Created by ic@stairways.com

IC Programmer's Kit Roadmap

• Introduction
• Packing List
• Getting Started With Internet Config
  • Interfaces
  • Libraries
  • Checking For Availability
  • Using the IC API
• End Matter

Introduction

Welcome to the Internet Config Programmer Kit. This document describes the IC Programmer's Kit in broad detail, and gives an outline of programming with Internet Config.

If you have not programmed with Internet Config before, this is the place to start!

If have programmed Internet Config before, you should check out the Internet Config Programmer's Kit Release Notes document, which describes the important changes between IC 1.x and IC 2.0.

Full programming reference material for Internet Config can be found in the Internet Config Programmer's Documentation.

Packing List

Apart from this document, the top level of the IC Programmer's Kit contains the following items:

• APIs -- The interfaces and libraries for calling Internet Config from Pascal or C, using classic 68K, PPC, or CFM-68K code.
• Prog_Docs.html -- The full Internet Config Programmer's Documentation.
• Examples -- Example programs, in Pascal and C, that show how to call Internet Config.
• Goodies -- Source to the Goodies which are included in the IC user kit.
• Internet Config Source -- The source to the Internet Config Extension itself. You will probably never need this.

Getting Started With Internet Config

If you're new to Internet Config, you'll probably be interested in a quick summary of how to get your application up and running.

Interfaces

If you're programming in C or C++, you should include "InternetConfig.h". If you're programming in Pascal, you should add "InternetConfig.p" to your project and use the InternetConfig unit.

Libraries

If you are building a PPC or CFM-68K program, you should add InternetConfigLib to your project.

If you are building a classic 68K program, you should add "ICGlue.o" [or "ICGlueFar.o" for far model projects] to your project.

Two important notes about libraries:

• If your CFM based product does not require Internet Config, you should make sure that you mark this as a weak link, otherwise the Finder will refuse to launch your application when Internet Config is not installed.
• If you are using Think C 5.x or the Think Project Manager, you should check the "use .v file" in the ".o Convertor" preferences panel, so that the ".o Convertor" knows the correct case of all the IC API routines.

Checking For Availability

To check for IC's availability, just call ICStart (described below) and check the error result. In addition, before calling ICStart, CFM clients that have weak linked with InternetConfigLib should also check whether they were successfully linked by comparing the ICStart symbol to kUnresolvedCFragSymbolAddress.

IC 2.0 and above install a Gestalt selector ('ICAp'), but this only tells you that IC is installed, not whether you can use it (there may not be enough memory to load it), so you must use the above process rather than relying on Gestalt.

Using the IC API

The best way to get a quick grasp on how to use the IC API is to look at one of the examples. These range from the very easy to the somewhat complex:

• ICHelloCruelWorld -- The simplest possible IC program, which just prints out the current user's email address to the console.
• LaunchURL -- Another simple example that shows how to use IC to launch a URL, in both Pascal and C.
• Example -- A simple example that demonstrates the use of the core IC API routines.
• SpaceAliens -- A full blown drag'n'drop application that uses IC's file type mapping database to set the file types of files based on their extension.

End Matter

If you find a bug in Internet Config then please forward details to the official support address for Internet Config. Please read the Internet Config FAQ before sending messages to this address. If you want to discuss Internet Config in general then I suggest you host that discussion on the comp.sys.mac.comm newsgroup.

If you want to discuss issues related to programming IC, please hold the discussion on the Internet Config programmers list. Instructions for joining this list are given in the FAQ.

Good luck with your IC programming efforts!

Comments: ic@stairways.com