Re: Working with no Hub

[Kevin Hawkins <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

barrygordon wrote:

>I desire to run a xAP application on a Win95 system.
>
(draws a deep breath but if needs must....)

> I can not put a
>hub on that system since there does not seem to be one available, and
>win 95 can not run the .net framework.  According to the spec I should
>not need a hub since there will only be one xAP application on the
>machine.
>
>
There are hubs available that do not require the .Net framework -
Patrick Lidstone's site has one (although you need Cygwin - which I
*think* runs on W95 but not sure ??)  . Yes if you only have one xAP
receiver application you don't need a hub anyway.  Win 95 is probably in
one of those 'it may or may not work areas' now.... you may also need
some more DLL's , P can poss help here ??

>I am using the xapax.ocx for VB6 that has been around some time.  I
>believe the author is Patrick Lindstrom. If I run my app with the xapax
>control on a system with a Hub (Win XP Pro), there is no problem.  If I
>stop the service and try to run the app it will not work. It will not
>work on a win 95 system.
>
>

When you say will not work on the W95 I assume it's not throwing errors
as such..?

I think the likely issue is the port that the OCX is grabbing at
launch.  xAP uses an official port of 3639 - this is where all udp
packets are sent to and where the 'only' receiver (usualy the hub) on a
PC listens. Hence a single app should use this port or if you run
multiple apps then the hub reserves this port and forwards packets to
later launched apps on whatever port they 'request' via their
heartbeat.  If an application isn't using 3639 then it should ideally
use an ephemeral port >32K to listen on.    What I suspect is happening
is that your app (as the only app) is not acquiring port 3639 and hence
will appear to be 'deaf'.   I am just not sure offhand if the OCX tries
on launch to grab 3639 and then drops back to ephemeral ports if port
3639 is already in use, presumably by a hub. From what you say it
appears it is just using an ephemeral port. This is all settable in  the
properties of the OCX  (port minport maxport).

>1) It issues no Heartbeats (keep alive messages)
>
>
Do you get a heartbeat with the identical compiled app on XP ?  Both
with and without a hub running ?

If not do you have the heartbeat timer set up as in the VB examples that
are included with the OCX ?  Getting a  heartbeat would be a good first
step as it will allow you in the heartbeat header to see which port the
OCX is listening on.

>2) It will transmit (send) just fine
>3) It receives nothing.  The On_Message process is never called when a
>message is placed on the network by another system.  A sniffer sees the
>message but the app running "Hubless" does not.
>
>
I suspect this is beacuse it's listening on the wrong port (ie not 3639)

>Any help would be greatly appreciated since there is very little
>documentation (that I have found) on the xapax.ocx activeX control.
>
>

Just checking - you do have the supporting notes for the OCX and the
simple send and receive example VB projects that Patrick released. Of
course if you aren't using VB then the projects are of limited use. ??
I assume they are on P's site but if not I do have a copy I can send you...

Kevin