Dns Lazarus Pascal Reference Documentation

Dns

Current Version: 11.6.0

Chilkat.Dns

Configure DNS resolution and query DNS records directly from Chilkat.

Chilkat.Dns is a focused class for DNS configuration and DNS record querying. It allows applications to control the nameservers used by Chilkat, query common DNS record types into JSON, configure DNS-over-TLS preference, set DNS query timeouts, and obtain useful diagnostics through LastErrorText.

DNS record queries

Query common DNS record types and receive structured JSON results that are easy to inspect or pass to other application logic.

Nameserver control

Configure the nameservers Chilkat uses instead of relying only on the operating system's default DNS configuration.

DNS-over-TLS preference

Prefer DNS-over-TLS when appropriate for applications that need encrypted DNS lookups.

Timeout settings

Control how long DNS queries may wait before failing, which is useful for responsive applications and troubleshooting.

Application-wide behavior

Nameserver settings affect DNS resolution across Chilkat classes, not only the current Dns object.

Diagnostics

Use LastErrorText to troubleshoot DNS configuration, lookup failures, timeout problems, or nameserver connectivity issues.

Common pattern: Use Dns either to perform direct DNS lookups, or to configure the DNS behavior used by Chilkat as a whole. Because nameserver changes can affect DNS resolution across Chilkat classes, treat them as application-wide configuration rather than object-local state.

Create / Free

uses
  Chilkat.Dns;

var
  obj: TDns;
begin
  obj := TDns.Create;
  try
    if not obj.IsValid then
      raise Exception.Create('Failed to create a TDns instance.');

    // ... use obj ...

  finally
    obj.Free;
  end;
end;
constructor Create;

Allocates the underlying CkDns object and returns a new TDns instance. Simply adding Chilkat.Dns to the unit's uses clause is enough to locate and bind to the Chilkat shared library (DLL / .so / .dylib) at runtime — no separate load step is required. Check obj.IsValid after calling Create; it is False if the underlying library could not be found/loaded or the object could not be allocated (for example, when unlicensed).

destructor Destroy; override;

Every TDns created by calling Create should eventually be released by calling .Free (inherited from TObject). The destructor automatically disposes the underlying CkDns handle. A native (unmanaged) memory leak occurs if the object is never freed.

Properties

DebugLogFilePath
property DebugLogFilePath: string read GetDebugLogFilePath write SetDebugLogFilePath;

If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.

Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.

Possible causes of hangs include:

  • A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
  • A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
  • An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.

More Information and Examples
top
HeartbeatMs
property HeartbeatMs: Integer read GetHeartbeatMs write SetHeartbeatMs;
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

The interval in milliseconds between each AbortCheck event callback, which enables an application to abort certain method calls before they complete. By default, HeartbeatMs is set to 0, meaning no AbortCheck event callbacks will trigger.

More Information and Examples
top
LastErrorHtml
property LastErrorHtml: string read GetLastErrorHtml;

Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

top
LastErrorText
property LastErrorText: string read GetLastErrorText;

Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

top
LastErrorXml
property LastErrorXml: string read GetLastErrorXml;

Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

top
LastMethodSuccess
property LastMethodSuccess: Boolean read GetLastMethodSuccess write SetLastMethodSuccess;

Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: True means success, False means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.

top
MaxWaitMs
property MaxWaitMs: Integer read GetMaxWaitMs write SetMaxWaitMs;
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

The maxiumum number of milliseconds to wait for the answer to a DNS query. A value of 0 is to wait indefinitely (no timeout). It's not a good idea to specify 0 (infinite timeout) or a value less than 1000 (1 second). The default value is 10000 milliseconds.

top
NumNameservers
property NumNameservers: Integer read GetNumNameservers;
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

The number of nameservers currently being used by Chilkat for DNS queries in all objects/classes, such as for HTTP, Email, FTP, SSH, etc.

top
TlsPref
property TlsPref: Integer read GetTlsPref write SetTlsPref;
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

Specifies the TLS preference. Possible values are:

  • 0 = No TLS
  • 1 = Prefer TLS if possible.
  • 2 = Require TLS

The default value is 0. If TLS is preferred then DNS nameservers with TLS capability will be tried first. If none succeed, then UDP/TCP will be tried. If TLS is required, then only TLS capable nameservers will be tried and all DNS queries will use TLS.

Note: To use TLS, your application needs to first specify nameservers by calling AddNameserver once per nameserver with the supportsTls argument set to True.

top
UncommonOptions
property UncommonOptions: string read GetUncommonOptions write SetUncommonOptions;
Introduced in version 11.4.0

This is a catch-all property to be used for uncommon needs. This property defaults to the empty string and should typically remain empty.

top
VerboseLogging
property VerboseLogging: Boolean read GetVerboseLogging write SetVerboseLogging;

If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

top
Version
property Version: string read GetVersion;

Version of the component/library, such as "10.1.0"

More Information and Examples
top

Methods

AddDefaultNameservers
procedure AddDefaultNameservers;
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

Adds the default (auto-assigned) nameservers to the collection of nameservers used by Chilkat for DNS queries and domain to IP address lookups.

top
AddNameserver
procedure AddNameserver(const ipAddr: string;
    supportsTls: Boolean);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

Adds a new nameserver to the collection of nameservers used by Chilkat for DNS queries and domain to IP address lookups. The ipAddr specifies the IPv4 address of the nameserver. The supportsTls indicates if the namserver supports DoT (DNS over TLS. DoT uses port 853 for encrypted DNS communication.) If the TlsPreference property is set to 1 or 2, then Chilkat will use TLS nameservers.

top
GetNameserver
function GetNameserver(index: Integer): string;
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

Returns the IP address of the Nth nameserver currently used by Chilkat for DNS queries and domain to IP address lookups. The index specifies the index of the nameserver. The 1st nameserver is at index 0.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
Query
// answer is a TJsonObject object.
function Query(const recordType: string;
    const domain: string;
    answer: TChilkatBase): Boolean;
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

Performs an DNS query for domain and returns the answer in answer. The type of DNS query is specified in recordType and can be A, AAAA, ALIAS, CAA, MX, NS, SOA, TXT. Additional record types can be added as needed.

top
RemoveAllNameservers
procedure RemoveAllNameservers;
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

Removes all nameservers from the collection of nameservers used by Chilkat. An application can call this method to reset to 0 nameservers before adding new nameservers. If a DNS domain to IP address resolution is needed by Chilkat, then the auto-assigned nameserver IP addresses will be automaticaly restored.

top
RemoveNameserver
procedure RemoveNameserver(const ipAddr: string);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.96

Removes a nameserver from the collection of nameservers used by Chilkat. The ipAddr is the IPv4 address of the nameserver to be removed.

top

Events

Chilkat for Pascal supports three synchronous event callbacks: OnAbortCheck, OnPercentDone, and OnProgressInfo. Each is a property of the class; assign a method of one of your own objects (an of object handler) to receive the callbacks, or assign nil to unhook. The handler types are declared in the Chilkat.Base unit:

TChilkatAbortCheckEvent   = function(Sender: TChilkatBase): Boolean of object;
TChilkatPercentDoneEvent  = function(Sender: TChilkatBase; PctDone: Integer): Boolean of object;
TChilkatProgressInfoEvent = procedure(Sender: TChilkatBase; const Name, Value: string) of object;

All Chilkat methods are synchronous, so callbacks are invoked on the thread that called the method -- if the method was called from the main thread, it is safe to access UI elements from the handler. The HeartbeatMs property controls the frequency of OnAbortCheck callbacks (the default of 0 means no AbortCheck events fire). Returning True from an OnAbortCheck or OnPercentDone handler aborts the running method.

AbortCheck
// TChilkatAbortCheckEvent = function(Sender: TChilkatBase): Boolean of object;
property OnAbortCheck: TChilkatAbortCheckEvent;

Enables a method call to be aborted by triggering the AbortCheck event at intervals defined by the HeartbeatMs property. If HeartbeatMs is set to its default value of 0, no events will occur. For instance, set HeartbeatMs to 200 to trigger 5 AbortCheck events per second.

More Information and Examples

Event callback implementation:

// A handler is a method of one of your own classes, e.g. a form:
function TMyObject.DnsAbortCheck(Sender: TChilkatBase): Boolean;
begin
  // Called every HeartbeatMs milliseconds while a method is running.
  // Return True to abort the method; return False to continue.
  Result := False;
end;

To add an event handler:

dns := TDns.Create;
dns.HeartbeatMs := 250;   // fire OnAbortCheck 4 times per second
dns.OnAbortCheck := MyObject.DnsAbortCheck;
top
PercentDone
// TChilkatPercentDoneEvent = function(Sender: TChilkatBase; PctDone: Integer): Boolean of object;
property OnPercentDone: TChilkatPercentDoneEvent;

This provides the percentage completion for any method involving network communications or time-consuming processing, assuming the progress can be measured as a percentage. This event is triggered only when it's possible and logical to express the operation's progress as a percentage. The pctDone argument will range from 1 to 100. For methods that finish quickly, the number of PercentDone callbacks may vary, but the final callback will have pctDone equal to 100. For longer operations, callbacks will not exceed one per percentage point (e.g., 1, 2, 3, ..., 98, 99, 100).

The PercentDone callback also acts as an AbortCheck event. For fast methods where PercentDone fires, an AbortCheck event may not trigger since the PercentDone callback already provides an opportunity to abort. For longer operations, where time between PercentDone callbacks is extended, AbortCheck callbacks enable more responsive operation termination.

To abort the operation, set the abort output argument to True. This will cause the method to terminate and return a failure status or corresponding failure value.

More Information and Examples

Event callback implementation:

// A handler is a method of one of your own classes, e.g. a form:
function TMyObject.DnsPercentDone(Sender: TChilkatBase; PctDone: Integer): Boolean;
begin
  // PctDone ranges from 1 to 100.
  WriteLn('Percent done: ', PctDone);
  // Return True to abort the method; return False to continue.
  Result := False;
end;

To add an event handler:

dns := TDns.Create;
dns.OnPercentDone := MyObject.DnsPercentDone;
top
ProgressInfo
// TChilkatProgressInfoEvent = procedure(Sender: TChilkatBase; const Name, Value: string) of object;
property OnProgressInfo: TChilkatProgressInfoEvent;

This event callback provides tag name/value pairs that detail what occurs during a method call. To discover existing tag names, create code to handle the event, emit the pairs, and review them. Most tag names are self-explanatory.

Note: Some Chilkat methods don't fire any ProgressInfo events.

More Information and Examples

Event callback implementation:

// A handler is a method of one of your own classes, e.g. a form:
procedure TMyObject.DnsProgressInfo(Sender: TChilkatBase; const Name, Value: string);
begin
  WriteLn(Name, ': ', Value);
end;

To add an event handler:

dns := TDns.Create;
dns.OnProgressInfo := MyObject.DnsProgressInfo;
top