public connect(url:String, port:Number) : Boolean

Establishes a connection to the specified Internet host by using the specified TCP port and returns true or false, depending on whether a connection is successfully initiated. If the XMLSocket.connect() method returns a value of true, the initial stage of the connection process is successful; later, the XMLSocket.onConnect() method is invoked to determine whether the final connection succeeded or failed. If XMLSocket.connect() returns false, a connection could not be established.

If you do not know the port number of your Internet host computer, contact your network administrator. To connect an XMLSocket to a port lower than 1024, you must first load a policy file with the System.security.loadPolicyFile() method.

If you specify null for the host parameter, the host contacted is the one where the SWF file calling XMLSocket.connect() resides. For example, if the SWF file was downloaded from www.example.com, specifying null for the host parameter is the same as entering the IP address for www.example.com.

In SWF files of any version running in Flash Player 7 or later, the host parameter must be in exactly the same domain. For example, a SWF file at www.someDomain.com that is published for Flash Player 5, but is running in Flash Player 7 or later can load variables only from SWF files that are also at www.someDomain.com. If you want to load variables from a different domain, you can place a cross-domain policy file on the server hosting the SWF file that is being accessed.

Note: The XMLSocket.connect() method returns false if System.capabilities.hasXMLSocket is false.

Parameters

url:String - String; A fully qualified DNS domain name or an IP address in the form aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd. You can also specify null to connect to the host server on which the SWF file resides. If the SWF file issuing this call is running in a web browser, the host parameter must be in the same domain as the SWF file.

port:Number - Number; The TCP port number on the host used to establish a connection.

Returns

Boolean - A value of true if the connection is successful; false otherwise.

Example

The following example uses the XMLSocket.connect() method to connect to the host where the SWF file resides and uses the trace() function to display the return value indicating the success or failure of the connection:

var socket:XMLSocket = new XMLSocket()
socket.onConnect = function (success:Boolean) {
    if (success) {
    trace ("Connection succeeded!");
    } else {
    trace ("Connection failed!");
    }
}
if (!socket.connect(null, 2000)) {
    trace ("Connection failed!");
}

See also

onConnect (XMLSocket.onConnect handler), Array function, loadPolicyFile (security.loadPolicyFile method)