Dear John, How Do I... Select the ActiveX Component to Use?

The Microsoft Visual Basic Professional and Enterprise Editions include three ActiveX controls that let you access three different levels of Internet communication:

The Winsock control (MSWINSCK.OCX) provides low-level access to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) network protocols used on the Internet. The Winsock control is used to create chat applications and to perform direct data transfers between two or more networked computers.
The Internet Transfer control (MSINET.OCX) lets you copy files from Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers and lets you browse directories of files and retrieve data synchronously or asynchronously. This control is used to create FTP browsing and file transfer applications.
The WebBrowser control (SHDOCVW.DLL) packs all the capabilities of Internet Explorer into a single control. Use it to add an Internet browser to an existing application or to control Internet Explorer from another application through Automation.

NOTE

The WebBrowser control is called Microsoft Internet Controls in the Visual Basic Components dialog box. It is installed as part of the IE setup. IE version 4.0 is included on the Visual Studio CD-ROM.

The following sections talk about these different levels of Internet access and provide examples of how to use each of these controls.