Develop Reference

Android keep socket connection open on thread

thank you for your help.
I'm trying to stream sensor data from my android device to a server via TCP socket. I'm fairly new to Android and threads are a tough concept for me to grasp.
I have two methods, connectToServer() and sendDataToServer(). connectToServer() is called once at startup and sendDataToSever() is called over and over again at about 100 HZ. I would like to open the socket at connectToServer() and leave it open always, so that sendDataToServer() can send data on that socket repeatedly.
public static void connectToServer(){
sendThread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
mySocket = null;
os = null;
try {
mySocket = new Socket(PC_IP, PORT);
os = new DataOutputStream(mySocket.getOutputStream());
} catch (UnknownHostException exception) {
Log.d("sunnyDay", exception.getMessage());
} catch (IOException exception) {
Log.d("sunnyDay", exception.getMessage());
}
}
});
sendThread.start();
}
public static void sendDataToServer(byte[] data) {
String dataString = Arrays.toString(data);
// send this String to the server
sendThread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
if (mySocket != null && os != null) {
try {
os.writeBytes(dataString + "\n");
} catch (IOException exception) {
Log.d("sunnyDay", exception.getMessage());
}
}
}
});
sendThread.start();
}
The only way I've been able to repeatedly send data is by closing and reopening the socket every time in the same thread call, although I feel like this is not the solution.
I tried to have them both on the same thread so that the socket connection is still there, I'm assuming this is where I'm missing something about threads.
Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

os.flush() after os.writeBytes(dataString + "\n");

Java Server producing inconsistent output

I want to integrate a server with multiple clients for a blackjack game I created, and thus I began practicing with servers in java. I create a thread, that when ran, forces the server to listen for input and produce an output. Then I added a feature to stop the server. However, the server randomly produces the correct output, and sometimes fails to connect. Here is the code for when the user hosts a server:
st = new ServerThread(); //this is a field of type ServerThread
st.start(); //this runs the server concurrently as a new thread
Here is the code for when they close a server:
st.stopThread();
Finally, here is the source for the serverThread:
public class ServerThread extends Thread {
private volatile boolean isRunning = true;
private Socket socket;
private static final int PORTNUM = 1342;
#Override
public void run() {
while (isRunning) { //should run only when the
try {
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(PORTNUM); //uses the same port number, which I made a constant
//Reading the an object of type Information from the client
socket = serverSocket.accept();
ObjectInputStream serverInputStream = new ObjectInputStream(socket.getInputStream());
ObjectOutputStream serverOutputStream = new ObjectOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
Information i = (Information) serverInputStream.readObject();
//arbitrarily changes the data stored in the information object to verify connection with server
i.setI(100);
i.setS("new string");
i.setD(4.4);
//sends the modified object back to the client
serverOutputStream.writeObject(i);
serverInputStream.close();
serverOutputStream.close();
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
//System.out.println("IOException");
//e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
//System.out.println("ClassNotFoundException");
//e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
try {
if (socket != null) { //avoid null pointer if no connections have been established
socket.close();
}
} catch (IOException ex) {
//Logger.getLogger(ServerThread.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
}
}
public void stopThread() {
isRunning = false;
}
}
Any suggestions on edits to make my code perform correctly and consistently would be welcome. Thanks.

I would move the socket definition away from being an instance variable i.e,
while (isRunning) {
Socket socket = null;
try {
...

Reconnecting sockets in Android

Here's the problem. I'm attempting to set up a very simple app that will send messages to a Java server.
Here is my server code:
ServerSocket serverSocket = null;
Socket clientSocket =null;
try
{
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(4444);
System.out.println("Server Started...");
clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
}catch(Exception e){};
Scanner in = new Scanner(clientSocket.getInputStream());
String inputLine;
while (true)
{
if(in.hasNext())
{
inputLine=in.nextLine();
System.out.println("Message from server: "+inputLine);
}
}
And here's the client code:
Socket client;
PrintWriter printwriter;
String serverIpAddress="192.168.173.1";
Button button;
TextView text;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
button =(Button) findViewById(R.id.button);
text=(TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView);
button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
{
#Override
public void onClick(View v)
{
new Thread(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
try
{
client = new Socket(serverIpAddress,4444);
printwriter = new PrintWriter(client.getOutputStream());
printwriter.write("Start");
printwriter.flush();
//printwriter.close();
//client.close();
}
catch(UnknownHostException e)
{
}
catch(IOException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}).start();
}
});
}
I have one button, when I press it a message is sent to the server and it displays fine, but when I press the button the socket does not reconnect so I can't send the massage again.
To be clear I intend to eventually add more buttons to send different messages. I looked into creating a global socket but that didn't seem to go anywhere.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

This is because you are not closing the socket in the client code. You should close the streams & sockets in both server and client when the connection is over. Saying this, you should keep the connection alive and send several messages instead of closing the connection after sending one message.
I would for example rewrite the server code as (please note that this handles only one client):
ServerSocket serverSocket = null;
Socket clientSocket =null;
Scanner in = null;
try
{
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(4444);
System.out.println("Server Started...");
clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
in = new Scanner(clientSocket.getInputStream());
String inputLine;
while (true) {
if(in.hasNext()) {
inputLine=in.nextLine();
System.out.println("Message from server: "+inputLine);
}
}
} catch(IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
if(in != null) {
in.close();
}
if(clientSocket != null) {
try {
clientSocket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
if(serverSocket != null) {
try {
serverSocket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Just a note: I would use DataInputStream & DataOutputStream... in this way, you could use in.readUTF() in the server side which will block until receiving something new through network. In this way, you will not have to do while(true) which will be way much better for the CPU.

Thank you all for your responses. I did get it working.
Multithreader, thank you, you were completely correct about where my problem lay. I did it a bit differently though.
I set up another class to set up the socket and created a method to start listening on the given port. In the main I just put that in a loop to keep closing and recreating the socket till the end condition is met.
Thanks again all.

client creates new socket object everytime the server is on

i've done a socket programming with client residing on android and server residing on the desktop ....... whenever server is down as we know client lost the connection.....so it undergoes a looping until it connects to server.......
here the problem is in the below code
tabletclient = new Socket(SERVER_IP, TAB_SERVER_PORT);
in the while loop in the case of lost connection.........but when the connection is on it again creates a new object........
can anyone please tell me how to solve this problem..........
In the client side
while(true){
try {
tabletclient = new Socket(SERVER_IP, TAB_SERVER_PORT);
tabletout = new PrintWriter(tabletclient.getOutputStream());
in = new Scanner(tabletclient.getInputStream());
try
{
if((line = in.nextLine())!=null)
{
// my task to be done
}
}catch(Exception d){
System.out.println("Connection from server has lost.........tabletclient.isConnected()----->"+tabletclient.isConnected());
}
} catch (UnknownHostException e) { System.out.println("Entered 2.........");
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println("Entered 3.........");e.printStackTrace();
}
}
In in the Server side
:
:
private Set <Socket> TABhs=new HashSet<Socket>();
:
:
new Thread(new TABServerThread()).start(); // runs in background
:
:
:
class ServerThread implements Runnable {
private ServerSocket server;
#Override
public void run() {
try {
server = new ServerSocket(SERVER_PORT);
System.out.println("Server Start the server at port " + SERVER_PORT
+ " and waiting for clients...");
while (true) {
Socket socket = server.accept();
System.out.println("Server Accept socket connection: "
+ socket.getLocalAddress());
new Thread(new ClientHandler(socket)).start();
}
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
private static PrintWriter out;
class ClientHandler implements Runnable {
private Socket clientSocket;
private Scanner in;
public ClientHandler(Socket clietSocket) {
this.clientSocket = clietSocket;
}
#Override
public void run() {
try {
out = new PrintWriter(clientSocket.getOutputStream());
in = new Scanner(clientSocket.getInputStream());
String line;
System.out.println("ClientHandlerThread Start communication with : "+ clientSocket.getLocalAddress());
try{
while((line = in.nextLine()) != null) {
System.out.println("ClientHandlerThread Client says: " + line);
String dat[]=line.split("#");
String query="insert into table_orders (tableno,kotno, orders,status) values('"+dat[1]+"','"+dat[0]+"','"+dat[2]+"','pending')";
try {
int i= dbGetDet.insertDetails(query);
if(i>0)
{
fillTable();
filtercomboBox();
out.print("success");
out.flush();
for(Socket so:TABhs)
{
PrintWriter ot = new PrintWriter(so.getOutputStream());
ot.println("tableallocation#"+dat[1]);
ot.flush();
}
System.out.println("SENDED 'SUCCESS' TO CLIENT");
}
} catch (Exception ex) {
Logger.getLogger(MYClientclass.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
// }
}
}catch(Exception r){}
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
In the Button click of server
String stat=status_combo.getSelectedItem().toString();
String tables=tableno_combo.getSelectedItem().toString();
String kotno=kotno_combo.getSelectedItem().toString();
if(stat.equals("Processing"))
{
try {
TABhs = new CopyOnWriteArraySet(TABhs);
int soint=1;
System.out.println("TABhs Processing--------------------->"+TABhs.size());
for(Iterator <Socket> it=TABhs.iterator();it.hasNext();)
{
Socket so=it.next();
System.out.println("SEEE SOCKET Processing"+soint+"----->"+so.isClosed());
PrintWriter ot = new PrintWriter(so.getOutputStream());
ot.println("tableupdate#"+tables+"#"+kotno+"#processing");
ot.flush();
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(rootPane, "<html><body>Table Kot Status Changed to <b>Processing</b></body></html>");
soint++;
}
System.out.println("TABhs Processing--------------------->"+TABhs.size());
}
catch (Exception ex) {
Logger.getLogger(MYClientclass.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
NOW EACH TIME WHEN BUTTON IS CLICKED THE OUTPUT IS AS GIVEN BELOW
FISRT CLICK
SEEE SOCKET Ready 1----->false
Server Accept socket connection: /192.168.1.74
SEEE SOCKET Ready 2----->false
TABhs--------------------->2
SECOND CLICK
SEEE SOCKET Ready 1----->false
SEEE SOCKET Ready 2----->false
Server Accept socket connection: /192.168.1.74
SEEE SOCKET Ready 3----->false
TABhs--------------------->4
FOURTH CLICK
SEEE SOCKET Ready 1----->false
SEEE SOCKET Ready 2----->false
SEEE SOCKET Ready 3----->false
Server Accept socket connection: /192.168.1.74
SEEE SOCKET Ready 4----->false
TABhs--------------------->5

I think the problem is at the client's side you read a line and then create a new connection.
I think you must keep reading the socket until it's closed or an error occurs.
For example:
while (true)
{
tabletclient = null;
int loop = 0;
// loop until a connection is established
while (tabletclient == null)
{
try
{
tabletclient = new Socket(SERVER_IP, TAB_SERVER_PORT);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
// set the value to quit when no connection could be established
if (loop++ > 100)
return;
}
}
try
{
tabletout = new PrintWriter(tabletclient.getOutputStream());
in = new Scanner(tabletclient.getInputStream());
// read the socket until it's closed or an error occurs
try
{
while ((line = in.nextLine()) != null)
{
// my task to be done
}
}
catch (Exception d)
{
System.out.println("Connection from server has lost.........tabletclient.isConnected()----->"
+ tabletclient.isConnected());
}
tabletsocket.close();
}
catch (UnknownHostException e)
{
System.out.println("Entered 2.........");
}
catch (IOException e)
{
System.out.println("Entered 3.........");
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Also, you must close the server side when the transfer from the server to the client is completed.

Android Socket Programming, continuous server-client communication (on Button-hit)

So, i have a Android-App(Client) and a Java-program(Server), with a One-time socket communication, whenever the android app connects to my server in a special activity (working fine).
Because my server is embedded in a bigger program (with Swing-components, where the server takes its informations from), i have this (reduced) code here:
//somewhere in my Swing-Application
Server myServer = new Server();
myServer.start();
//...
public class Server extends Thread {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(8090);
try {
while (true) {
System.out.println("Server is waiting for connections...");
socket = serverSocket.accept();
startHandler(socket);
}
} finally {
serverSocket.close();
}
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private void startHandler(final Socket socket) throws IOException {
System.out.println("Client connected to Server");
Thread thread = new Thread() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
writer = new OutputStreamWriter(socket.getOutputStream(), "UTF-8");
//doing something usefull, i am sending a JSON-String, which i´ll parse in my app.
writer.write(someStringContainingJSONString);
writer.flush();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
closeSocket();
}
}
private void closeSocket() {
try {
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
}
}
};
thread.start();
}
In my Android-App i have:
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
viewJSON = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
getJSON();
}
};
Thread thread = new Thread(null, viewJSON, "MagentoBackground");
thread.start();
myProgressDialog = ProgressDialog.show(myActivity.this, "Please wait...", "Retrieving data ...", true);
}
private void getJSON() {
try {
socket = new Socket(serverIPAddress, SERVER_PORT);
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream(), "UTF-8"));
String help = reader.readLine();
// parse this String according to JSON, is working fine!
}
// catch and so on...
Now, i want the app, to recieve data, whenever i hit a button "send data" from my Swing-Application, to have the newest data available.
On the other hand, i want the server to recieve data (also a JSON-String) when i make changes in my Android app. The String should also be send when i hit a specific button.
How can i do that? The problem is the threading issue(otherwise my swing application wouldn´t work) combined with networking. If i don´t close the socket, i cannot continue with my program properly (or at least, it seems so with my code right now)
Can you help me out here?
Thank you very much in advance for your help and thoughts.
Best, Andrea