IPMonitor Control

Properties   Methods   Events   Config Settings   Errors  

The IPMonitor control is used to listen to network traffic.

Syntax

IPMonitor

Remarks

The IPMonitor control will bind to a specific local host address and listen for network traffic received by the interface. The interface must support promiscuous mode (which may not work in many wireless cards because of security considerations) and must be installed on Windows 2000 or greater.

Note: If your computer connects to a switch, the switch will forward only those packets addressed to your computer. If your computer is on a hub, then you will receive everything.

The use of this component requires administrative permissions.

The first step in using the IPMonitor control is to set LocalHost to the IP address whose traffic you wish to monitor, and then set Active to True. For each packet that crosses the interface, the control will parse the header and fire an IPPacket event.

Property List

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The following is the full list of the properties of the control with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Method List

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The following is the full list of the methods of the control with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Event List

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The following is the full list of the events fired by the control with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Config Settings

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The following is a list of config settings for the control with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

AcceptData Property (IPMonitor Control)

This property indicates whether data reception is currently enabled.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.AcceptData

Default Value

True

Remarks

This property indicates whether data reception is currently enabled. When , data reception is disabled and the IPPacket event will not fire. Use the PauseData and ProcessData methods to pause and resume data reception.

This property is read-only and not available at design time.

Data Type

Boolean

Active Property (IPMonitor Control)

This property indicates whether the control is active.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.Active

Default Value

False

Remarks

This property indicates whether the control is currently active and is monitoring network traffic. Use the Activate and Deactivate methods to control whether the control is active.

This property is read-only and not available at design time.

Data Type

Boolean

IPPacket Property (IPMonitor Control)

This property includes the contents of the current packet.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.IPPacket

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property contains the contents of the current packet. This property is available only while the IPPacket event is being processed. An empty string is returned at all other times.

To read or write binary data to the property, a Variant (Byte Array) version is provided in .IPPacketB.

This property is read-only and not available at design time.

Data Type

Binary String

LocalHost Property (IPMonitor Control)

The name of the local host or user-assigned IP interface through which connections are initiated or accepted.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.LocalHost[=string]

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property contains the name of the local host as obtained by the gethostname() system call, or if the user has assigned an IP address, the value of that address.

In multihomed hosts (machines with more than one IP interface) setting LocalHost to the IP address of an interface will make the control initiate connections (or accept in the case of server controls) only through that interface. It is recommended to provide an IP address rather than a hostname when setting this property to ensure the desired interface is used.

If the control is connected, the LocalHost property shows the IP address of the interface through which the connection is made in internet dotted format (aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd). In most cases, this is the address of the local host, except for multihomed hosts (machines with more than one IP interface).

Note: LocalHost is not persistent. You must always set it in code, and never in the property window.

Data Type

String

Activate Method (IPMonitor Control)

This method enables network monitoring.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.Activate 

Remarks

This methods enables network monitoring. When called, the control will create a communication endpoint (socket) that can be used to monitor network traffic.

To stop monitoring traffic, call Deactivate.

Config Method (IPMonitor Control)

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.Config ConfigurationString

Remarks

Config is a generic method available in every control. It is used to set and retrieve configuration settings for the control.

These settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the control, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

To set a configuration setting named PROPERTY, you must call Config("PROPERTY=VALUE"), where VALUE is the value of the setting expressed as a string. For boolean values, use the strings "True", "False", "0", "1", "Yes", or "No" (case does not matter).

To read (query) the value of a configuration setting, you must call Config("PROPERTY"). The value will be returned as a string.

Deactivate Method (IPMonitor Control)

This method disables network monitoring.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.Deactivate 

Remarks

This methods disables network monitoring. When called, the control will stop monitoring network traffic.

DoEvents Method (IPMonitor Control)

This method processes events from the internal message queue.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.DoEvents 

Remarks

When DoEvents is called, the control processes any available events. If no events are available, it waits for a preset period of time, and then returns.

ListIPAddresses Method (IPMonitor Control)

This method lists the valid IP addresses for this host.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.ListIPAddresses 

Remarks

Use this method to list all valid addresses that can be monitored. Before monitoring the network, LocalHost must be set to a valid address on the host. After a call to this method, an IPAddress event will fire for each address.

ParsePcapFile Method (IPMonitor Control)

This method parses the specified pcap file.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.ParsePcapFile fileName

Remarks

This method parses the specified pcap (packet capture) file and fires events as if the traffic were received directly.

The control supports both the standard pcap and the newer pcap-ng file formats used by a variety of popular network capture tools. When calling this method, the file will be parsed and the IPPacket event will fire for each parsed packet.

PauseData Method (IPMonitor Control)

This method pauses data reception.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.PauseData 

Remarks

This method pauses data reception when called. While data reception is paused, the IPPacket event will not fire. Call ProcessData to reenable data reception.

ProcessData Method (IPMonitor Control)

This method reenables data reception after a call to PauseData .

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.ProcessData 

Remarks

This method reenables data reception after a previous call to PauseData. When PauseData is called, the IPPacket event will not fire. To reenable data reception and allow IPPacket to fire, call this method.

Note: This method is used only after previously calling PauseData. It does not need to be called to process data by default.

Reset Method (IPMonitor Control)

This method will reset the control.

Syntax

ipmonitorcontrol.Reset 

Remarks

This method will reset the control's properties to their default values.

Error Event (IPMonitor Control)

Fired when information is available about errors during data delivery.

Syntax

Sub ipmonitorcontrol_Error(ErrorCode As Integer, Description As String)

Remarks

The Error event is fired in case of exceptional conditions during message processing. Normally the control fails with an error.

The ErrorCode parameter contains an error code, and the Description parameter contains a textual description of the error. For a list of valid error codes and their descriptions, please refer to the Error Codes section.

IPAddress Event (IPMonitor Control)

This event is fired for each valid IP address on this host.

Syntax

Sub ipmonitorcontrol_IPAddress(IpAddress As String)

Remarks

Before monitoring the network, LocalHost must be set to a valid address on the host. Use the ListIPAddresses method to list all valid addresses that can be monitored. After a call to the method, an IPAddress event will fire for each address.

IPPacket Event (IPMonitor Control)

This event is fired whenever a packet is received.

Syntax

Sub ipmonitorcontrol_IPPacket(SourceAddress As String, SourcePort As Integer, DestinationAddress As String, DestinationPort As Integer, IPVersion As Integer, TOS As Integer, Id As Integer, Flags As Integer, Offset As Integer, TTL As Integer, Checksum As Integer, IPProtocol As Integer, Payload As String, Timestamp As Long64)

Remarks

When Active is True or ParsePcapFile is called, the control will listen for network traffic or parse the provided file, respectively. For each packet sent across the interface in LocalHost, the control will parse the packet and fire an IPPacket event with the header fields and payload. The parameters are defined as follows:

TOS

Precedence

Flags

IPProtocol (For a full list, visit www.iana.org.)

Config Settings (IPMonitor Control)

The control accepts one or more of the following configuration settings. Configuration settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the control, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

IPMonitor Config Settings

Socket Config Settings

Base Config Settings

Trappable Errors (IPMonitor Control)

IPMonitor Errors

SSL Errors

TCP/IP Errors