Added an implicit conversion from strings to network_address objects.

dlib/sockets/sockets_extensions.cpp

@@ -17,6 +17,19 @@
 namespace dlib
 {
 
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    network_address::
+    network_address(
+        const std::string& full_address
+    )
+    {
+        std::istringstream sin(full_address);
+        sin >> *this;
+        if (!sin)
+            throw invalid_network_address(full_address);
+    }
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     void serialize(
@@ -242,16 +255,6 @@ namespace dlib
         return data->con;
     }
 
-// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-    connection* connect (
-        const network_address& addr,
-        unsigned long timeout
-    )
-    {
-        return connect(addr.host_address, addr.port, timeout);
-    }
-
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     bool is_ip_address (

dlib/sockets/sockets_extensions.h

@@ -12,12 +12,31 @@
 namespace dlib
 {
 
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    class invalid_network_address : public dlib::error 
+    { 
+    public: 
+        invalid_network_address(const std::string& msg) : dlib::error(msg) {};
+    };
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     struct network_address
     {
         network_address() : port(0){}
 
+        network_address(
+            const std::string& full_address
+        );
+
+        network_address (
+            const char* full_address
+        )
+        {
+            *this = network_address(std::string(full_address));
+        }
+
         network_address(
             const std::string& host_address_,
             const unsigned short port_
@@ -68,13 +87,6 @@ namespace dlib
         unsigned long timeout
     );
 
-// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-    connection* connect (
-        const network_address& addr,
-        unsigned long timeout
-    );
-
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     bool is_ip_address (

dlib/sockets/sockets_extensions_abstract.h

@@ -11,6 +11,17 @@
 namespace dlib
 {
 
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    class invalid_network_address : public dlib::error 
+    { 
+        /*!
+            WHAT THIS OBJECT REPRESENTS
+                This is the exception thrown by network_address's constructor if the
+                input is invalid.
+        !*/
+    };
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     struct network_address
@@ -33,6 +44,33 @@ namespace dlib
                 - #port == 0
         !*/
 
+        network_address(
+            const std::string& full_address
+        );
+        /*!
+            ensures
+                - interprets full_address as a network address of the form:
+                    host_address:port
+                  and assigns each part into #host_address and #port.  For example,
+                  network_address("localhost:80") would result in a network_address
+                  object where host_address was "localhost" and port was 80.
+            throws
+                - invalid_network_address
+                    This exception is thrown if the full_address string can't be
+                    interpreted as a valid network address.
+        !*/
+
+        network_address (
+            const char* full_address
+        );
+        /*!
+            requires
+                - full_address == a valid pointer to a null terminated string
+            ensures
+                - Invoking this constructor is equivalent to performing 
+                  network_address(std::string(full_address))
+        !*/
+
         network_address(
             const std::string& host_address_,
             const unsigned short port_
@@ -110,6 +148,8 @@ namespace dlib
             - std::bad_alloc
     !*/
 
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
     connection* connect (
         const network_address& addr
     );
@@ -138,15 +178,6 @@ namespace dlib
             - std::bad_alloc
     !*/
 
-    connection* connect (
-        const network_address& addr,
-        unsigned long timeout
-    );
-    /*!
-        ensures
-            - returns connect(addr.host_address, addr_port, timeout);
-    !*/
-
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------