>>>>Hi,
>>>>
>>>>Finally got back to doing some more testing of the last code you sent.
>>>>Unfortunately, if I set up a connection with an invalid gateway, then the API call to GetHostByName is slow.....
>>>>As of now I can't see a way around that one ?
>>>>
>>>>Best,
>>>>Viv
>>>

>>>

>>>
>>>Viv,
>>>
>>>I've made it so that GetHostByName() is only called if you use www.xxxx.xx style
>>>If you pass an ip address - it does not call GetHostByName()
>>
>>Hi,
>>I'd seen (and tested) that using a fixed IP address as the 'hit point' would work in a timely fashion. But the code to test for access to the address will be embedded in the application and I cannot guarantee that the IP address currently assigned to the URL will remain static over the medium term. However I do have access to a number of fixed IP addresses so maybe I could use one of those to route the connection ( I could at least guarantee that domain name resolution would work at that point). Need to dwell on this......
>>
>
>haha - I just answered how to get around GetHostByName()
>
>How many customers with an invalid gateway will you have ?
Not many I suppose. But I don't want to have to wait a couple of minutes before telling them........

>Is an invalid gateway of any use to you ?
Haven't thought of a good use for one yet :-}

I've also been testing a few scenarios with the MSSoap com stuff (via the VFP _webservices lib). There's odd behaviour there when there's a valid gateway but an unreachable (or invalid) DNS address. The soap client .MSSoapInit() call may take a long time to complete but eventually reports success. Subsequent calls can succeed almost instantly but of course any attempt to actually use the service fails :-{

All I want to be able to do is determine *quickly* whether the VFP application is capable of successfully making a simple web service call to a given URL. Would be a doddle in .NET!