Q: Windows API for setting up a TCP server

[hgm]

Does anyone know an example C program for Windows to set up a TCP/IP server?

I would like to create a tool for allowing peer-to-peer play between GUIs. The logical way to do it would be to create a pseudo-engine that runs as engine under the GUI, which starts a thread to listen on a certain port, and alternatively can connect to that port on another machine when the user commands it to do so (through a URL string and a 'Connect' button in the Engine Settings dialog of the GUI). Once a bidirectional connection is established between the pseudo-engines on the different machines, the pseudo-engines acknowledge their readiness by sending am until-then-delayed 'pong' command to the GUI, commencing the game.

Operating the 'Connect' button would automatically make the pseudo-engine seeking the connection abort any ongoing game on its own GUI by resigning it. Once the connection is established, the pseudo-engines would cause popups on their respective GUIs urging the user to start a game in a compatible color (if that was not already started); the first to start a game would be the one to decide what these colors are, but the other can refuse it by making a counter-proposal, through starting the other color. (This will cause an immediate resign towards the remote opponent, so he can now pick the opposite color from what he first did; an automated opponent running in match mode would do this automatically.)

I do have example code from WinBoard how to seek a TCP connection (to an ICS), but I have no idea how I could 'listen' to a port for incoming connection requests (in Windows).

[Edmund]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... s.85).aspx

[hgm]

Many thanks, this seems exactly what I need!

[jdart]

You might consider doing this in Java - it is cross-platform and the Java networking APIs are not too difficult.

See http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/ ... erver.html.

--Jon