This code was found on a Visual Basic web site and converted to LotusScript. It is a LotusScript class that allows you to convert a host name to its IP address. To use, create a new HostName object. Then check the IPAddress property of the new object to get the IP address. The property is a string.

This code is best stored in a script library. Create a new script library, then go to the (Declarations) section. The first part of that section is some constants:

Public Const IP_SUCCESS = 0
Private Const WSADescription_Len = 255 ' 256, 0-based
Private Const WSASYS_Status_Len = 127 ' 128, 0-based
Public Const WS_VERSION_REQD = &H101
Public Const MIN_SOCKETS_REQD = 1
Public Const SOCKET_ERROR = -1

After that, a custom Type is needed, still in the (Declarations) section.

Public Type WSADATA
   wVersion As Integer
   wHighVersion As Integer
   szDescription(0 To WSADescription_Len) As Integer
   szSystemStatus(0 To WSASYS_Status_Len) As Integer
   wMaxSockets As Long
   wMaxUDPDG As Long
   dwVendorInfo As Long
End Type

Note: If you are using R6, then you can define szDescription and szSystemStatus as Byte arrays instead of Integer arrays.
Next comes the Windows API calls we will need to convert the host name to the IP address:

Declare Function gethostbyname Lib "wsock32" (Byval hostname As String) As Long
Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (xDest As Any, xSource As Any, Byval nbytes As Long)
Declare Function lstrlenA Lib "kernel32" (lpString As Any) As Long
Declare Function WSAStartup Lib "wsock32" (Byval wVersionRequired As Long, lpWSADATA As WSADATA) As Long
Declare Function WSACleanup Lib "wsock32" () As Long
Declare Function inet_ntoa Lib "wsock32.dll" (Byval addr As Long) As Long
Declare Function lstrcpyA Lib "kernel32" (Byval RetVal As String, Byval Ptr As Long) As Long

Finally, the actual class definition comes. This class definition is pretty simplified (there aren't a lot of properties/methods).

Class HostName
   Private HostNameStr As String
   Public IPAddress As String
   Public ErrMsg As String
   Public Error As Integer
   Sub New(host As String)
      If SocketsInitialize() Then
         Me.IPAddress = GetIPFromHostName(host)
         Me.Error = 0
         Me.ErrMsg = ""
         If Not SocketsCleanup Then
            Me.Error = 200
            Me.ErrMsg = "Windows Sockets error occurred in Cleanup."
         End If
      Else
         Me.Error = 100
         Me.ErrMsg = "Windows Sockets for 32 bit Windows is not successfully responding."
         Me.IPAddress = ""
      End If
   End Sub
End Class

Some additional functions are needed. Those are defined below. They are still part of the script library.

Private Function SocketsInitialize() As Integer
   Dim WSAD As WSADATA
   Dim success As Long
   SocketsInitialize = (WSAStartup(WS_VERSION_REQD, WSAD) = IP_SUCCESS)
End Function

Private Function SocketsCleanup() As Integer
   If WSACleanup() <> 0 Then
      SocketsCleanup = False
   Else
      SocketsCleanup = True
   End If
End Function

Private Function GetIPFromHostName(Byval sHostName As String) As String
   Dim ptrHosent As Long
   Dim ptrName As Long
   Dim ptrAddress As Long
   Dim ptrIPAddress As Long
   Dim dwAddress As Long
   ptrHosent = gethostbyname(sHostName & Chr(0))
   If ptrHosent <> 0 Then
      ptrName = ptrHosent
      ptrAddress = ptrHosent + 12
      CopyMemory ptrAddress, Byval ptrAddress, 4
      CopyMemory ptrIPAddress, Byval ptrAddress, 4
      CopyMemory dwAddress, Byval ptrIPAddress, 4
      GetIPFromHostName = GetIPFromAddress(dwAddress)
   End If
End Function

Public Function GetIPFromAddress(Address As Long) As String
   Dim ptrString As Long
   ptrString = inet_ntoa(Address)
   GetIPFromAddress = GetStrFromPtrA(ptrString)
End Function

Public Function GetStrFromPtrA(Byval lpszA As Long) As String
   GetStrFromPtrA = String$(lstrlenA(Byval lpszA), 0)
   Call lstrcpyA(Byval GetStrFromPtrA, Byval lpszA)
End Function

If you want to find out the comments and the details behind the code, the original VB code is posted at: http://www.mvps.org/vbnet/index.html?code/internet/pingbyhostname.htm