Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace (Windows)

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Provides access to sockets and WebSockets for network communications and real-time notifications to be received in the background for connected apps.

Members

The Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace has these types of members:

Classes
Enumerations
Interfaces
Structures

Classes

The Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace has these classes.

Class	Description
ControlChannelTrigger	Enables real time notifications to be received in the background for class elements in the Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace and other networking transports.
DatagramSocket	Supports network communication using a UDP datagram socket.
DatagramSocketControl	Provides socket control data on a DatagramSocket object.
DatagramSocketInformation	Provides socket information on a DatagramSocket object.
DatagramSocketMessageReceivedEventArgs	Provides data for a MessageReceived event on a DatagramSocket.
MessageWebSocket	Supports network communication that allows reading and writing whole messages using a WebSocket.
MessageWebSocketControl	Provides socket control data on a MessageWebSocket.
MessageWebSocketInformation	Provides socket information on a MessageWebSocket.
MessageWebSocketMessageReceivedEventArgs	Provides data for a message received event on a MessageWebSocket.
SocketError	Provides socket error status for operations on a DatagramSocket, StreamSocket, or StreamSocketListener.
StreamSocket	Supports network communication using a TCP stream socket.
StreamSocketControl	Provides socket control data on a StreamSocket object.
StreamSocketInformation	Provides socket information on a StreamSocket object.
StreamSocketListener	Supports listening for an incoming network connection using a TCP stream socket.
StreamSocketListenerConnectionReceivedEventArgs	Provides data for a ConnectionReceived event on a StreamSocketListener object.
StreamSocketListenerControl	Provides socket control data on a StreamSocketListener object.
StreamSocketListenerInformation	Provides socket information on a StreamSocketListener object.
StreamWebSocket	Supports network communication that allows reading and writing streams using a WebSocket.
StreamWebSocketControl	Provides socket control data on a StreamWebSocket object.
StreamWebSocketInformation	Provides socket information on a StreamWebSocket object.
WebSocketClosedEventArgs	Provides data for a closed event on a MessageWebSocket, StreamWebSocket, or IWebSocket object.
WebSocketError	Provides socket error status on a MessageWebSocket or StreamWebSocket object.
WebSocketKeepAlive	Provides the ability to send a WebSocket protocol keep-alive on a connected WebSocket.

Enumerations

The Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace has these enumerations.

Enumeration	Description
ControlChannelTriggerResetReason	The reason why a ControlChannelTrigger was reset.
ControlChannelTriggerResourceType	The resource type used by a control channel trigger.
ControlChannelTriggerStatus	Specifies if the system was able to complete configuration of a ControlChannelTrigger object for use by class elements in the Windows.Networking.Sockets and related namespaces.
SocketErrorStatus	Specifies status values for a socket operation.
SocketMessageType	Specifies the type of a message for a MessageWebSocket object.
SocketProtectionLevel	Specifies the protection level that represents the integrity and encryption for a StreamSocket object.
SocketQualityOfService	Specifies the quality of service for a DatagramSocket or StreamSocket object.

Interfaces

The Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace defines these interfaces.

Interface	Description
IControlChannelTriggerEventDetails	An object instantiated by the background broker infrastructure that is used to differentiate control channel triggers.
IControlChannelTriggerResetEventDetails	An object instantiated by the background broker infrastructure for a ControlChannelReset event to indicate that a ControlChannelTrigger was reset.
IWebSocket	Provides access to network communication that allows reading and writing using a WebSocket.
IWebSocketControl	Provides socket control data on an IWebSocket object.
IWebSocketInformation	Provides socket information on an IWebSocket object.

Structures

The Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace has these structures.

Structure	Description
BandwidthStatistics	Represents bandwidth information for network data transfer using a StreamSocket, StreamWebSocket, or MessageWebSocket object.
RoundTripTimeStatistics	Represents round trip time information for a StreamSocket object.

Remarks

The Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace provides classes and interfaces for networking that use sockets and WebSockets. The primary classes include the following:

DatagramSocket - Used to support network communication using a UDP datagram socket.
StreamSocket - Used to support network communication using a TCP stream socket.
StreamSocketListener - Used to support listening for an incoming network connection using a TCP stream socket.
MessageWebSocket - Used to support network communication that allows reading and writing whole messages using a WebSocket.
StreamWebSocket - Used to support network communication that allows reading and writing streams using a WebSocket.

The primary classes listed above also have a number of related support classes in the Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace.

Using sockets and WebSockets on Windows Server 2012

On Windows Server 2012, the Windows.Networking.dll that implements most of the classes in the Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace will fail to load unless the Media Foundation feature is enabled. As a result, apps using classes used for sockets and WebSockets in the Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace will fail if the Media Foundation feature is disabled (which is the default on Windows Server 2012).

The Media Foundation feature can be enabled on Windows Server 2012 using Server Manager or by entering the following text in a command prompt or a script:

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:ServerMediaFoundation

After the Media Foundation feature is enabled on Windows Server 2012, the user is prompted to restart. Once the computer is restarted, classes used for sockets and WebSockets in the Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace will work as expected.

Using sockets and WebSockets with network isolation

The network isolation feature in Windows 8 enables a developer to fully control the security profile of a Windows Store app.

Network isolation allows a developer to define the scope of required network access for each app by selecting the appropriate capabilities. An app without the appropriate scope defined is prevented from accessing the specified type of network and specific type of network request (outbound client-initiated requests, or both inbound unsolicited requests and outbound client-initiated requests). The ability to set and enforce network isolation ensures that if even an app does become compromised, it will only be able to access networks where the app has explicitly been granted access. This significantly reduces the scope of the impact on other applications and on the operating system.

Windows 8 actively enforces network isolation. A call to a method or any access to a property in the Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace (or related namespaces that require network access) may fail if the appropriate network capability has not been enabled.

The network capabilities for an app are configured in the app manifest when the app is built. Network capabilities are usually added by using Visual Studio when developing the app. They may also be set manually in the app manifest file by using a text editor.

For more detailed information on network isolation, see How to configure network isolation capabilities.

Using Network Triggers

The Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace provides support for network control channel triggers that are used to enable real-time status and notifications for class elements in the Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace and in related namespaces.

Network triggers are used by long-running network apps (for example, an email app) to minimize network and system resource usage. Network triggers allow an app to drop to a low-power mode for periods of time, keeping network connections intact but in a low-power state. An app can set a keep-alive interval to let the system know when the app should wake up. An app can also set a trigger to let it be notified when a packet is received for the app. These notification features can help extend battery life when using long-running network apps on mobile devices.

For more information, see the ControlChannelTrigger class and How to set background connectivity options.

Requirements

Minimum supported client	Windows 8
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2012
Minimum supported phone	Windows Phone 8
Namespace	Windows.Networking.Sockets Windows::Networking::Sockets [C++]
Metadata	Windows.winmd
DLL	Windows.Networking.dll; Windows.Networking.Sockets.Pushenabledapplication.dll
Capabilities	ID_CAP_NETWORKING [Windows Phone]

Windows.Networking.Sockets namespace