OpenEdge Programming Interfaces

Overview of tasks to implement ABL sockets

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Overview of tasks to implement ABL sockets

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Last Updated: July 5, 2024
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OpenEdge
Version 12.8
Documentation

Socket programming can be typically divided into three parts:

Server programming tasks
Client programming tasks
Tasks common to both clients and servers

This section summarizes the tasks for programming sockets in ABL using the same framework. The sections that follow describe each of these tasks in more detail.

The following table lists socket programming tasks by application function, indicates whether each task is required for implementing socket communications, and provides a reference to a following section for more information on the task.

Table 1. Summary of socket programming tasks
Application function	Tasks
Socket server	Create a server socket object and enable it to listen for connections (`CONNECT` events) on a specified port (required). See Implementing an ABL socket server. Define a `CONNECT` event procedure or method to respond to `CONNECT` events and return the socket object handle created for each connection (required). See Listening and responding to connection requests. Make the server socket temporarily insensitive to `CONNECT` events. See Managing the server socket. Disable the server socket from listening for new socket connections. See Managing the server socket. Delete the server socket object. See Managing the server socket.
Socket client	Create a socket object to read and write data, and connect it to a port on a socket server (required). See Implementing an ABL socket client.
Client or server	Define and initialize a `MEMPTR` variable (required to read or write data on a socket). See Defining and initializing MEMPTR variables. Test whether data is available to read on a socket. See Data detection using the procedural model. Define a `READ-RESPONSE` event procedure or method to respond to data coming in on a socket connection. See Data detection using the event-driven model. Read data on a socket and test for the number of bytes read for each read operation. See Reading data on a socket. Write data on a socket and test for the number of bytes written for each write operation. see Writing data on a socket. Marshall data into a `MEMPTR` buffer for writing on a socket and unmarshall data from a `MEMPTR` buffer after reading on a socket. see Marshalling and unmarshalling data for socket I/O. Test whether a socket object is connected. see Managing sockets and their connections. Make a socket temporarily insensitive to `READ-RESPONSE` events. see Managing sockets and their connections. Set and get socket options. see Managing sockets and their connections. Obtain the local and remote host IP addresses and port numbers involved in a socket connection. see Managing sockets and their connections. Disconnect a socket object from its remote host and port. See Managing sockets and their connections. Delete socket objects. see Managing sockets and their connections.
Socket security	Configure socket servers and clients for TLS. See Implementing ABL socket security. Enable TLS server connections. See Enabling TLS server connections. Connect an TLS client to a TLS server. See Connecting an TLS client to an TLS server. Invoke socket operations. See Invoking socket operations for TLS sessions. Note: TLS incurs heavy performance penalties, depending on the client, server, and network resources and load.