How to link libws2_32.a for socket programming in Dev++ - c++

Question

I am using Dev++ and, according to a tutorial on socket programming I read, I need to link to libws2_32.a for my project.
I don't understand how to do this. Could somebody please explain?
Here is my code:
//CONNECT TO REMOTE HOST (CLIENT APPLICATION)
//Include the needed header files.
//Don't forget to link libws2_32.a to your program as well
#include <winsock.h>
#pragma comment(lib,"libwsock32.a")
SOCKET s; //Socket handle
//CONNECTTOHOST – Connects to a remote host
bool ConnectToHost(int PortNo, char* IPAddress)
{
//Start up Winsock…
WSADATA wsadata;
int error = WSAStartup(0x0202, &wsadata);
//Did something happen?
if (error)
return false;
//Did we get the right Winsock version?
if (wsadata.wVersion != 0x0202)
{
WSACleanup(); //Clean up Winsock
return false;
}
//Fill out the information needed to initialize a socket…
SOCKADDR_IN target; //Socket address information
target.sin_family = AF_INET; // address family Internet
target.sin_port = htons (PortNo); //Port to connect on
target.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr (IPAddress); //Target IP
s = socket (AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP); //Create socket
if (s == INVALID_SOCKET)
{
return false; //Couldn't create the socket
}
//Try connecting...
if (connect(s, (SOCKADDR *)&target, sizeof(target)) == SOCKET_ERROR)
{
return false; //Couldn't connect
}
else
return true; //Success
}
//CLOSECONNECTION – shuts down the socket and closes any connection on it
void CloseConnection ()
{
//Close the socket if it exists
if (s)
closesocket(s);
WSACleanup(); //Clean up Winsock
}
And the error I am getting is:
[Linker error] undefined reference to `WSAStartup#8'

Answer 1

Go to the project options -> parameters -> linker -> add library and add the library file that you need - in your case - libws2_32.a