VA Smalltalk provides parts that give you more direct control over network connections than what is provided by the procedure dialog parts. If the network transaction you want to perform does not conform to the procedure dialog's connect, send, receive, disconnect sequence, you can use these parts to build a more flexible network connection.

For each communication protocol, there are two parts that work together to implement a network communication link:

A Connection part represents a connection to a remote application. Its attributes, actions, and events enable the VA Smalltalk application to connect and disconnect, send and receive data, and monitor the connection status.

Each protocol has a different connection part:

A Connection Spec part represents the specification of a particular network connection. It defines the name or address of the remote machine and the protocol-specific details necessary to set up a connection.

Each protocol has a connection spec part:

A network connection part must be provided with a connection spec prior to establishing a network connection.