socket_create
Create a socket (endpoint for communication)
&reftitle.description;
resourcesocket_create
intdomain
inttype
intprotocol
Creates and returns a socket resource, also referred to as an endpoint
of communication. A typical network connection is made up of 2 sockets, one
performing the role of the client, and another performing the role of the server.
&reftitle.parameters;
domain
The domain parameter specifies the protocol
family to be used by the socket.
Available address/protocol families
Domain
Description
AF_INET
IPv4 Internet based protocols. TCP and UDP are common protocols of
this protocol family.
AF_INET6
IPv6 Internet based protocols. TCP and UDP are common protocols of
this protocol family.
AF_UNIX
Local communication protocol family. High efficiency and low
overhead make it a great form of IPC (Interprocess Communication).
type
The type parameter selects the type of communication
to be used by the socket.
Available socket types
Type
Description
SOCK_STREAM
Provides sequenced, reliable, full-duplex, connection-based byte streams.
An out-of-band data transmission mechanism may be supported.
The TCP protocol is based on this socket type.
SOCK_DGRAM
Supports datagrams (connectionless, unreliable messages of a fixed maximum length).
The UDP protocol is based on this socket type.
SOCK_SEQPACKET
Provides a sequenced, reliable, two-way connection-based data transmission path for
datagrams of fixed maximum length; a consumer is required to read an
entire packet with each read call.
SOCK_RAW
Provides raw network protocol access. This special type of socket
can be used to manually construct any type of protocol. A common use
for this socket type is to perform ICMP requests (like ping).
SOCK_RDM
Provides a reliable datagram layer that does not guarantee ordering.
This is most likely not implemented on your operating system.
protocol
The protocol parameter sets the specific
protocol within the specified domain to be used
when communicating on the returned socket. The proper value can be
retrieved by name by using getprotobyname. If
the desired protocol is TCP, or UDP the corresponding constants
SOL_TCP, and SOL_UDP
can also be used.
Common protocols
Name
Description
icmp
The Internet Control Message Protocol is used primarily by gateways
and hosts to report errors in datagram communication. The "ping"
command (present in most modern operating systems) is an example
application of ICMP.
udp
The User Datagram Protocol is a connectionless, unreliable,
protocol with fixed record lengths. Due to these aspects, UDP
requires a minimum amount of protocol overhead.
tcp
The Transmission Control Protocol is a reliable, connection based,
stream oriented, full duplex protocol. TCP guarantees that all data packets
will be received in the order in which they were sent. If any packet is somehow
lost during communication, TCP will automatically retransmit the packet until
the destination host acknowledges that packet. For reliability and performance
reasons, the TCP implementation itself decides the appropriate octet boundaries
of the underlying datagram communication layer. Therefore, TCP applications must
allow for the possibility of partial record transmission.
&reftitle.returnvalues;
socket_create returns a socket resource on success,
or &false; on error. The actual error code can be retrieved by calling
socket_last_error. This error code may be passed to
socket_strerror to get a textual explanation of the
error.
&reftitle.changelog;
&Version;
&Description;
5.0.0
The AF_INET6 constant was added.
&reftitle.errors;
If an invalid domain or
type is given, socket_create
defaults to AF_INET and
SOCK_STREAM respectively and additionally emits an
E_WARNING message.
&reftitle.seealso;
socket_accept
socket_bind
socket_connect
socket_listen
socket_last_error
socket_strerror