MCast Class
Properties Methods Events Configuration Settings Errors
The MCast class is used to multicast UDP datagrams to multicast capable hosts in multicast capable subnets. It can act both as a client and a server and communicate with any number of hosts simultaneously, as well as generate and receive broadcast packets.
Syntax
class ipworks.MCast
Remarks
The MCast class is very similar to UDPPort, except for some additional properties that provide support for multicast datagrams. To send datagrams to a multicast group, simply assign the address of the group to remote_host. To receive datagrams from one or more groups, assign the group addresses to multicast_group one by one (after the class is activated. time_to_live allows to specify how many subnets a packet should be allowed to receive. receive_interface and send_interface allow you to select the network interface for multicast operations.
The class is activated/deactivated through the active property. This property enables or disables sends or receives. The data can be sent in the same way as UDPPort, by calling the send method with a Text parameter or via the data_to_send property. The destination is specified using the remote_host and remote_port properties. Inbound data is received through the on_data_in event.
Property List
The following is the full list of the properties of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| accept_data | Enables or disables data reception (the DataIn event). |
| active | Enables or disables sending and receiving data. |
| data_to_send | A string of data to be sent to the remote host. Write-only property. |
| local_host | The name of the local host or user-assigned IP interface through which connections are initiated or accepted. |
| local_port | The UDP port in the local host where MCast binds. |
| loopback | Enables or disables loopback of data sent to the multicast group. |
| multicast_group | Multicast group to join or leave. |
| receive_interface | The interface with which to receive multicast packets. If empty, default is used. |
| remote_host | The address of the remote host (multicast group). |
| remote_port | The UDP port in the remote host. |
| send_interface | The interface from which multicast packets are sent. If empty, default is used. |
| time_to_live | The maximum number of subnets that a multicast datagram can traverse. |
Method List
The following is the full list of the methods of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| config | Sets or retrieves a configuration setting. |
| do_events | Processes events from the internal message queue. |
| reset | Reset the class. |
| send | Sends data to the remote host. |
Event List
The following is the full list of the events fired by the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| on_data_in | Fired when data is received. |
| on_error | Information about errors during data delivery. |
| on_ready_to_send | Fired when the class is ready to send data. |
Configuration Settings
The following is a list of configuration settings for the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| CaptureIPPacketInfo | Used to capture the packet information. |
| DestinationAddress | Used to get the destination address from the packet information. |
| DontFragment | Used to set the Don't Fragment flag of outgoing packets. |
| LocalHost | The name of the local host through which connections are initiated or accepted. |
| LocalPort | The port in the local host where the class binds. |
| MaxPacketSize | The maximum length of the packets that can be received. |
| QOSDSCPValue | Used to specify an arbitrary QOS/DSCP setting (optional). |
| QOSTrafficType | Used to specify QOS/DSCP settings (optional). |
| ShareLocalPort | If set to True, allows more than one instance of the class to be active on the same local port. |
| SourceIPAddress | Used to set the source IP address used when sending a packet. |
| SourceMacAddress | Used to set the source MAC address used when sending a packet. |
| UseConnection | Determines whether to use a connected socket. |
| UseIPv6 | Whether or not to use IPv6. |
| AbsoluteTimeout | Determines whether timeouts are inactivity timeouts or absolute timeouts. |
| FirewallData | Used to send extra data to the firewall. |
| InBufferSize | The size in bytes of the incoming queue of the socket. |
| OutBufferSize | The size in bytes of the outgoing queue of the socket. |
| BuildInfo | Information about the product's build. |
| CodePage | The system code page used for Unicode to Multibyte translations. |
| LicenseInfo | Information about the current license. |
| ProcessIdleEvents | Whether the class uses its internal event loop to process events when the main thread is idle. |
| SelectWaitMillis | The length of time in milliseconds the class will wait when DoEvents is called if there are no events to process. |
| UseInternalSecurityAPI | Tells the class whether or not to use the system security libraries or an internal implementation. |