Socket validation using Poco c++ libraries - c++

Question

I'm working on an application that needs to perform network communication and decided to use the poco c++ libraries. After going through the network tutorial I can't seem to find any forms of validation on establishing a network connection.
In the following example a client tries to connect to a server using a tcp socket stream:
#include "Poco/Net/SocketAddress.h"
#include "Poco/Net/StreamSocket.h"
#include "Poco/Net/SocketStream.h"
#include "Poco/StreamCopier.h"
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
Poco::Net::SocketAddress sa("www.appinf.com", 80);
Poco::Net::StreamSocket socket(sa);
Poco::Net::SocketStream str(socket);
str << "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\n"
"Host: www.appinf.com\r\n"
"\r\n";
str.flush();
Poco::StreamCopier::copyStream(str, std::cout);
return 0;
}
However, I couldn't find any information related to:
Error checking(what if www.appinf.com is unavailable or doesn't exist for that matter)
The type of exception these calls may raise
The only mention is that a SocketStream may hang if the receive timeout is not set for the socket when using formated inputs.
How can I check if a host is alive and may set up a tcp connection, implement a method such as:
void TCPClient::connectTo(std::string host, bool& connected, unsigned int port) {
std::string hi = "hi";
Poco::Net::SocketAddress clientSocketAddress(host, port);
Poco::Net::StreamSocket clientStreamSocket;
// try to connect and avoid hang by setting a timeout
clientStreamSocket.connect(clientSocketAddress, timeout);
// check if the connection has failed or not,
// set the connected parameter accordingly
// additionally try to send bytes over this connection
Poco::Net::SocketStream clientSocketStream(clientStreamSocket);
clientSocketStream << hi << std::endl;
clientSocketStream.flush();
// close the socket stream
clientSocketStream.close();
// close stream
clientStreamSocket.shutdown();
}