0. We also provide
native ARM64 ActiveX controls for systems running Windows on ARM. Note
that 32-bit applications on ARM run using x86 emulation, and Microsoft
no longer supports native ARM32 applications.
If you are using VBScript, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), or
another scripting environment on an ARM-based system, be aware that
64-bit hosts will require ARM64 components, while 32-bit hosts will
use x86 components under emulation. This includes applications created
with Visual Basic 6.0. To reduce deployment complexity and avoid
confusion, SocketWrench does not include ARM32 ActiveX controls in its
standard redistribution packages but they are available on request for
legacy or specialized scenarios.
When you distribute an application that uses this control, you can
either install the file in the same folder as your application
executable or as a shared component in the appropriate system folder.
If you install the control in the system folder, it is important that
you distribute the correct version for the target platform and it
must be registered. If you install the control in the same folder as
your executable, it is recommended that you use registration-free
activation or COM redirection to ensure that the correct version of
the control is loaded by the application.