Programmers: I need some help with a Windows Tool

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 16:07

Guys,

There is a LOT of programming talent here, and I need your help.

I need a Windows tool that does the following...

Checks your LAN and returns the following information (In a window)

Recommended IP address: 192.168.1.X
(Please use the follow criteria to determine the recommended address:
* Check the workstation's address.
If it is in the 10's make X a number around 100
If it is in the 100's make X a number around 200
Check to see if the address is already alive, move forward if it is.)
The idea here is to find an open number, away from other IPs on the lan.

Report the Subnet Mask (255.255.255.0 -- yada yada)
Report the Gateway
Report the Outside IP address (The one that is live to the Internet)

The window should have four pieces of information:

Recommended IP
Subnet Mask
Current Gateway
Outside "live" IP Address

I can't promise any riches for this, but I will put your name in "lights" in the credits of material I'm creating for the Spinneret.

Thanks
OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 16:56

Don't think you'll have much luck in this approach. I assume you are using a router based on the fact that you mention 192.168.1.xxx which is a local IP address. A Windows API is not going to be able to see all IP addresses in the Local Area Network.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol ( DHCP) inthe router handles assigning IP addresses, unless they are manually
assigned or the router allows DHCP Reservation.

I use DHCP Reservation to make sure that IP addresses remain constant without manually assigining them (see image).

The only method I can envision that might work is a kludge - basically displaying HTML IP status pages from your particular router in a browser object and then parsing the web page using the Document Object Model (DOM) to extract the addresses. This method would be specific to your router (and firmware version).

Extracting data in this fashion is sometimes called "screen scraping" or "web scraping" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 17:12

I don't need to see them all, just the one that is used on the workstation the program is running on.

Should be able to make a determination from that address which are being used.. If it's in the 10's then the safety region is around 100. If it's in the 100's then the safety region should be around 200. A simple PING should be able to confirm the address is likely unused.

OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 17:26

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) wrote: »

Should be able to make a determination from that address which are being used.. If it's in the 10's then the safety region is around 100. If it's in the 100's then the safety region should be around 200. A simple PING should be able to confirm the address is likely unused.

IP addresses don't have to be assigned sequentially so there is no way "to determine" what ranges are in use (or reserved). A PING is not a reliable way since many security programs block PING requests to prevent hacker attacks.

- Ron

PS There are other reserved Private IP addresses (as specified by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)) you might be able to use besides 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255.
They are:
10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 17:36

@Ron,

Home networking routers typically hand out addresses starting either in the 10's or 100's. I know there is no exact way to determine an address, but we can take some reasonable "guesses" for home users based on the workstation's IP address. Anyone using the device on a larger network should contact their network administrator to make sure they don't cause a problem.

In my experience home routers generally don't hand out more than a few addresses given most of us don't have more than a handful of devices.

OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 18:10

Here are two VBScripts, one uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to display your local IP address e.g. 192.168.1.100

The other displays your WAN IP Address by using an HTTPRequest to browse to http://checkip.dyndns.org/ to get your WAN (Wide Area Network) address which is what I think you are calling the "Outside IP address".

Copy this code into notepad and save them as WANIP.vbs and GetIP.vbs and double click them to run.

This may get you started...

WANIP.vbs

option explicit
Const strURL = "[URL]http://checkip.dyndns.org/[/URL]"
Dim resp, i, cnt, objArgs, duration, btn
Dim WSHShell, objHTTP
duration = 10
Set WSHShell = wscript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objHTTP = CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP.3.0")
objHTTP.open "GET", strURL, False
'in case of error once, retry every second...
 On Error Resume Next
 cnt = 1
 objHTTP.send
 If err.Number <> 0 Then
   Do While err.Number <> 0
     objHTTP.send
     WScript.Sleep 1000
     cnt = cnt + 1
     msgbox  cnt
     if cnt >3 then 
       WSHShell.PopUP "Could not connect to " & strURL, 10, "WAN IP Address",  0    '  + 64
       wscript.quit
     end if
   Loop
 End If
 resp = objHTTP.responseText 
 
 i = instr(resp, "IP Address: ")
 if i > 0 then
  resp = mid(resp, i+12)
end if
 i = instr(resp, "</body>")
 if i > 0 then
  resp = mid(resp, 1, i-1)
end if
'resp = resp & vbcrlf & vbcrlf & strURL
'msgbox objHTTP.readyState & vbcrlf & objHTTP.statusText & vbcrlf & objHTTP.status
btn = WSHShell.PopUP(resp, duration, "WAN IP Address", 1)    '  + 64
set WSHShell = nothing

GetIP.vbs

strComputer = "." 
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _ 
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2") 
 
Set IPConfigSet = objWMIService.ExecQuery _ 
    ("Select * from Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration Where IPEnabled=TRUE") 
 
For Each IPConfig in IPConfigSet 
    If Not IsNull(IPConfig.IPAddress) Then  
        For i=LBound(IPConfig.IPAddress) to UBound(IPConfig.IPAddress) 
            WScript.Echo IPConfig.IPAddress(i) 
        Next 
    End If 
Next

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 18:15

@Ron,

Ah ha! Yes.. This is going the direction we need. Getting an error in GetIP.vbs though..

OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 18:17

What is the error? What version of Windows are you running?

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 18:20

Windows XP. Here's the error..

GetIP.vbs

Windows Script Host

Script: C:\GetIP.vbs
Line: 8
Char: 1
Error: 0x80041013
Code: 80041013
Source: (null)

OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 18:40

Looks like you have no network adapters where "TCP/IP is bound and enabled"

Try running "IPCONFIG /ALL>C:\Jeff.txt" from a DOS prompt. This will create C:\Jeff.txt with the IPConfig output. Open Jeff.txt with notepad and post the results...

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 18:57

Windows IP Configuration



        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : family-4003ac1f

        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : 

        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:



        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-D4-47-D8-F1

        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.8

        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1

        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1

        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1

        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, July 05, 2011 3:49:13 PM

        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, July 08, 2011 3:49:13 PM

Kevin Wood · 2011-07-05 18:58

Jeff, I'm assuming that you're working on some form of GUI for the Spinneret, and I'm guessing it's in a .Net language. If this is the case, you can do what you want via the .Net framework. This is a better solution than WSH, since WSH may be disabled for security reasons.

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 19:15

Jeff,
Try running this version - the WHERE clause is commented out.

Does it display 192.168.2.8?

strComputer = "." 
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _ 
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2") 
 
Set IPConfigSet = objWMIService.ExecQuery _ 
    ("Select * from Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration")    ' Where IPEnabled=TRUE")   
For Each IPConfig in IPConfigSet 
  If Not IsNull(IPConfig.IPAddress) Then  
    For i=LBound(IPConfig.IPAddress) to UBound(IPConfig.IPAddress) 
'     WScript.Echo IPConfig.IPAddress(i)
      msgbox IpConfig.Caption & vbcrlf & IPConfig.IPAddress(i), vbinformation, IPConfig.DNSHostName
    Next 
  End If 
Next

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 19:22

No change..

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 19:30

Not sure what to tell you!?! I tried it my desktop (hardwired Ethernet) and my NetBook (with a disconnected Ethernet and wireless-N WIFI adapter) and it works fine.

Since your IPConfig output looks simple and straightforward, I am stumped.

Mike G · 2011-07-05 19:45

See if this works LocalNetworkInfo.zip

Run it from the command line.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 20:21

@MikeG

We're getting closer..

OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 20:32

Here is another vbscript which basically grabs the values from the IPCONFIG command:

  option explicit
  dim WSHShell, sExec, x, strLineIn
  dim msgtxt
  Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
  set sExec = WSHShell.Exec("ipconfig /all")
  Do While Not sExec.StdOut.AtEndOfStream
    strLineIn = sExec.StdOut.ReadLine()
    if instr(strLineIn, "IP Address") > 0 then
      msgtxt = msgtxt & "IP Addr: " & ParseIt(strLineIn) & vbcrlf    
    end if
    if instr(strLineIn, "Subnet Mask") > 0 then
      msgtxt = msgtxt & "Subnet mask: " & ParseIt(strLineIn) & vbcrlf    
    end if
    if instr(strLineIn, "Description") > 0 then
      msgtxt = msgtxt & "Adapter: " & ParseIt(strLineIn) & vbcrlf    
    end if
  Loop
  msgbox msgtxt, vbinformation, "IP Address"
 
public function ParseIt(strIN)
  dim i
  i = instr(strIN, ":")
  if i > 0 then
     Parseit = trim(mid(strIN, i+1))
  else
     ParseIt = strIN
  end if
end function

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 20:36

@Ron,

That's the ticket!

Now we just need to make an "educated" guess as to an available IP outside of the typical address ranges..

OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-05 21:02

This parses the IPCONFIG and when it finds the first adapter with an IPV4 address (ignores IPV6),
it replaces the last node with 254 for a recommended address

e.g. 192.168.1.100 --> 192.168.1.254

This is rather a crude way to do this. A compiled program doing API calls would be better - especially since the WMI approach did not work for you...

Also you might have multiple adapters.

  option explicit
  dim WSHShell, sExec, x, strLineIn, IPaddr, subnet, adapter, iparray, foundsw, recommend
  dim msgtxt
  Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
  set sExec = WSHShell.Exec("ipconfig /all")
  foundsw = false
  Do While Not sExec.StdOut.AtEndOfStream
    strLineIn = sExec.StdOut.ReadLine()
    if instr(strLineIn, "Description") > 0 then
      Adapter = ParseIt(strLineIn) 
    end if
    if instr(strLineIn, "IP Address") > 0 then
      ipaddr = ParseIt(strLineIn) 
      iparray = split(ipaddr, ".", -1, 1)
      if ubound(iparray) = 3 then
        foundsw = true
        recommend = iparray(0) & "." & iparray(1) & "." & iparray(2) & "." & "254"
      end if       
    end if
    if instr(strLineIn, "Subnet Mask") > 0 then
      subnet = ParseIt(strLineIn) 
      if foundsw then
        exit do 
      end if
    end if
  Loop
  msgtxt = "Adapter: " & adapter & vbcrlf & "IP Address: " & IPaddr & vbcrlf & _
               "Subnet mask: " &  subnet & vbcrlf & "Recommended: " & recommend
  msgbox msgtxt, vbinformation, "IP Address"
 
public function ParseIt(strIN)
  dim i
  i = instr(strIN, ":")
  if i > 0 then
     Parseit = trim(mid(strIN, i+1))
  else
     ParseIt = strIN
  end if
end function

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-05 21:40

@Ron,

Not bad.. Can you slip the Gateway and Outside IP into this single script?

OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-06 06:21

Jeff,
Here you go!

The bill is on the way - I don't take PAYPAL

- Ron

  option explicit
  Const strURL = "[URL]http://checkip.dyndns.org/[/URL]"
  dim WSHShell, sExec, x, strLineIn, IPaddr, subnet, adapter, gateway, iparray, foundsw, recommend
  dim msgtxt, temp
  dim objHTTP, cnt, resp, WAN, i
  Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
' get WAN IP address using HTTPRequest 
  Set objHTTP = CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP.3.0")
  objHTTP.open "GET", strURL, False
'in case of error once, retry every second...
  On Error Resume Next
  cnt = 1
  objHTTP.send
  If err.Number <> 0 Then
    Do While err.Number <> 0
      objHTTP.send
      WScript.Sleep 1000
      cnt = cnt + 1
      msgbox  cnt
      if cnt >3 then 
        WSHShell.PopUP "Could not connect to " & strURL, 10, "WAN IP Address",  0    '  + 64
        wscript.quit
      end if
    Loop
  End If
  WAN = objHTTP.responseText 
  i = instr(WAN, "IP Address: ")
  if i > 0 then
    WAN = mid(WAN, i+12)
  end if
  i = instr(WAN, "</body>")
  if i > 0 then
    WAN = mid(WAN, 1, i-1)
  end if
 
'execute IPCONFIG /ALL and extract info from Exec output stream
  set sExec = WSHShell.Exec("ipconfig /all")
  foundsw = false
  Do While Not sExec.StdOut.AtEndOfStream
    strLineIn = sExec.StdOut.ReadLine()
    if instr(strLineIn, "Description") > 0 then
      Adapter = ParseIt(strLineIn) 
    end if
    if instr(strLineIn, "IP Address") > 0 then
      temp = ParseIt(strLineIn) 
      iparray = split(temp, ".", -1, 1)     'IPv4 format "." separator - NOT IPv6 which uses ":"
      if ubound(iparray) = 3 then          
        IPaddr = temp
        foundsw = true                        
        recommend = iparray(0) & "." & iparray(1) & "." & iparray(2) & "." & "254"
      end if       
    end if
    if instr(strLineIn, "Subnet Mask") > 0 then
      subnet = ParseIt(strLineIn) 
    end if
    if instr(strLineIn, "Default Gateway") > 0 then
      gateway = ParseIt(strLineIn) 
      if foundsw then
        exit do                         'found IP address and related info - stop processing stream 
      end if
    end if
  Loop
  msgtxt = "Adapter: " & adapter & vbcrlf & "IP Address: " & IPaddr & vbcrlf & _
               "Subnet mask: " &  subnet & vbcrlf & _
               "Gateway: " & gateway & vbcrlf & _
               "WAN address: " & WAN & vbcrlf & vbcrlf & _
               "Recommended: " & recommend
  msgbox msgtxt, vbinformation, "LAN/WAN info"
 
public function ParseIt(strIN)
  dim i
  i = instr(strIN, ":")
  if i > 0 then
     Parseit = trim(mid(strIN, i+1))
  else
     ParseIt = strIN
  end if
end function

If you have Microsoft TCP/IP version 6 installed, it complicates the IPCONFIG results, but the script handles it.
e.g.

Windows IP Configuration
        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : czapala1
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-92-71-AD-F6
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::21d:92ff:fe71:adf6%4
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.67.222.222
                                            74.128.17.114
                                            208.67.220.220
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, July 06, 2011 7:56:17 AM
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, July 08, 2011 7:56:17 AM
Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:
        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::ffff:ffff:fffd%5
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
        NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
Tunnel adapter Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:
        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : C0-A8-01-64
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.1.100%2
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
                                            fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
        NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Mike G · 2011-07-06 06:36

This one just enumerates all your network interfaces and I believe fulfills your requirements. I was not too keen on the Suggested IP stuff but added it anyway.
http://forums.parallax.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=82686&d=1309959165

sam_sam_sam · 2011-07-06 07:00

Can this also be be done with Windows 7 64 bit

and if you can how do you do it

I am not trying to hijack this post

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-06 07:02

Mike G wrote: »

This one just enumerates all your network interfaces and I believe fulfills your requirements.

Mike, it looks like you wrote this in Visual Studio 2010 .NET so I am curious, why does it need to run from a command line?

Maybe it would appeal more to Jeff if it displayed in a window.

I haven't done much with dotnet - I still use VB6 alot - old habits are to break.

I don't think these suggested addresses from your program are legitimate
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 254.128.0.10
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 254.128.0.10
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 254.128.0.10
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 0.0.0.10
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 254.128.0.10

Could you post the source code?

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-06 07:44

Thanks Ron

Does this script also work successfully on Windows 7?

OBC

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-06 07:49

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) wrote: »

Thanks Ron

Does this script also work successfully on Windows 7?

OBC

Don't know - maybe someone can try it and let us know.
I am still a big fan of XP Pro. VISTA was terrible but Windows 7 sounds good - but I am afraid that some development tools I still use may not work under WIN7.
There are still a LOT of XP users out there...

Mike G · 2011-07-06 08:36

sam_sam_sam wrote:

Can this also be be done with Windows 7 64 bit

Ran fine on my Win 7 box. Did you try and it did not work? If so, what was the error?

Ron Czapala wrote:

Mike, it looks like you wrote this in Visual Studio 2010 .NET so I am curious, why does it need to run from a command line?

It doesn't really... I did not put in a pause so when the program completes the console goes away. That's an easy thing to fix... lazy I guess. I'll post the source when I get home from work.

Ron Czapala wrote:

I don't think these suggested addresses from your program are legitimate
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 254.128.0.10
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 254.128.0.10
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 254.128.0.10
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 0.0.0.10
Suggested IP(s) ............... : 254.128.0.10

I simply executed the logic given by OBC's requirements. I can easily filter out the x.x.x.0 IPs.

Ron Czapala wrote:

Maybe it would appeal more to Jeff if it displayed in a window.

It is in a window? do you mean a Win form?

Ron Czapala · 2011-07-06 09:08

Mike,
The only valid Private IP addresses according to the IANA are:

192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255.
10.0.0.0 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 172.31.255.255

Mike G · 2011-07-06 09:24

Thanks Ron;

I can add IP filtering to a config file so that way thte user can restrict the results. Plus I will not allow redundant entries or adapters that are not "UP".

Ron, fyi, I'm getting a recommend IP of 170.68.14.254 but I'm at work.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-06 10:19

I've adjusted it down to .200 instead of .254.

I've seen some printer installs want that address.

OBC

Programmers: I need some help with a Windows Tool

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