NNTP Component

The NNTP control is used to read and post articles on Usenet news servers. (NOTE: The following is a very short description. For more information, please consult the help files that come with the respective package.)

The NNTP control implements a standard Usenet news reader as specified in RFC 977. It can be used to browse Usenet news groups and read and post articles.

The control operates mainly by setting action codes to the Action property. The CurrentGroup property sets the current newsgroup. From then on, news articles from that group can be read by setting the article number in CurrentArticle and then setting the appropriate Action code. Properties like ArticleCount, FirstArticle, LastArticle provide information about the current state.

The headers and text of the articles are received respectively through the Header and Transfer events. The GroupOverview event returns information about a range of articles (OverviewRange) in CurrentGroup, and the GroupList event is used when listing newsgroup names. The PITrail event provides a trace of the interaction with the server.

The control supports posting of articles through the ArticleText and AttachedFile properties. The article text is specified in one or both of the above, and then the appropriate Action code is sent. Article headers are given in a series of properties like From, Subject, Organization, etc. that map directly to the article header with the same name.

This control requires a Winsock 1.1 compliant TCP/IP stack. This means that the Winsock stack installed in the system must have a version of at least 1.1. In particular, Windows 95, 98, and NT machines with Winsock 2.0 are fully supported.

PROPERTIES

Action. An action code for the control.

ArticleCount. The estimated number of articles in CurrentGroup.

ArticleText. The full text of the article to post (without headers).

AttachedFile. A file name which contents to append to ArticleText when posting articles.

CheckDate. The date (format YYMMDD HHMMSS) since when to check for creation of new groups.

Command. Can be used to send additional commands directly to the NNTP server.

CurrentArticle. The number or message-id of the current article.

CurrentGroup. The name of the current group (action property).

FirstArticle. The number of the first article in CurrentGroup.

From. The email address of the author (for posting articles).

LastArticle. The number of the last article in CurrentGroup.

LastReply. The last reply from the server.

LocalHost. The name of the local host. When connected, the IP address of the interface through which the connection was made.

MaxHeaderLength. Maximum length for headers to avoid line folding (default 80).

Newsgroups. A comma separated list of newsgroups where to post the article.

NewsPort. The server port for NNTP (default 119).

NewsServer. The name or address of a news server.

Organization. The organization of the author (for posting articles).

OtherHeaders. An RFC850 compliant string consisting of extra headers (for posting articles).

OverviewRange. A range for the Group Overview action (first-last).

Password. A login password to login with in the NewsServer.

References. Articles the posted article follows up to.

ReplyTo. The address to reply to (for posting articles).

SocketHandle. The handle of the main socket used by the control.

Subject. The article subject (for posted articles).

User. A user id login as in the NewsServer.

WinsockInfo. Identifying information about the loaded Winsock stack.

WinsockLoaded. Loads and unloads Winsock on demand.

WinsockMaxDatagramSize. Size in bytes of the largest UDP datagram that can be sent or received.

WinsockMaxSockets. Maximum number of sockets available to a single process.

WinsockPath. The path to the Winsock DLL used.

WinsockStatus. The status of the Winsock stack.

EVENTS

EndTransfer. Fired when the article text completes transferring.

Error. Information about errors during data delivery.

GroupList. Fired while group data transfers (during group listings).

GroupOverview. Fired for each line of article overview data (during group overviews).

Header. Fired for every article header being retrieved during article retrieval.

PITrail. Traces the commands sent to the mail server, and the respective replies.

StartTransfer. Fired when the article text starts transferring.

Transfer. Fired while the article text gets transferred (to or from the NewsServer).