Can this be done with VB6

[Ivar]

Hi All.

This seems easy to do if I download the free apps, but can it be done using
intrinsic VB6 and API.
Please bear in mind very little (as in none) experience with internet Stuff.

I want a VB6 app to upload a small text file to the internet (Where? I don't
know)
Then I want another VB6 app on a different PC to check for the existence of
the file and download it if it exists.
I don't want to bring up internet explorer or whatever.

So the first question is - Where does the file go? How can I use VB6 to
upload it?
I have no web site, and I am clueless about how to do one.
Can it go on the cloud? (clueless about that as well)
Then it's how does the second app check for the file and download it?

I'm Hoping someone somewhere can at least point me in the right direction.
Sample code would be great :-)

Thanks for reading

Ivar

[Mayayana]

See here for the dependency-free download part:

http://www./jsware/vbcode.php5#htp

(It might stand some updating. The original code uses
wsock32 for Win9x support. You should be able to
rplace that in the declares with ws2_32.dll, the newer
winsock library.)

The code in the download doesn't deal with compression.
In some cases websites will compress, typically to .gz.
That code can be added, but as long as you don't announce
compression support in your request the target server
shouldn't do it. (This will all make more sense when you
find an explanation of the HTTP protocol conversation.)

I got into this a few years ago, writing download and
SMTP code, when I realized that virtually everything
available in VB (like URLDownloadToFile) was really just
an IE wrapper.

I don't understand why network functions have been
so neglected in VB, given the importance of the Internet.
(As I recall, after spending $60 on Dan Appleman's book,
I think it said that there "just wasn't room" for the network
section!)

As it turns out, most of this stuff is fairly simple, text-based
conversation with a server. There are two tricky parts: 1) Finding
clear documentation about the details. (One can slog through
abstrusely written RFC* files all day and end up none the wiser.)
2) In general some kind of callback operation is needed. The
server conversation takes time and proceeds in steps. It's a
bit tricky in VB, but doable... and worth the trouble to avoid
the entirley unnecessary winsock OCX.

As for upload, I've never tried that. I guess you probably
want some FTP code for that. I expect it's similar to SMTP
and HTTP - just varying in the server conversation details.


--
--
"Ivar" <ivar.eks...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:oJXDs.798558$g62.1...@fx06.am4...

[Henning]

"Ivar" <ivar.eks...@ntlworld.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:oJXDs.798558$g62.1...@fx06.am4...

Why not simply create a DropBox account? Then, when you in one computer save
a file in the local DropBox folder, it is also saved in the local DropBox
folder on all computers connected to the same account.

/Henning

[GS]

Will this check for file version info in a 'check for app update'
usage?

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
Classic VB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

[Mayayana]

"GS" <g...@somewhere.net> wrote in message news:kbq2lr$32o$1...@dont-email.me...

| Will this check for file version info in a 'check for app update'
| usage?

I've never tried anything like that. It's basic http
code, so it does whatever you want, but not
automatically. :) I've only coded for download. It's
all in the text-based server conversation. You'd have
to check exactly how to make your request. See here:

http://www.jmarshall.com/easy/http/

The code I wrote just does a basic GET, sending
a userAgent string. There are other optional strings
you can add. One is If-Modified-Since, explained at
the link above. From that page it looks like you can
tell the server your date and if the file is older than
that the server will return 304 instead of 200. It's
all actually very simple and primitive, but it's not easy
to find clear, complete docs.

Alternatively, you could put a text file on the server
listing the current version number, then check that
before downloading the main file.

[GS]

Mayayana explained on 30/12/2012 :

> Alternatively, you could put a text file on the server
> listing the current version number, then check that
> before downloading the main file.

Actually, I was thinking to store the Modified date of the last/current
download so I can request a later date, aborting if there is none.
Needs more time playing around with...

[Ivar]

Hi Henning.

Thank you for the reply But - As The First line in the Original Q says:

>This seems easy to do if I download the free apps, but can it be done
>using intrinsic VB6 and API.

Ivar

[Henning]

"Ivar" <ivar.eks...@ntlworld.com> skrev i meddelandet

news:oc2Es.761627$9H4.7...@fx17.am4...

Okay sorry, didn't realize you want to do it just to do it... :)

/Henning

[Mayayana]

I hadn't really noticed your second question about
having a website. You can get very cheap webhosting,
sometimes with ads, for about $3/month. For a little
more you can have a real website, with domain email,
use of PHP scripts, etc. I pay $9/month to a company
called Futurequest that I'm very happy with. I also did
a website recently for someone hosted by iPower. That
company seems to be quite good, too.

Basically, the way it works is that you buy a domain
name, which you have to pay a yearly fee to own. Then
you need a host, which provides you with a front door
on the Internet, where you can have your domain. It's
neither expensive nor difficult, but few people do it
because it requires some effort and research. The host
has IP addresses. They basically rent server space and
an IP address to you. Once you have a host, the IP
address they give you gets linked to "ivar.com" in the
worldwide DNS system. Then when someone types ivar.com
they end up at your site. It's nice because it's yours.
Mark Zuckerburg can't spy on you or "make you use
your real name". You don't have to agree to a 10 page
TOS about the files you put on your site. You become
a citizen on the Internet instead of a "consumer". And for
most people the expense is negligible. If you can afford
to buy coffee in coffee shops you can afford to have a
website.

It can be confusing looking for a host. There are lots
of cheapo operations that charge very little and promise
unlimited traffic, storage, etc. But they don't mean it. The
fine print says that you can't store files on your site. Those
companies are trying to get the small business owners who
put up a page and then forget about it. Next are the decent
hosts, suitable for most medium-size websites, like I mentioned
above. They're in the $8-$30 range. Then there are more
commercial services for people who run online businesses
with heavy traffic.

Feel free to write to me if I can be of any help. The whole
thing is very easy, but as with network protocols, it's
surprisingly hard to find clear information because it's not
a "civilian" activity. ...Which is a shame. When I first decided
to have a website it was 1999 and all ISP dialup accounts
came with 5-10 MB space where one could have a website
for free. There used to be thousands of sites like that. People
would just set up a site and post things that they thought
might be useful to others. In just 10 years years the Internet
was transformed into a shopping mall, populated by shoppers
and Facebook addicts who see the Internet itself as merely
a system of commercial services.... a herd of cows to be fed,
entertained and harvested by the likes of Facebook, iTunes,
Foursquare, Instagram, Google, etc.

[Ivar]

Hi Mayayana

Thank you for you kind response.
My situation is:
I rent a piece of very specialised software to a few companies (All my own
work in VB6). I don't make much money but I (mostly) like dealing with the
people who use it.
I'm a very experienced VB6 programmer but that's about as far as it goes.
The trouble with the software is it's very complex to use and people get
confused on what to do.
It basically takes info from csv, excel, mdb files, manipulates the info and
sends it off to other commercially available software.
There are now over 240 forms and about 80 other objects (Usercontrols,
classes etc) So pretty big.
One rule that I have is that the exe should be able to run just as a single
file, no install required. That's why I said in the original Q about
intrinsic to VB6 and API

The help file is none existent and the only way people can get help is to
call me, I then sometimes take control of their PC and give on screen demos
of how to do what they are tying to achieve, or just talk them through it.

This is the plan: Nuts? Possible? I don't know!
The soft ware doesn't do any of this yet.
The app checks for a csv file (< 2kbs) on the internet, if it finds a newer
one than it's got then it downloads in on to the users hard drive
The app then uses the contents of the file to configure various buttons etc
to make online tutorial videos available for viewing
This way I can update the app without updating the app. If that's not to
confusing.

I'm thinking that the end user clicks a button and a video starts playing on
their PC showing them how to use what ever part of the app their in.
A couple of day ago I had a play (For the first time ever) and created a web
page with text on it, The app can download the html and parses the text and
uses that, but that amateurish approach is about as far as I can go.
So, Where to put the text file so that the app can download an use it?
Where to put the videos so that the app can play them. YouTube is a
possibility but I would rather have whatever Windows Video player is on the
users PC to do that.

I would then Like to have the facility to send files to each other via the
app, as in, the user clicks the 'send file to Ivar' button and a few seconds
later I can download that file.
At the moment this is done with email attachments.

And maybe even: the program can automatically update it's self just by the
user clicking the 'Update Program' Button. ( That doesn't exist yet :-)

So really, I don't need a web site, I need a place where files can be stored
that the app can access.
If we were on a network then no problem at all, but we (as in me and end
users) are not.
I'm sure this is relatively easy once I know the first steps.
I shall now look in to Futurequest.

Off I go, Any pieces of wisdom from anyone will be greatly appreciated.

Ivar.

[Mayayana]

It all sounds sensible to me. But you say you don't
need a website. Anything else would seem unprofessional.
I wouldn't think much of a company that gives me links
to tutorials on youtube, dropbox, idrive, or whatever.
(On the other hand, I do know people who have switched
their email from in...@theircomany.com to
theirc...@gmail.com.... Can't get much more tacky
than that. :)

I think the website approach would be good with one
caveat: The videos shouldn't be too big. You'll have a
generous traffic limit, but it's still a limit.

With a website you could also provide online help pages
that people could visit. You might even make a login page
for people to download videos directly. (I've never done
that, but it shouldn't be hard. Web hosts come with all
sorts of plugins. And PHP samples are freely available for
Unix/Linux servers. You can get on a Windows server, but
personally I prefer Unix. Despite being experienced with
VBScript I found ASP to be more than I wanted to deal
with. It's a closed community dealing with proprietary
tools, while Apache on Unix runs the rest of the world and
lots of people have provided free docs, scripts and plugins
for it.)

So... OK... you get a domain and a host. In 2-3 days the
DNS system will update with your domain and www.ivar.com
will go to your index page. (You don't have to build a website
if you don't want to. You could just put up index.html and
put the text "www.ivar.com" on that. That would basically
serve as no website but provide a polite Web version of
"sorry wrong number".) Then you need an FTP program,
like Filezilla. It's as easy as Explorer. You log in to the server
and see your site, which is just a subfolder on an Internet-
connected computer. (I use it daily to download and read my
server logs. In fact, it's so simple that many WYSIWYG web
design programs, for people who don't understand any of this,
claim to provide "editing on the server". All they're doing is
FTP-ing the latest update with each file save.)

Your index page goes in the top level
folder. You can create any number of subfolders and pages.
I like to keep all pages and .css files in one place and put
extra files, like images and zips, in their own folders.
Some big commercial companies actually have a folder for
each page, but I suspect that's due to automation.
Increasingly, corporate webpages are just javascript
"applets" served from a database. In any case, you can
organize things however you like, as long as you keep
your URLs straight when giving them to customers.

For the sake of organization you might want to create a
"video" folder and an "update" folder. Then people get your
videos from www.ivar.com/video/ and they download the
2 KB file from www.ivar.com/update/. With a 2 KB update
file there's no point even checking the date on the file.
Just download it, and design the update file to have a
version number in the first line.

Also, create a robots.txt file in your top-level public
folder, where index.html is. In that file put the following:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /video/
Disallow: /update/

That will cause all search engine bots that respect robots.txt
to not list the content of those folders, so that you're videos
don't end up on Google.

Also in the subfolders, put an index.html file with nothing
but a META refresh tag, so that casual visitors cannot see
a listing of the file content of the folder.

You can also create .htaccess options if you're on Unix.
Each folder can have a .htaccess file that applies to all
sub-content. For instance, you could cause all visitors to
get a 403 access denied page when visiting /videos/ unless
they come from one or more specific IP addresses, or if
they do come from a given address.

Lots of things are possible, but the gist of it is that
a website is no more than a public PC that allows file
sharing. The difference is that it's online and there's a
system in place for people to find the IP address of your
site by typing ivar.com into a browser.

--
--
"Ivar" <ivar.eks...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message

news:1FfEs.798635$g62.3...@fx06.am4...

[BeeJ]

I have been thinking of using 1&1. They have simple to high end
business website setups, do paypal etc, file downloads and support
forums (so they say).
Take a look at them and give us some feedback. Thanks!

[Mayayana]

"BeeJ" <spa...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:kbt9dq$f8m$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

Yes, sir. :)
I don't know about 1&1. You'd need to read their terms and
check around. I was with Earthlink for many years, but they
gradually changed and started subcontracting the business.
For instance, they switched my email to another company that
turned out to be blacklisted. I did a website for my brother,
who is still on Earthlink, and lately he's been unable to send
email to some domains. Earthlink tech support also went
downhill.... So I finally left them. Those kinds of problems are
not things you'll be able to know about upfront.

I went with Futurequest because they seemed to be a small,
personal, family-style business. I wanted real people I felt I
could trust. I never like to do business with a corporate entity
when I can deal with people directly. As it turns out, I've been
very happy with the arrangement. They don't take phone calls,
but are quick to answer email. At the price of webhosting one
can't expect much personal attention, anyway.

As I said earlier, I was also impressed with iPower recently.
Their tech support was very helpful and knowledgeable. But that's
really all I know about them. I chose Futurequest after doing a
lot of research, checking different hosts, and reading reviews.

All I can say is that I wouldn't go for cheap. $9-20/month is
already plenty cheap. If you want it to cost almost nothing
you'll probably get almost nothing. A lot of people are on
GoDaddy or Dreamhost for cheap and many seem to be happy
with it. Many people are happy with Google owning and
spying on their gmail, too. I can only speak for myself. But
whatever you decide, I'd suggest checking details. Read the
TOS. Make sure you're free to host binaries. Make sure they
don't put ads on your pages. Find out about email. Some hosts
don't provide email. Some just give you a gmail account that
works through your domain. A good host will provide real POP3
and SMTP service, with up to 100 email addresses, through
their own server.

If you look at what hosts provide, most of them have more
than what you'll need of traffic allotment and functionality. And
you can add other things. For instance, I use an OSS search
program on my site. My host allows it, but I had to figure it
out because it's not their offering. That was fine with me.
Whenever I need something new I usually find I can find
directions, scripts, etc. online.

Watch out for the cheapies. The ones that offer unlimited
everything for a few dollars can't be being honest. The ones
that offer reasonable traffic and storage limits for a few dollars
more probably are honest. They're actually selling you webhosting.
The cheapies are depending on you never really using your
site. They'd be out of business if people used the traffic and
storage they're promised.

If you need Paypal or whatever, you should check that. But
I think you'll find that nearly all hosts provide all the typical
extras.
As for setting up your site, those deals are usually online
"wizards" that will provide you with a basic template layout.
If you don't want to do any design that might be OK. But you
should still learn about managing your site via FTP, without
wizards. It's not very complex. There are an awfully lot of
people and businesses out there with long-outdated websites
because either they never figured out how to update their
pages, or the paid a web designer to do the whole thing and
now don't even know how to get into their own site.

I don't know what else to say. I might be able to be helpful
with specific questions, but picking a host is up to you.

[Ivar]

Hi Mayayana.

I'm doing some research, having a play and learning a bit.
when I first read you last reply the thought that entered my head was "I'm
sure that all means something to someone, I got nothing"
But I'm slowly getting there, ish
Any more words of wisdom would be welcome.

Ivar.


"Mayayana" wrote in message news:kbs7um$547$1...@dont-email.me...

[Henning]

"Mayayana" <maya...@invalid.nospam> skrev i meddelandet
news:kbs7um$547$1...@dont-email.me...

One thing, you don't get a link to DropBox, you have it locally in your
computer. Kind of auto-file-sharing.

/Henning

[Mayayana]

| One thing, you don't get a link to DropBox, you have it locally in your
| computer. Kind of auto-file-sharing.

I didn't know that. I thought it was free online
storage. To my mind what you're describing is
not safe. Anything that requires file sharing
enabled (including torrent, etc.) is inherently
risky.

[Henning]

"Mayayana" <maya...@invalid.nospam> skrev i meddelandet

news:kbv38r$oe4$1...@dont-email.me...

We have used it for a few years now, and shared documents and (my) program
updates. Only files in the DropBox Shared folder(s) are synced betwen our
computers. You might want to read-up how it works here
https://www.dropbox.com/help. If I add/change a file on my computer, it is
immeadetly updated on all our computers. All files shared are present
locally on all our computers.

/Henning

[Mayayana]

| We have used it for a few years now, and shared documents and (my) program
| updates. Only files in the DropBox Shared folder(s) are synced betwen our
| computers. You might want to read-up how it works here

Thanks, but I have no use for something like Dropbox
and have no other machine I want to "sync". I know
that most people think these things are safe, but there's
always a risk. Most people would never question the
safety of Skype, yet there have been a number of
attacks through Skype. Anything that involves allowing
outside access to your machine carries risks.

Beyond that, I don't like to have my life corporate-
hosted. I don't use gmail, Facebook, etc. Likewise,
I don't want a corporate entity handling my private
files. As a general rule, freebies are sleazy. I realize my
opinion is in the minority, though. I'm really amazed
at how many people let corporations own their online
lives.

[Ivar]

Hi Mayayana

You did say "Feel free to write to me if I can be of any help".

Well, I need help. I triad and tried and tried, and failed failed failed.
Can I ask for your help in more detail?
If your willing to take a look, could I write to you and hopefully You could
tell me where I'm going wrong.
Yeah, what I really mean is - can I have sample code that does what I want
it to do.
My email address is ivar.eks...@ntlworld.com but without the zeros
Send me an email if your willing and I'll send you some details

Ivar

[Henning]

"Mayayana" <maya...@invalid.nospam> skrev i meddelandet

news:kbvn5q$mc3$1...@dont-email.me...

And still you use, and recomend, a webserver wich, as I understand it, is
the top on the list of hacked creatures on the internet. Even more if you
advert. its existense. Ofcause our way is no safer than anything else on the
'net'. What really amazes me is this 'cloud' fever. ;)

/Henning

[Mayayana]

| And still you use, and recomend, a webserver wich, as I understand it, is
| the top on the list of hacked creatures on the internet. Even more if you
| advert. its existense.

I suppose that's tru, but web hosting services are
on top of such things, and I don't use risky things on
my site. I don't need to. For instance, a lot of the
problems that happen are wordpress plugins, SQL
hacks, and the like. I get those attacks daily. I can
see it in my logs. But since I don't use the risky stuff
I'm generally safe. (And of course, if my site goes
down it's only my website, not my personal computer.)

| What really amazes me is this 'cloud' fever. ;)
|

Me, too.