Walter
Before using winsock, make sure your target system vendor does not have a dll or other wrapper that allows you to send/receive files or strings without having to write your own comms. Some now allow you to drop messages into a folder and receive responses the same way.
FWIW, VFP is an excellent HL7 parser/messenger. Textmerge and DELIMITED make it much easier than trying to pick apart variable-width messages manually. Because there are variants of HL7, we load message type parameters (eg differences in headers/patient segments) into lookup tables and process multiple formats, even different field orders, using EVAL().
The biggest issue is error handling- you need to ensure that every message has all the necessary segments and values to allow you to process safely.
HTH
Regards
JR
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
