NetTalk :: Technical Briefing


			Technical Briefing
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The Problem

Problem:	You have two (or more) programs that need to communicate over a LAN or WAN.
Problem:	You want to be able to shut down your Applications across the network.
Problem:	Your client has the Internet on the brain, but how do you use it?
Problem:	You're not a network expert, but now you need to do things like network communications, file transfers and that sort of thing...
Problem:	Dial-up connections are unreliable and painful to work with. You need a robust solution.

The Solution

NetTalk!

Simply put, NetTalk allows your programs to communicate with each other over LAN or WAN or internet in as easy a way as possible.

Implemented as a set of objects that plug into either ABC or Legacy applications, adding network communications to your programs is trivial. You simply drop in one of the pre-written objects and watch the magic. On a LAN there is no configuration necessary.

NetTalk is robust. That means it was designed with those less-than-perfect connections in mind. It caters for things like Dynamic IP addressing, dial-up connections, it even allows your IP address to change halfway through a file download (like if the dial-up drops and gets restarted). The NetTalk protocol supports packet checking for errors and error recovery (without sending the whole thing again).

If you need to communicate with non-Clarion applications then NetTalk also helps. It allows you to create simple TCP/IP clients or servers. In other words it's trivial to open, read and write, and close TCP/IP "Ports". Using this functionality we're currently building objects for email, ftp and so on.

NetTalk supports the RAS function set, which means you can control the connections on a dial-up machine. Make use of connections that the user makes and/or schedule your own connections.

It's hard to believe that with all this we're still not yet satisfied. As of the time of writing this we still want to add on the fly packet encryption and compression. Plus we still want to add a lot of support for Internet protocols like SMTP, POP3, FTP and so on.

The Users Say...

"It's powerful and easy to use." Francisco J. Acedo M.

"I am very happy with this product!" Marco Antonio

"I bought NetTalk yesterday. From within 30 minutes my email works excellent even in HTML form => you are gods => NetTalk is 99% best thing ever happened to Clarion. Thank you." Zdravc Balantic

"I've got a production app that is NetTalk and so far no problems. I appreciate the work being done on this product, and despite the steep learning curve for a programming hack like myself, it is an incredible product, and one that will inspire all kinds of new software by the imaginative developer / entrepreneur." Mike Grigsby

"BTW - the NetTalk product is VERY good and I really like it a lot (as I do all of your products)." Charles Edmonds

"Thanks for the ftp code. Nice, very nice." George Bamber

"And double W.W.W.O.O.O.O.O.W.W.W!!! I decided to try NetTalk (www.capesoft.com) to improve the e-mail freezes, not even thinking about the other issue(s). I've had NetTalk in my toolbox for months, but had never even read the help. So I opened the help, read a few minutes, and in less than a half-hour, I had the inter-session browses updating (didn't even know NetTalk did that!) and a shutdown template added, and it works like a champ!! Made me look like a hero, and the VB guys' jaws drop to the floor!! I just want to thank Bruce for a fantastic product!!! And anyone writing programs for network use, YOU NEED TO LOOK AT THIS." Rocky Phelps

"Very useful product. Love it!" Antonio Miranda

"Just a brief note of appreciation for your concerted efforts in helping Hwa and I run this communications issue to ground." Everett Harpole

"Much thanks for another great product. I'm finding uses for it in almost every project I've started in the last 4 months." John Farmer

"I am very happy with the support you guys are giving." Ludwig Myburgh

"PS. Excellent Support.... I'll be passing the word around." Richard Beresford

"What, there are people out there without NetTalk???" Lee Goolsby

"The Gold is Gold!!!" Glenn Hardin

"A truly great addition to clarion!" Robert Linders

Features

NetTalk Protocol Features

Built-in error detection and recovery
Built-in guaranteed packet delivery
Recovers smoothly from dropped dial-up connections
Easy to implement - and deploy
No configuration in LAN environments. Minimal configuration in WAN environments
Able to connect over any TCP/IP connection, including LANS, WANS and the Internet
Built-in packet compression and encryption
Built-in DNS translations

NetTalk Object Features

These are shipped as source code and use the NetTalk protocol to offer pre-written functionality. Use these objects as-is or build your own based on these. This list will grow as time goes on.

File Transfer
Close programs over the network
Synchronize date and time over a network
Chat window

Simple Connect Features

Allows you to create a simple TCP/IP server or client
Open, listen, read and write over TCP/IP ports
Allows you to talk to any TCP/IP enabled program
Build-in DNS translations

Simple Connect Object Features

SMTP email sending
POP3 email receiving
FTP

RAS Features

Allows you to use the already-configured Windows dial-up networking connections
Allows you to make use of the connection, even when it is started by another program
Allows you to schedule RAS connections
Using the NetTalk protocol, allows you to auto-reconnect if the line is dropped. The connection will continue even if the computer now has a different IP address

General Features

Supports Legacy and ABC templates
Supports Clarion 5 and Clarion 5.5
Supports single App, Multi-DLL, stand-alone and local mode compiling
Does not support 16 bit programming
Comes with 50+ pages of documentation and 7 examples
Designed to require no TCP/IP or networking experience

Cost & Availability

NetTalk costs $399 and is available from CapeSoft. This price includes releases for Clarion 5 and Clarion 5.5. To order On-Line visit www.clarionshop.com.

For more information contact

or fax +27 21 715 2535. A working demo version can be downloaded from our website - www.capesoft.com/ftp/public/netdem.exe