Is it possible to handle proxies at socket level?

Question

I'm doing some networking programming for Windows right now envolving the HTTP protocol.

Is it possible to handle prosies at socket level? And SSL proxies? If not, does Windows provide something at a higher level to handle them? I wouldn't like to use a third party library, but if there's no other way to go I would reconsider it.

A pointer to an example would also be great.

Thank you very much.

Answer 1

You can use for example Windows Internet (WinINet) API http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa383630%28v=VS.85%29.aspx or Windows HTTP Services (WinHTTP) http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384273%28v=VS.85%29.aspx if are interesting for HTTP protocol only. Advantage of using this API is:

• They are Microsoft standard and will be used in a lot of Microsoft products
• They are part of operation system and exists on any Windows
• You can find a lot of examples for almost every subject

What kind of working with proxies do you plan?