What's the easiest way to verify there's an available network connection?

Question

I'm a bit of newbie to c#/.net development, but I've put together a stock tracking application for a small set of assets in my company. I have also set up the database it connects to in SQL 2000.

It currently works brilliantly when a network connection is available, but I want to expand it for use when I'm away from a connection.

First off I'll need to know if there's a connection available. So I put this together:

    private int availableNetAdapters()
    {
        int nicCount = 0;
        foreach (NetworkInterface nic in NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces())
        {
            if (nic.OperationalStatus == OperationalStatus.Up)
            {
                nicCount++;
            }
        }

        return nicCount;
    }

Seems to work, but I have to test for ">1" as something as "MS TCP Loopback interface" is always detected regardless of the other adapter sates.

Is there a better/easier way to check connectivity?

G

Answer 1

System.Net.NetworkInformation.NetworkInterface.GetIsNetworkAvailable()

You can also use the events NetworkAvailabilityChanged and NetworkAddressChanged in that class to monitor IP address and network availability changes.

EDIT: Be aware that this method checks all available network interfaces that may be on the computer (wireless, lan, etc.). If anyone of them is connected, it will return true.