ActiveSocket Toolkit Add network capabilities to any Windows or .NET application

Quicklinks

DNS NsLookup using ColdFusion

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the method by which Internet addresses in mnemonic form - such as www.activexperts.com - are converted into the equivalent numeric IP address such as 212.97.55.136. To the user and application process this translation is a service provided either by the local host or from a remote host via the Internet. The DNS server (or resolver) may communicate with other Internet DNS servers if it cannot translate the address itself.
DNS names are constructed hierarchically. The highest level of the hierarchy is the last component or label of the DNS address. Labels can be up to 63 characters long and are not case sensitive. A maximum length of 255 characters is allowed. Labels must start with a letter and can only consist of letters, digits and hyphens.

Nslookup is a popular program for UNIX, LINUX and Windows to query Internet domain name servers. It allows the user to query name servers for information about various hosts and domains or to print a list of hosts in a domain.

ActiveSocket provides an easy-to-use development/scripting interface to use the same operations as NsLookup, through the DnsServer class. By using ActiveSocket, you can very easily create or enhance Windows applications/scripts with DNS lookup features.

ActiveSocket features the following: DNS, FTP, HTTP, HTTPs, ICMP Ping, IP-to-Country, MSN, NTP, RSH, SCP, SFTP, SNMP v1/v2c (Get, GetNext, Set), SNMP Traps, SNMP MIB, SSH, TCP, Telnet, TFTP, UDP, Telnet, Wake-On-LAN and more.

Step 1: Download and install the ActiveSocket Toolkit

Download the ActiveSocket Toolkit from the ActiveXperts Download Site and start the installation. The installation guides you through the installation process.

Step 2: Create a new ColdFusion document

Create a new blank webdocument with the ".cfm" extention. First of all we are going to build the form whitch commands and properties of the device can be filled in. Then we are going to make a source code that connects to the device.

Step 3: Implementation

Establishing the connection and listing the files can be done in three steps:

  • Collect the ftp-server-address, the username and the password from the user
  • Establish the connection
  • List the files

Collecting the information can be done using a form. We've made our form look like this:

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

When we've got this information, we're ready to establish a connection to a server. First of all we need an object witch creates a connection between ColdFusion and the ActiveXperts software. To do that, use the following code: 

 <cfobject class="ActiveXperts.FtpServer" type="com" name="objFtp" Action="Create">

Once the object is created, we're able to use the toolkit. We need to establish a connection, so we're going to use the ActiveSocket method "connect()". Use the following code: 

objFtp.Connect(strHost,strUsername,strPassword);

Now we need to list the files. The ActiveSocket toolkit is able to get the first file in the folder using the "FindFirstFile()" method and then the next file using the "FindNextFile()" method. So we're going to list the first file in the folder first, then the next file (the second file) and than the next file (the third file) and so on. Use the following code: 

   objFiles = objFtp.FindFirstFile();
			
   do{
     writeoutput ("<tr>");
     writeoutput ("<td width=100>");				
     if(objFiles.IsDirectory()){
        writeoutput("Directory:");
     }
     else{
        writeoutput("File:");				
     }
     writeoutput ("</td>");
     writeoutput ("<td>");
     writeoutput(objFiles.Name & "<br>");				
     writeoutput ("</td>");
     writeoutput ("</tr>");																
     objFiles = objFtp.FindNextFile();				
   }
   while(objFtp.LastError eq 0);

Perhaps you would like to show the content of another folder. Paste the following code, before the listing code. 

objFtp.ChangeDir(strDirectory);

We're displaying the results of the process using the "LastError" method of the ActiveSocket toolkit. The method "LastError" displays a number. It's helpfull to know "0" means success. To get the error description use the "GetErrorDescription()" method. In our code we've used these methodes this way: 

strResult = objFtp.LastError & " : " & objFtp.GetErrorDescription(objFtp.LastError);

It can be very helpfull to check for errors before executing some code. Applying this can be done easily:

 if(objFtp.LastError eq "0"){
    Some code
 }

There are many working samples included with the product. You can also find them on the ActiveXperts FTP site: ftp.activexperts-labs.com/samples/network-component.