General questions

• What is SocketPro?
          SocketPro is a package of software components to help you quickly develop super client and server applications over internet and intranet. At this time, the package contains one core dynamical linking library usktpror.dll for server development and one core COM library usocket.dll for client development. The package also comes with two key but free services, remote window file management service and remote database service through MS OLEDB technology. 
         
• What platforms does SocketPro support?
          At this time, SocketPro supports all of window 32-bit platforms including Win9x, Me, NT, 2K 2003, XP, Win 2003, Vista, CE and smart phone. If your server is Win95, OSR2 update is required. We are going to port SocketPro to Java and Linux.
          
• Does .Net COM interop reduce the performance of SocketPro?
          Yes, but very little! The reduction of performance can be ignored in most cases as long as your client machine is not too slow. After testing, we find that
          A.    if your network is dial-up, cable/dsl and wireless modems as well as 10 Mbps based LAN, the reduction of performance can be always ignored;
          B.    we never observed the performance reduction for file management.
          C.    if you use the library udb.dll to retrieve large number of records over 100 Mbps LAN, you may see somewhat performance reduction. However, you will not find any performance reduction for adding, updating and deleting records at all.
          
• Can I share a desktop database file such as Access, Excel, dBase, etc over internet with help of SocketPro?
          The answer is yes! You can use all of networks, such as dial-up/cable/DSL modems and LAN, to access them through SocketPro. SocketPro is definitely much faster than RDS (Remote Data Service), HTTP, and Web Service (XML and SOAP) under all of cases. The performance is improved five times or more with SocketPro.
          
• My server runs behind a firewall. Can I use SocketPro server within such an environment?
          Yes with a little more work! You may need to cooperate with an administrator to turn on a particular port, or do port mapping from a machine to another one. SocketPro is the same as http, https, ftp, and so on in setting up firewall, router and NAT. The setup is really easy with simple clicks!
            
• Is database service in SocketPro package written from ADO?
          No. Socket database service is written from direct use of raw OLEDB interfaces without involvement of ADO layer. The direct use of raw interfaces makes SocketPro database service much faster with very low memory foot print.
         
• What about the speed of SocketPro?
          SocketPro runs at the super speed. It is written from batching, asynchrony and parallel computation with online compressing. In comparison with DCOM, Corba, Java RMI, dotNet remoting and WCF, SocketPro always beats them in speed. If a batch of requests are involved, SocketPro can be easily 10 times or more faster than these technologies. In comparison to other socket-based libraries or tools on the market, it is a guarantee that SocketPro is never slower than them. If a batch of requests are involved, SocketPro will certainly faster than other socket-based libraries or tools. 
         
• Does SocketPro secure net data communication between a client and a server?
          SocketPro is designed with security in mind. SocketPro provides a framework to enable you to implement your own security without much effort. SocketPro is already embedded with MS SSPI/openssl and Blowfish to secure all of data transaction between clients and servers. 
         
• If I have a question or concern to SocketPro, how do I contact UDAParts for technical support?
           Discussion groups or email at support@udaparts.com.
         
• What license does SocketPro come with?
          We support three license schemas, trial, per-server/application and per-application. For details, click here.
         
• Does UDAParts provide customer service?
          Yes! For details, contact UDAParts at support@udaparts.com.
     
                  

Installation and deployment

• What SocketPro dlls should be distributed with my application when I finish my project with SocketPro?
          Two dlls are involved only. You must distribute the file usktpror.dll at server side and usocket.dll at client side. 
         
• When I deploy SocketPro, do I need to deploy WinInet and Winsock2 libraries too?
          No! SocketPro has nothing with WinInet library. Although SocketPro is written from Winsock2 library, you don't have to distribute it with your application because winsock2 library is already within window platforms.
         

Development

• How do I quickly get started with SocketPro?
          There is the instruction inside the documentation to tell you how to start with SocketPro quickly. Additionally, you'd better play with a set of attached tutorials first.
         
• Does SocketPro come with samples?
          Yes! There are a set of well thought samples with SocketPro package. These diverse samples are written from C#, VB and C++. UDAParts will continue to add more samples into the package.
         
• Does SocketPro come with technical articles?
          Yes! There is a list of articles available within documentation currently. More articles will be added with this package.
         
• What languages are supported with SocketPro?
          For server side development, currently your development languages are C/C++ and dotNet-enabled languages such as C# and VB.net. In regards to client side development, your development language can be one of any languages supporting MS COM.
          
• Does SocketPro support Microsoft .Net languages, For example, C#, VB.NET and Manage C++?
          Yes! See the .Net samples attached inside the package for development through .Net COM Interop service at client side. You can also develop managed applications with SocketPro at server side. See the attached samples.
          
• Can I use SocketPro with MS Visual Studio 2005 express?
          Yes! You can use SocketPro with MS Visual Studio express without any problem.
          
• Server side development is simple with SocketPro? I heard that it is tough and complicate to create socket based server applications because of use of multithreads. If it is simple, why?
          Yes! It is simple to create SocketPro based server application because your code doesn't have to manage threads and their side effects. SocketPro manages them for you automatically. This feature dramatically reduces the complexity of server side development. With the help of SocketPro, you just do the following two tasks:
  
          A.    Define class and method ids, tell SocketPro what requests are lengthy ones and set up one structure with a few callbacks only.
          B.    Code your functions to process your requests.
         
• Can I use one port to provide multiple services with SocketPro?
          Yes! As shown from all of demo server applications with this package, SocketPro server applications can provide multiple services using a single port number. All of services can be switched at run time.
         
• Can I open multiple socket sessions to a server from one client?
          Yes! As shown from samples with this package, you can open multiple socket sessions to a server from one or multiple threads. All of socket sessions can run independently and in parallel.
         
• Can I send multiple requests from a client to a server in one big stream to process for the best speed with SocketPro?
          Yes! Keep in mind that SocketPro is written from batching, asynchrony and parallel computation. This particular design enables SocketPro to send multiple requests in batch from a client to a server by default. This is one of SocketPro strong points. This guarantees that SocketPro beats DCOM, Corba, Java Bean/RMI and Web service in speed.
          
• What is difference between MS Message Queue and SocketPro?
          MSMQ is a connectionless message service where applications do not need to maintain a session. SocketPro directly wraps socket 2 low-level functions for writing applications, and does not allow applications to run at different times in the way that MSMQ does. SocketPro runs faster in exchanging data between a server and client because it avoids repeatedly connection and disconnection. Additionally, SocketPro naturally batches multiple requests, but MSMQ has no such a feature.
          
• SocketPro heavily uses COM notification. DCOM, COM/surrogation, MTS/DCOM and other technologies also provide such a feature. What is difference between SocketPro and these technologies.
          There is a very fundamental difference. SocketPro notifications are NEVER involved with extra data trips across machines and notifications are just in-process calls, but the notifications of these technologies are ALWAYS involved with extra data trips over expensive network and their notifications are cross-machine calls. Therefore, the notifications of SocketPro are ALWAYS much faster (>1000 times) than ones of these common technologies.