delboy
21st June 2004 13:52 UTC

Dialer bug with windows 98
Or rather windows 98 bug ;)

I'm writing a script which is making repeated calls to the dialer plugin, and so I decided to leave the dll loaded to be less of a resource hog.

This works fine on 2000 and XP but on windows 98 the dll seems to get in a flap. Specifically if I use the autodialonline function and later use the autodialhangup, then subsequent calls to autodialonline manage to create a connection but they return 'offline' (getconnectedstate is similarly broken after this).

Having googled and searched around I cant find anyone else having this problem though i guess you all let the dll unload!
Is there a simple work around / tweak to the dialer.dll that anyone already knows about or is unloading the only route for me?

Cheers

deguix
21st June 2004 14:35 UTC

What Internet Explorer version do you have in your Win 98?

delboy
21st June 2004 14:44 UTC

Originally posted by deguix
What Internet Explorer version do you have in your Win 98?

deguix
21st June 2004 15:16 UTC

From delboy:
Specifically if I use the autodialonline function and later use the autodialhangup, then subsequent calls to autodialonline manage to create a connection but they return 'offline' (getconnectedstate is similarly broken after this).

From MSDN:
InternetAutodial does not support double-dial connections, SmartCard authentication, or connections that require registry-based certification.

delboy
21st June 2004 15:39 UTC

Heres a typical sequence.

Call autodialonline - connection made and returns online
call getconnectedstate - returns online
call autodialhangup - returns success (and is successful!)
call getconnectedstate - returns offline

Call autodialonline - connection made BUT returns offline
call getconnectedstate - returns offline (incorrectly)
call autodialhangup - returns success (though connection still exists)
call getconnectedstate - returns offline (though connection still exists)

Call autodialonline - connection is promted even though there is already an active one... hitting cancel OR connect results in 'offline' being returned.


If i then unload the dll it all starts working again...

very odd huh?

delboy
21st June 2004 16:22 UTC

oh and btw that self same sequence will behave itself on windows 2000 or xp. I think the double-dial connection thing quoted on msdn is where the modem has to make a call, connect to a machine then make another dial out to complete the connection.

Its not that this shouldn't work, it should but its not doing! - i can attatch the script to make this sort of sequence if anyone has windows 98 and is interested!

deguix
21st June 2004 17:20 UTC

It can be the time after you disconnect and before you connect again. Sometimes the Modem response is slow. Try to put a Sleep command between those. But I think it's not a NSIS problem, as by the source code of the plugin says.

i can attatch the script to make this sort of sequence if anyone has windows 98 and is interested!

delboy
21st June 2004 18:34 UTC

Thanks for thinking about it. I think you're right its certainly wininet.dll thats broken, but I guess unloading the dll seems to fix whatever problem there is and that'll have to do.
Interesting problem though if anyone wants to know more about how broken 98 was!
Cheers

delboy
21st June 2004 18:40 UTC

sorry, just to clarify the sleeping doesnt help, wininet just starts going crazy if the dialer.dll doesnt get unloaded