I'm very new to the winsock control.  If I have a program that  I want to
communicate with a 'server' via TCP how would I send 'comands' to it.  For
example if I want the client to receive the path to a shared file, then
later to receive some other piece of information.  Currently I'm using
string 'tags' like "<path>xxxxxxx" ending with a NULL character, so I know
that <path> is giving me a file path.

Seems to be primitive to me, what would be a 'normal' way of software
'banter'?

Secondly, would the winsock control ever time-out after a while or should it
always stay connected even though no data is being transmitted?

Thanks.
Jeff

That IS the normal way!  Most TCP protocols work like this.  If you want to
send mail via SMTP then you send 'commands' in the form of

MAIL FROM: <your address>
RCPT TO: <target address>
DATA
This is my message
.

Likewise with logging in to FTP or any other protocol you send commands that
are delimited in some way.  Usually it's the command name followed by a
colon followed by the data.