Develop Reference

Java Socket Read Input Twice

I have a situation with a Java Socket Input reader.
I am trying to develop an URCAP for Universal Robots and for this I need to use JAVA.
The situation is as follow:
I connect to the Dashboard server through a socket on IP 127.0.0.1, and port 29999.
After that the server send me a message "Connected: Universal Robots Dashboard Server".
The next step I send the command "play".
Here starts the problem. If I leave it like this everything works.
If I want to read the reply from the server which is "Starting program" then everything is blocked.
I have tried the following:
-read straight from the input stream-no solution
-read from an buffered reader- no solution
-read into an byte array with an while loop-no solution
I have tried all of the solution presented here and again no solution for my case.
I have tried even copying some code from the Socket Test application and again no solution.
This is strange because as mentioned the Socket Test app is working with no issues.
Below is the link from the URCAP documentation:
https://www.universal-robots.com/articles/ur/dashboard-server-cb-series-port-29999/
I do not see any reason to post all the trials code because I have tried everything.
Below is the last variant of code maybe someone has an idea where I try to read from 2 different buffered readers. The numbers 1,2,3 are there just so I can see in the terminal where the code blocks.
In conclusion the question is: How I can read from a JAVA socket 2 times?
Thank you in advance!
public void sendPlay() {
try {
// Create a new Socket Client
Socket sc = new Socket("127.0.0.1", 29999);
if (sc.isConnected()) {
InputStream is = sc.getInputStream();
BufferedInputStream in = new BufferedInputStream(is);
String data = "";
int s = in.read();
data += ""+(char)s;
int len = in.available();
System.out.println("Len got : "+len);
if(len > 0) {
byte[] byteData = new byte[len];
in.read(byteData);
data += new String(byteData);
}
System.out.println(data);
System.out.println("1");
// Create stream for data
DataOutputStream out;
out = new DataOutputStream(sc.getOutputStream());
String command = new String();
command = "play"+"\n";
// Send command
out.write(command.getBytes("US-ASCII"));
out.flush();
System.out.println("2");
InputStream is1 = sc.getInputStream();
BufferedInputStream in1 = new BufferedInputStream(is1);
String data1 = "";
int s1 = in1.read();
data1 += ""+(char)s1;
int len1 = in1.available();
System.out.println("Len got : "+len1);
if(len1 > 0) {
byte[] byteData1 = new byte[len1];
in.read(byteData1);
data1 += new String(byteData1);
}
System.out.println(data1);
System.out.println("3");
// Perform housekeeping
out.close();
sc.close();
}
sc.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}

The problem seems to be that you are opening several input streams to the same socket for reading commands.
You should open one InputStream for reading, one OutputStream for writing, and keep them both open till the end of the connection to your robot.
Then you can wrap those streams into helper classes for your text-line based protocol like Scanner and PrintWriter.
Sample program to put you on track (can't test with your hardware so it might need little tweaks to work):
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class RobotTester implements AutoCloseable {
private Socket clientSocket;
private Scanner inputReader;
private PrintWriter outWriter;
private int incounter;
private int outcounter;
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Program started. Connecting to robot");
try (RobotTester robot = new RobotTester("127.0.0.1", 29999)) {
System.out.println("Connected to robot.");
robot.nextInput(); //Read and print robot's welcome message
robot.writeCommand("play"); //Send command
String resp = robot.nextInput(); //Read result
if (resp.toLowerCase().startsWith("fail")) {
throw new Exception("Play command failed: " + resp);
}
System.out.println("Command succeeded!");
} catch (Throwable t) {
t.printStackTrace();
}
}
public RobotTester(String host, int port) throws UnknownHostException, IOException {
clientSocket = new Socket(host, port);
inputReader = new Scanner(clientSocket.getInputStream());
outWriter = new PrintWriter(clientSocket.getOutputStream());
}
public String nextInput() {
String mess = inputReader.nextLine();
System.out.println("< " + (++incounter) + ": " + mess);
return mess;
}
public void writeCommand(String command) {
System.out.println("> " + (++outcounter) + ": " + command);
outWriter.print(command);
outWriter.print('\n');
outWriter.flush();
}
#Override
public void close() throws Exception {
if (inputReader != null) {
inputReader.close();
inputReader = null;
}
if (outWriter != null) {
outWriter.close();
outWriter = null;
}
if (clientSocket != null) {
clientSocket.close();
clientSocket = null;
}
}
}
In addition, you're using 127.0.0.1 as server IP address, which is the loopback on your PC. Unless the interface to your robot works in a very peculiar way, the actual IP you should use is probably not this one.
I'm refering to this part of documentation here:
Setup a static IP-address and subnet mask on PC, so it matches the
robot, e.g.:
PC: IP-addr: 192.168.3.10 Robot: IP-addr: 192.168.3.3
Subnet: 255.255.255.0 Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Edit
If you've got more commands to put, use it like this:
//Inside your actual main class
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Program started. Connecting to robot");
try (RobotTester robot = new RobotTester("127.0.0.1", 29999)) {
System.out.println("Connected to robot.");
robot.nextInput(); //Read and print robot's welcome message
robot.writeCommand("play"); //Send command
String resp = robot.nextInput(); //Read result
if (resp.toLowerCase().startsWith("fail")) {
throw new Exception("Play command failed: " + resp);
}
System.out.println("Command succeeded!");
robot.writeCommand("command1"); //Send command
resp = robot.nextInput(); //Read result
//Process result for command1
robot.writeCommand("command2"); //Send command
resp = robot.nextInput(); //Read result
//Process result for command2
//...
} catch (Throwable t) {
t.printStackTrace();
}
}

The latest update is that I have moved all the functions in the same Dialog and just called them straight from there, and is still not working.
I already double check there is just one stream and one writer and reader in the entire project.
JButton btnNewButton_2 = new JButton("START");
btnNewButton_2.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
btnNewButton_2.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
try {
RobotTester("127.0.0.1", 29999);
nextInput();
String command="play";
writeCommand(command);
nextInput();
} catch (UnknownHostException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}
try {
close();
} catch (Exception e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}
} });
public void RobotTester(String host, int port) throws UnknownHostException, IOException {
clientSocket = new Socket(host, port);
inputReader = new Scanner(clientSocket.getInputStream());
outWriter = new PrintWriter(clientSocket.getOutputStream());
}
public String nextInput() {
String mess = inputReader.nextLine();
System.out.println("< " + (++incounter) + ": " + mess);
return mess;
}
public void writeCommand(String command) {
System.out.println("> " + (++outcounter) + ": " + command);
outWriter.print(command);
outWriter.print('\n');
outWriter.flush();
}
public void close() throws Exception {
if (inputReader != null) {
inputReader.close();
inputReader = null;
}
if (outWriter != null) {
outWriter.close();
outWriter = null;
}
if (clientSocket != null) {
clientSocket.close();
clientSocket = null;
}
}

I have found a solution to the issue of reading the from the socket multiple times with a Swing GUI.
public void sendPlay() {
Thread appThread = new Thread() {
public void run() {
try {
RobotTester robot = new RobotTester("127.0.0.1", 29999);
System.out.println("Connected to robot.");
robot.nextInput(); //Read and print robot's welcome message
robot.writeCommand("play"); //Send command
String resp = robot.nextInput(); //Read result
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println("Finished on " + Thread.currentThread());
}
};
appThread.start();}
It seems that the background socket reading needs to be on a separate thread. This was causing the entire robot to be blocked. The idea was from an forum. It was not mine, but hey, it works.
Thank you very much!

How to make two seperate clients share the same data from the server?

I have this server and client application that counts how many times a button has been clicked. Some other members here were kind enough to solve my previous issue with it, and now I have another.
When I start up the server, and a client connects, and the client clicks the button, the counter on the server side goes up. However, when a second client connects to the server, the counter resets to 0. I am thinking that the server creates a seperate instance of the counter for some reason.
Here is the (updated) server sided code:
public class Server {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
Socket socket = null; //create a new socket
ServerSocket listener = new ServerSocket(9898);
System.out.println("The server is running!");
try {
while (true) {
new ClickServer(listener.accept()).start();
}
} finally {
listener.close();
}
}
/**
* A private thread to handle clicking requests
*/
private static class ClickServer extends Thread {
private Socket socket;
AtomicInteger totalBets = new AtomicInteger(0);
public void incrementTotalBets() {
totalBets.incrementAndGet();
}
public int getTotalBets() {
return totalBets.get();
}
public ClickServer(Socket socket) {
this.socket = socket;
log("New connection with client at " + socket);
}
public void run() {
try {
while (true) {
socket.setTcpNoDelay(true);
InputStream is = socket.getInputStream();
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(is);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
String input = br.readLine();
OutputStream os = socket.getOutputStream();
OutputStreamWriter osw = new OutputStreamWriter(os);
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(osw);
if(input.equals("increment")) {
bw.write(String.valueOf(totalBets.incrementAndGet()));
bw.newLine();
bw.flush();
System.out.println("Total Bets: " + getTotalBets());
}
}
} catch (IOException e) {
log("Error handling client\n" + e);
} finally {
try {
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
log("Error closing socket");
}
log("Connection with client closed");
}
}
private void log(String message) {
System.out.println(message);
}
}
}
The totalBets integer is the counter. When multiple client join the server, and click the button, it should increment the counter and send it back based on what the counter already is. It shouldn't reset for every new client.
Here is the relevant client-sided code:
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
try {
OutputStream os = socket.getOutputStream();
OutputStreamWriter osw = new OutputStreamWriter(os);
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(osw);
String target = "";
bw.write("increment" + "\n");
bw.flush();
InputStream is = socket.getInputStream();
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(is);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
String id = br.readLine();
System.out.println("bet added: " + id);
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
I'm not sure why a new instance of the Server is being created every time a new client connects. I did some debugging, and the server knows there is more than one client connected to the server at the same port.
Any help?
Thank you.
NOTE: the ClickServer class is nested inside the Server class. It just doesn't look that way in the code box.

You'd need a shared counter that's thread safe. I'd go for
public static AtomicInteger totalBets = new AtomicInteger (0);
You'd have to change getter and setter some but this should share value between Clients. Or trash those methods and simply do
if(input.equals("increment")) {
bw.write(String.valueOf(totalBets.incrementAndGet ()));

Try changing :
public int totalBets = 0;
to:
public static int totalBets = 0;

Maximum socket connections available

I am trying my hand at socket programming. I built a simple echo server that prints the client text on the screen and sends back a thank you message to the client. However when I run the client (which individually spawns 10000 requests in a loop) sometimes i get "connection refused" exceptions in some client threads. Sometimes all go through without any exception.
Following is my server code :
public class WebServer {
static int hitCount = 0;
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(7777, 10000);
while (true) {
Socket defaultSocket = serverSocket.accept();
new Thread(new ServerSlave(defaultSocket)).start();
System.out.println("Size is :" + hitCount);
}
}
}
class ServerSlave implements Runnable {
Socket clientSocket;
public ServerSlave(Socket socket) {
clientSocket = socket;
WebServer.hitCount++;
}
public void run() {
try {
DataInputStream inputStream = new DataInputStream(clientSocket.getInputStream());
DataOutputStream outputStream = new DataOutputStream(clientSocket.getOutputStream());
System.out.println(inputStream.readUTF());
outputStream.writeUTF("Thank you for contacting the web server");
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
try {
clientSocket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
Following is my client code :
public class Client {
static int excepCount=0;
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
new Thread(new Worker("" + i)).start();
}
Thread.sleep(10000);
System.out.println( Client.excepCount);
}
}
class Worker implements Runnable {
String clientName;
public Worker(String name) {
clientName = name;
}
public void run() {
System.out.println("Process started for : " + clientName);
Socket socket = null;
try {
socket = new Socket("127.0.0.1", 7777);
DataOutputStream outputStream = new DataOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
outputStream.writeUTF("Hello socket. Client number " + clientName + "here");
InputStream inFromServer = socket.getInputStream();
DataInputStream in =
new DataInputStream(inFromServer);
System.out.println("Server says " + in.readUTF());
System.out.println("Closing socket");
} catch (IOException e) {
Client.excepCount++;
e.printStackTrace();
}finally{
try {
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
Not sure what I might be doing wrong. Any suggestions ?

You're expecting too much. It just isn't realistic for a client to form 10,000 connections at maximum speed. You're forgetting about the TIME_WAIT state, and the fact that there are only 64k minus several dozen client-side ports available. It isn't a realistic test. If you want to load-test your server you will need quite a few client hosts, or a longer interval between connections.

Server thinks that requests keep coming even when they not

I am writing a Java Server that outputs a request number in browser. It is a multithreaded application, that suppose to create a new thread for each request and output the next number. It does work, however the number output is incremented by 4 when i have only one increment. So i have a feeling that server somehow keeps receiving the requests without outputting them in the browser.
public class ResponseServer {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
int clientNum = 0;
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(8000);
Socket socket = null;
while (true) {
socket = serverSocket.accept();
System.out.println("CLIENT NUM " + clientNum);
new HandleClient(socket, clientNum++).run();
System.out.println("DONE");
}
}
static class HandleClient implements Runnable {
Socket socket;
int counter;
public HandleClient(Socket socket, int counter) {
System.out.println("RECIEVED " + counter);
this.socket = socket;
this.counter = counter;
}
#Override
public void run() {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
try {
InputStream in = socket.getInputStream();
BufferedReader read = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in));
OutputStream out = socket.getOutputStream();
String response = "<h2>" + counter + "</h2>";
out.write("HTTP/1.1 200 OK\n".getBytes());
out.write("Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8\n".getBytes());
out.write(("Content-Length: " + response.length() + "\n\n").getBytes());
out.write(response.getBytes());
out.flush();
out.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println(e);
}
}
}
}

There is a bug in Chrome and IE browsers. There is no problem with code - works if you use Firefox

Socket data does not appear to be getting through to client

I've written some serverside socket handling code and I'm concerned that potentially my packets are not always making it back to the client. I am logging all my events and in my log files it says I am sending the information. But the client is also logging events and in their logs they say they do not receive anything.
My code to send the data is as follows:
public void write(Packet packet) {
String data = packet.serialize();
log("Send=[" + data + "]", "Write"); // log to file
try {
_writer.write(data);
_writer.flush();
} catch (Exception ex) {
log(ex, "write");
}
}
Each socket is created on a new thread and I create my writers and readers immediately like so (in the public run method):
// _sockt is a Java Socket object
_writer = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(_socket
.getOutputStream()));
_reader = new SocketReader(_socket);
SocketReader is just a wrapper class I created for listening for responses and has a public read method like so:
public String read() throws IOException, SocketTimeoutException {
_socket.setSoTimeout(_timeOut);
if(_reader == null)
_reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(_socket.getInputStream()));
// read from the stream
return new PacketDataInputStream(_reader).read();
}
The PacketDataInputStream wrapper class:
BufferedReader _reader = null;
public PacketDataInputStream(BufferedReader reader)
{
_reader = reader;
}
public String read() throws IOException, SocketException {
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
int c = 0;
while((c = _reader.read()) != -1)
{
char ch = (char)c;
builder.append(ch);
if(ch == PacketConstants.ETX)
break;
}
if(builder.length() > 0)
return builder.toString();
else
return null;
}
The way I'm creating the actual socket listener objects is pretty standard I think:
InetAddress address = InetAddress.getByName(IP);
server = new ServerSocket( port, 0, address);
// My own manager class to handle all the sockets connected
WebSocketManager manager = new WebSocketManager(this);
Socket connection = null;
while(bContinue)
{
connection = server.accept();
if(bContinue) {
// assign the socket to a new thread and start
// that thread
manager.newSocket(connection);
} else {
connection.close();
}
}
Is is possible that I'm using the wrong objects for sending the data back.
Should I even be using a bufferedwriter and reader? I had thought that these were the best way to go but now I'm not so sure.
It's important to note that this does not happen all the time, just sporadically. It could be the clients code having bugs but I need to make sure that I'm doing it correctly before going back to them.
This code is run on a Linux Ubuntu server. Logging occurs to a text file, nothing special there. My log files show the Send="" data going back to the client and no exception so it appears as if the .write and .flush() worked? Socket connections are persistant and only closed by the client and or network issues.
UPDATE ----- Client Side code -------:
I did manage to get some of the client side code for how they are handling the send and receiving of data (just in case it's more obvious on their end). The client is actually connecting to this server via an Android device (if that helps).
Creation of socket
static final int BUFFER_SIZE = 20000; // Maximum packet size
java.net.InetAddress server = java.net.InetAddress.getByName(url);
socket = new Socket(server, port);
// Set socket options:
socket.setReceiveBufferSize(BUFFER_SIZE);
socket.setSendBufferSize(BUFFER_SIZE);
socket.setKeepAlive(true);
socket.setTcpNoDelay(true);
Sending:
try {
// Send the packet:
OutputStream stream = socket.getOutputStream();
stream.write(p.getByteArray ());
stream.flush();
// Update the time:
lastPacketSendTime = new Date ();
} catch (IOException e) {
setError("Error sending packet (" + e.getMessage() + ")", ERROR_IO);
return false;
}
Receiving:
socket.setSoTimeout(timeout);
// Get the reader:
inputStream = socket.getInputStream();
while (true) {
// Get the next character:
int value = inputStream.read();
// Check for -1, indicating that the socket is closed:
if (value == -1) {
// The socket is closed remotely, so close it locally as well:
disconnect();
inputStream = null;
return null;
}
// ... and a bunch of other stuff to handle the actual data
}
EDIT 14-Nov:
This is actually proving to be more of a problem now. Both the client logs and the server logs appear to be sending. But at times the data doesn't appear to come through or if it does it is sometimes coming through 10 - 30 - 60 second delayed.
I can provide more information if required.

When you use BufferedReaders and BufferedWriters things get buffered. How about using the input and output streams directly.. Also, writers are character based, I don't know if you need to send binary data but if so that will be a problem with writers.

I am not sure whether this will be to your any use or not.. but i am giving you the code i used for client server communication..
Client Side:
public class ClientWala {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
Boolean b = true;
Socket s = new Socket("127.0.0.1", 4444);
System.out.println("connected: "+s.isConnected());
OutputStream output = s.getOutputStream();
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(output,true);
// to write data to server
while(b){
if (!b){
System.exit(0);
}
else {
pw.write(new Scanner(System.in).nextLine());
}
}
// to read data from server
InputStream input = s.getInputStream();
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(input);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
String data = null;
while ((data = br.readLine())!=null){
// Print it using sysout, or do whatever you want with the incoming data from server
}
}
}
Server Code:
import java.io.*
import java.net.*;
public class ServerTest {
ServerSocket s;
public void go() {
try {
s = new ServerSocket(44457);
while (true) {
Socket incoming = s.accept();
Thread t = new Thread(new MyCon(incoming));
t.start();
}
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
class MyCon implements Runnable {
Socket incoming;
public MyCon(Socket incoming) {
this.incoming = incoming;
}
#Override
public void run() {
try {
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(incoming.getOutputStream(),
true);
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(
incoming.getInputStream());
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
String inp = null;
boolean isDone = true;
System.out.println("TYPE : BYE");
System.out.println();
while (isDone && ((inp = br.readLine()) != null)) {
System.out.println(inp);
if (inp.trim().equals("BYE")) {
System.out
.println("THANKS FOR CONNECTING...Bye for now");
isDone = false;
s.close();
}
}
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
try {
s.close();
} catch (IOException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new ServerTest().go();
}
}