ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Name

XMLSocket.connect( ) Method — open a connection to a server application

Availability

Flash 5

Synopsis

socket.connect(host, port)

Arguments

host

A string specifying a hostname such as "www.myserver.com" or a standard IP address (four, dot-separated, 8-bit, decimal integers such as 111.222.3.123). If null or an empty string is specified, it defaults to the server address from which the movie was served.

port

An integer specifying a TCP port number greater than or equal to 1024.

Returns

A Boolean indicating the initial success (true) or failure (false) of the connection attempt.

Description

The connect( ) method attempts to establish a connection from Flash to a server application running on host at port.

If connect( ) returns true, the initial phase of the connection completed successfully and the socket’s onConnect( ) handler will be invoked at a later time. From the onConnect( ) handler, we can evaluate whether the connection was fully established. Note that connection attempts can take varying amounts of time, particularly when a connection attempt fails. You should indicate to the user that a connection attempt is in progress when invoking connect( ).

If connect( ) returns false, the initial connection phase did not complete successfully. In such a case, socket’s onConnect( ) handler will not be invoked.

It is important to check both the return value of the connect( ) method and, if connect( ) returns true, the value of the success parameter of the onConnect( ) handler.

Usage

For security ...