The era of stand-alone, self-contained applications is rapidly ending. Distributed, networked applications have become critical to meeting business needs in a fast-paced, dynamic world. Until now, building networked Windows applications wasn't easy. But now Microsoft has released a powerful new Windows Internet API (WinInet) that dramatically simplifies the process of creating Internet-enabled Windows applications.

WinInet makes it possible to create Windows applications that can download Web pages, access server applications, upload and download files, and traverse Gopher document systems--allowing developers to build such sophisticated Windows Internet applications as full-fledged Web browsers, home banking applications, and stock portfolio programs.

Essential WinInet is a comprehensive guide to this powerful Windows Internet API. It starts with a tutorial on WinInet basics and a methodical description of the API's protocol-specific functions for HTTP, FTP, and Gopher, then proceeds to explore more advanced topics, examining how WinInet works with other Internet tools and client/server technologies. This book addresses such essential topics as:

Using WinInet with MFC and Visual Basic
Understanding asynchronous WinInet
Writing HTTP COM components
Establishing dial-up connections, including applying the RAS API
Introducing the concept of client/server Internet programming
Implementing a complete client/server solution using WinInet with ISAPI and ASP
Numerous sample applications throughout this book explore WinInet's capabilities and show you how to put the API to work. The samples include a full-featured asynchronous FTP client for Windows; a stock portfolio application that can connect to real-time Internet stock quote providers; and a client/server application that incorporates WinInet, ISAPI, and ASP. Much more than just a tutorial, this practical resource contains the kinds of pointers, work-arounds, and creative solutions that will save you hours of frustration and inspire you to make full use of the API.

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