The LingerState property changes the way Close method behaves. This property when set modifies the conditions under which the connection can be reset by Winsock. Connection resets can still occur based on the IP protocol behavior.

This property controls the length of time that the TCP connection will remain open after a call to Close when data remains to be sent. When you call the Write method, data is placed in the outgoing network buffer. This property can be used to ensure that this data is sent to the remote host before the Close method drops the connection.

To enable lingering, create a LingerOption instance containing the desired values, and set the LingerState property to this instance.

The following table describes the behavior of the Close method for the possible values of the Enabled property and the LingerTime property stored in the LingerState property.

The IP stack computes the default IP protocol time-out period to use based on the round trip time of the connection. In most cases, the time-out computed by the stack is more relevant than one defined by an application. This is the default behavior for a socket when the LingerState property is not set.

When the LingerTime property stored in the LingerState property is set greater than the default IP protocol time-out, the default IP protocol time-out will still apply and override.

The following code example sets and gets the sockets linger time.

' Sets the amount of time to linger after closing, using the LingerOption public property.
Dim lingerOption As New LingerOption(True, 10)
tcpClient.LingerState = lingerOption

' Gets the amount of linger time set, using the LingerOption public property.
If tcpClient.LingerState.LingerTime = 10 Then
   Console.WriteLine(("The linger state setting was successfully set to " + tcpClient.LingerState.LingerTime.ToString()))
End If

// sets the amount of time to linger after closing, using the LingerOption public property.
LingerOption lingerOption = new LingerOption (true, 10);

tcpClient.LingerState = lingerOption;

// gets the amount of linger time set, using the LingerOption public property.
if (tcpClient.LingerState.LingerTime == 10)
    Console.WriteLine ("The linger state setting was successfully set to " + tcpClient.LingerState.LingerTime.ToString ());

// sets the amount of time to linger after closing, using the LingerOption public property.
LingerOption^ lingerOption = gcnew LingerOption( true,10 );
tcpClient->LingerState = lingerOption;

// gets the amount of linger time set, using the LingerOption public property.
if ( tcpClient->LingerState->LingerTime == 10 )
      Console::WriteLine( "The linger state setting was successfully set to {0}", tcpClient->LingerState->LingerTime );

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC

.NET Framework

.NET Compact Framework

Reference