The ip-poster project has changed considerable since originally it began life on SourceForge. It now consists of 5 separate applications
(1) ip-poster,
(2) gWizard - C# / stored procedure code generator,
(3) Connacht - on-line accounting application.
(4) DHTML menu
(5) Spice Grid Control - currently only the Excel file reader code is available, and only partially works.

Latest developments at http://www.spicepack.bowmain.com/geri_excel_reader.html. Try it. You will need to save your Excel spreadsheet in Excel 2.0 format. The code is significantly ahead of the binary download, but goes through periods of instability.

Please note that this project is still on-going so offers of help are appreciated. The author is currently studying law, holding down a job (hopefully) and raising a family. Progress will be slow.

ip-poster

ip-poster periodically check the IP address assigned to a DHCP client and post it back to a specified webpage if it changes. 

Cable modem users are frequently assigned dynamic IP addresses (in the UK anyway). This utility makes it possible find a local server by re-directing from a webpage on the ISP's server. ISP customers may need to check their ISP Terms and Conditions to see local servers are permissible. Even if they are, it is recommended that users do not draw attention to themselves. Keep traffic light.

Two additional facilities have been added to ip-poster.

ip-poster periodically checks the files uploaded to the ISP's server against reference copies stored on the local server. Why? ISP customers have no control over their ISP's servers and have no way of knowing how vulnerable their servers are to attack. If ip-poster detects a hacked file, it will attempt to upload a reference copy of the file back onto the ISP's server. Later versions may send e-mail notifications.

ip-poster records all it's activity in an XML log, providing information on connectivity. This enhancement is a direct result of some appalling service by the author's ISP. A webpage is provided which presents the data in a more digestible format. (Under development)

The previous requirements are under serious review as writing to the log file requires loading the whole XML file, which is slow and painful.

The application consists (currently) of 4 parts

• ip poster itself.
• Control panel applet.
• Installation program.
• Uninstall program (not yet developed).

Cool features include support for drag-n-drop, "test" buttons for Http and Ftp URL data entry.

Status

ip-poster is reasonable complete but buggy. It is not now a priority as experience has shown that my assigned DHCP address changes very infrequently. 

One of these days I'm going to concentrate on one project and finish it. If you like something, let me know and I might just do that!

Platforms

NT4, Windows 2000 and Windows XP with IE 5.0 or above installed.
No support will be provided for Windows 95, 98 or ME. (You must be MAD to run a HTTP web server on these platforms)

Downloads

ip-poster is currently being rewritten. Project has recently been ported to use VC.NET (2002-02-17. Yes, even the previous .DEF files caused a problem! VC.NET has lots of annoying small changes and a look a feel that takes some getting used to. Definitely does not use real estate as well as it should. Initial options made response sluggish on my 550 MHz machine, but I digress.) The current executable has not been thoroughly tested and may not be stable.

Download source as zip. Source is also available at Sourceforge.
Download executable.

Enhancements

There are a number of obvious enhancements.

• The current executable is way too big. Judicious use of linker options should significantly reduce it's size. The program currently runs with default stack and data segments and requires 3M of virtual memory (lots of programs do!)
• Setup should include an un-install program.
• Allow dialog to be resized by user. This would require a layout mamager. Probably also a good idea to separate current control panel applet into 2 applets, one for IP poster and one for URL watcher (resizable GUI).
• The current executable uses MS Wininet functions. These have know limitations (by design). Investigate alternative FTP and HTTP libraries.
• The webpage watcher only supports a single server. It would make sense to expand the functionality to support multiple servers.

Installation Notes

• The NT service is installed to run as Local System. The user should modify the service to run under a more suitable account with limited access rights.

Bugs

The software has not yet been released so the software is currently bug-free! ;-)

Report bugs and comments to Shaun O'Kane at Bowmain Ltd