XIPAddressCtrl - an enhanced IP address control based on CIPAddressCtrl

• Download demo project - 29 Kb

Introduction

The CIPAddressCtrl control allows the user to enter a standard four-field IP address:

However, the API for this control is quite limited, and only deals with four BYTE values or a DWORD value. I decided to extend this API with functions to allow for strings, and also a pair of functions to allow for reading/writing the IP address to the profile (see below for more info on profile functions).

XIPAddressCtrl Functions

Here are the functions available with XIPAddressCtrl:

• GetAddress() - Retrieve the IP address from the control and return it as a CString.

  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  //
  // GetAddress()
  //
  // Purpose:     Retrieve the IP address from the control and return it as a
  //              CString.
  //
  // Parameters:  strAddress - [out] dotted IP address; e.g., "127.0.0.1"
  //
  // Returns:     int        - number of non-blank fields in the address
  //

• SetAddress() - Write the dotted IP string address to the control.

  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  //
  // SetAddress()
  //
  // Purpose:     Write the dotted IP string address to the control.
  //
  // Parameters:  lpszAddress - [in] dotted IP address; e.g., "127.0.0.1"
  //
  // Returns:     None
  //

• ByteAddressToString() - Convert the four byte fields to a dotted IP address string.

  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  //
  // ByteAddressToString()
  //
  // Purpose:     Convert the four byte fields to a dotted IP address string.
  //
  // Parameters:  nField0 - [in] field 0 from a packed IP address
  //              nField1 - [in] field 1 from a packed IP address
  //              nField2 - [in] field 2 from a packed IP address
  //              nField3 - [in] field 3 from a packed IP address
  //
  // Returns:     CString - dotted IP address string; e.g., "127.0.0.1"
  //

• StringAddressToByte() - Convert a dotted IP address string to four byte fields.

  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  //
  // StringAddressToByte()
  //
  // Purpose:     Convert a dotted IP address string to four byte fields.
  //
  // Parameters:  lpszAddress - [in]  dotted IP address string
  //              nField0     - [out] reference to field 0 of IP address
  //              nField1     - [out] reference to field 1 of IP address
  //              nField2     - [out] reference to field 2 of IP address
  //              nField3     - [out] reference to field 3 of IP address
  //
  // Returns:     CString     - dotted IP address string; e.g., "127.0.0.1"
  //

• ReadProfileAddress() - Retrieve the IP address from the profile and write it to the control.

  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  //
  // ReadProfileAddress()
  //
  // Purpose:     Retrieve the IP address from the profile and write it to the
  //              control.
  //
  // Parameters:  lpszSection - [in] pointer to string that specifies the section
  //                            containing the entry
  //              lpszEntry   - [in] pointer to string that contains the entry
  //                            whose value is to be retrieved
  //              lpszDefault - [in] pointer to default string value for the
  //                            given entry if the entry cannot be found
  //
  // Returns:     CString     - string from the application’s profile, or
  //                            lpszDefault if the string cannot be found
  //

• WriteProfileAddress() - Retrieve the IP address from the control and write it to the profile.

  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  //
  // WriteProfileAddress()
  //
  // Purpose:     Retrieve the IP address from the control and write it to the
  //              profile.
  //
  // Parameters:  lpszSection - [in] pointer to string that specifies the section
  //                            containing the entry
  //              lpszEntry   - [in] pointer to string that contains the entry
  //                            whose value is to be written
  //
  // Returns:     None
  //

Using the Profile Functions

MFC provides two mechanisms for automatically dealing with profiles. The first mechanism is the CWinApp::SetRegistryKey() API. When SetRegistryKey() is used, the registry is the target of the GetProfileInt(), GetProfileString(), WriteProfileInt(), and WriteProfileString() member functions of CWinApp. The registry location will be of the form:

    HKCU\Software\company name\application name\section name\value name

For example, in the XIPAddressCtrlTest demo, SetRegistryKey("CodeProject") is used, and so WriteProfileAddress("Server", "IP") will write the IP address to HKCU\Software\CodeProject\XIPAddressCtrlTest\Server\IP, as shown here:

The second mechanism provided by MFC is to set up a profile file (.ini file) as the target of the GetProfileInt(), GetProfileString(), WriteProfileInt(), and WriteProfileString() member functions of CWinApp. For example, the following code, inserted in the CWinApp::InitInstance() function, will set up the profile file XIPAddressCtrlTest.ini (in the same directory as the exe):

    // INI file is in exe directory
    TCHAR szProfileFilePath[MAX_PATH*2] = { 0 };
    GetModuleFileName(NULL, szProfileFilePath,
        sizeof(szProfileFilePath)/sizeof(TCHAR)-2);
    TCHAR *cp = _tcsrchr(szProfileFilePath, _T('\\'));
    if (cp)
        *(cp+1) = _T('\0');

    CString strProfileFilePath = szProfileFilePath;
    strProfileFilePath += _T("XIPAddressCtrlTest.ini");
    TRACE(_T("strProfileFilePath=<%s>\n"), strProfileFilePath);

    // save our ini file name --
    // first free the string allocated by MFC at CWinApp startup.
    // The string is allocated before InitInstance is called.
    free((void*)m_pszProfileName);
    // Change the name of the .INI file.
    // The CWinApp destructor will free the memory.
    // Note:  must be allocated on heap
    m_pszProfileName = _strdup(strProfileFilePath);

This second mechanism will produce the following XIPAddressCtrlTest.ini file:

[Server]
IP=127.0.0.1

Since XIPAddressCtrl uses CWinApp::GetProfileString() and CWinApp::WriteProfileString(), the target location of the ReadProfileAddress() and WriteProfileAddress() functions will depend on which MFC mechanism is used by the app.

The Demo App

The demo app allows you to enter an IP address and stores it in the app's profile:

Revision History

Version 1.0 - 2005 January 5

• Initial public release

Usage

This software is released into the public domain. You are free to use it in any way you like, except that you may not sell this source code. If you modify it or extend it, please to consider posting new code here for everyone to share. This software is provided "as is" with no expressed or implied warranty. I accept no liability for any damage or loss of business that this software may cause.