Develop Reference

How to make a Jtext Component for input and output of a single process ran through ProcessBuilder like netbeans console [duplicate]

I am trying to create a sort of console/terminal that allows the user to input a string, which then gets made into a process and the results are printed out. Just like a normal console. But I am having trouble managing the input/output streams. I have looked into this thread, but that solution sadly doesn't apply to my problem.
Along with the standard commands like "ipconfig" and "cmd.exe", I need to be able to run a script and use the same inputstream to pass some arguments, if the script is asking for input.
For example, after running a script "python pyScript.py", I should be able pass further input to the script if it is asking for it(example: raw_input), while also printing the output from the script. The basic behavior you would expect from a terminal.
What I've got so far:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.BufferedWriter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextPane;
import javax.swing.text.BadLocationException;
import javax.swing.text.Document;
public class Console extends JFrame{
JTextPane inPane, outPane;
InputStream inStream, inErrStream;
OutputStream outStream;
public Console(){
super("Console");
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 600));
setLocationByPlatform(true);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
// GUI
outPane = new JTextPane();
outPane.setEditable(false);
outPane.setBackground(new Color(20, 20, 20));
outPane.setForeground(Color.white);
inPane = new JTextPane();
inPane.setBackground(new Color(40, 40, 40));
inPane.setForeground(Color.white);
inPane.setCaretColor(Color.white);
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
panel.add(outPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
panel.add(inPane, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
JScrollPane scrollPanel = new JScrollPane(panel);
getContentPane().add(scrollPanel);
// LISTENER
inPane.addKeyListener(new KeyListener(){
#Override
public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e){
if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER){
e.consume();
read(inPane.getText());
}
}
#Override
public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {}
#Override
public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {}
});
pack();
setVisible(true);
}
private void read(String command){
println(command);
// Write to Process
if (outStream != null) {
System.out.println("Outstream again");
BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(outStream));
try {
writer.write(command);
//writer.flush();
//writer.close();
} catch (IOException e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
}
// Execute Command
try {
exec(command);
} catch (IOException e) {}
inPane.setText("");
}
private void exec(String command) throws IOException{
Process pro = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command, null);
inStream = pro.getInputStream();
inErrStream = pro.getErrorStream();
outStream = pro.getOutputStream();
Thread t1 = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
String line = null;
while(true){
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inStream));
while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
println(line);
}
BufferedReader inErr = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inErrStream));
while ((line = inErr.readLine()) != null) {
println(line);
}
Thread.sleep(1000);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
t1.start();
}
public void println(String line) {
Document doc = outPane.getDocument();
try {
doc.insertString(doc.getLength(), line + "\n", null);
} catch (BadLocationException e) {}
}
public static void main(String[] args){
new Console();
}
}
I don't use the mentioned ProcessBuilder, since I do like to differentiate between error and normal stream.
UPDATE 29.08.2016
With the help of #ArcticLord we have achieved what was asked in the original question.
Now it is just a matter of ironing out any strange behavior like the non terminating process. The Console has a "stop" button that simply calls pro.destroy(). But for some reason this does not work for infinitely running processes, that are spamming outputs.
Console: http://pastebin.com/vyxfPEXC
InputStreamLineBuffer: http://pastebin.com/TzFamwZ1
Example code that does not stop:
public class Infinity{
public static void main(String[] args){
while(true){
System.out.println(".");
}
}
}
Example code that does stop:
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
public class InfinitySlow{
public static void main(String[] args){
while(true){
try {
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println(".");
}
}
}

You are on the right way with your code. There are only some minor things you missed.
Lets start with your read method:
private void read(String command){
[...]
// Write to Process
if (outStream != null) {
[...]
try {
writer.write(command + "\n"); // add newline so your input will get proceed
writer.flush(); // flush your input to your process
} catch (IOException e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
}
// ELSE!! - if no outputstream is available
// Execute Command
else {
try {
exec(command);
} catch (IOException e) {
// Handle the exception here. Mostly this means
// that the command could not get executed
// because command was not found.
println("Command not found: " + command);
}
}
inPane.setText("");
}
Now lets fix your exec method. You should use separate threads for reading normal process output and error output. Additionally I introduce a third thread that waits for the process to end and closes the outputStream so next user input is not meant for process but is a new command.
private void exec(String command) throws IOException{
Process pro = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command, null);
inStream = pro.getInputStream();
inErrStream = pro.getErrorStream();
outStream = pro.getOutputStream();
// Thread that reads process output
Thread outStreamReader = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
String line = null;
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inStream));
while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
println(line);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println("Exit reading process output");
}
});
outStreamReader.start();
// Thread that reads process error output
Thread errStreamReader = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
String line = null;
BufferedReader inErr = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inErrStream));
while ((line = inErr.readLine()) != null) {
println(line);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println("Exit reading error stream");
}
});
errStreamReader.start();
// Thread that waits for process to end
Thread exitWaiter = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
int retValue = pro.waitFor();
println("Command exit with return value " + retValue);
// close outStream
outStream.close();
outStream = null;
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
exitWaiter.start();
}
Now this should work.
If you enter ipconfig it prints the command output, closes the output stream and is ready for a new command.
If you enter cmd it prints the output and let you enter more cmd commands like dir or cd and so on until you enter exit. Then it closes the output stream and is ready for a new command.
You may run into problems with executing python scripts because there are problems with reading Process InputStreams with Java if they are not flushed into system pipeline.
See this example python script
print "Input something!"
str = raw_input()
print "Received input is : ", str
You could run this with your Java programm and also enter the input but you will not see the script output until the script is finished.
The only fix I could find is to manually flush the output in the script.
import sys
print "Input something!"
sys.stdout.flush()
str = raw_input()
print "Received input is : ", str
sys.stdout.flush()
Running this script will bahave as you expect.
You can read more about this problem at
Java: is there a way to run a system command and print the output during execution?
Why does reading from Process' InputStream block altough data is available
Java: can't get stdout data from Process unless its manually flushed
EDIT: I have just found another very easy solution for the stdout.flush() problem with Python Scripts. Start them with python -u script.py and you don't need to flush manually. This should solve your problem.
EDIT2: We discussed in the comments that with this solution output and error Stream will be mixed up since they run in different threads. The problem here is that we cannot distinguish if output writing is finish when error stream thread comes up. Otherwise classic thread scheduling with locks could handle this situation. But we have a continuous stream until process is finished no matter if data flows or not. So we need a mechanism here that logs how much time has elapsed since last line was read from each stream.
For this I will introduce a class that gets an InputStream and starts a Thread for reading the incoming data. This Thread stores each line in a Queue and stops when end of stream arrives. Additionally it holds the time when last line was read and added to Queue.
public class InputStreamLineBuffer{
private InputStream inputStream;
private ConcurrentLinkedQueue<String> lines;
private long lastTimeModified;
private Thread inputCatcher;
private boolean isAlive;
public InputStreamLineBuffer(InputStream is){
inputStream = is;
lines = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue<String>();
lastTimeModified = System.currentTimeMillis();
isAlive = false;
inputCatcher = new Thread(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run() {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(100);
int b;
try{
while ((b = inputStream.read()) != -1){
// read one char
if((char)b == '\n'){
// new Line -> add to queue
lines.offer(sb.toString());
sb.setLength(0); // reset StringBuilder
lastTimeModified = System.currentTimeMillis();
}
else sb.append((char)b); // append char to stringbuilder
}
} catch (IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
isAlive = false;
}
}});
}
// is the input reader thread alive
public boolean isAlive(){
return isAlive;
}
// start the input reader thread
public void start(){
isAlive = true;
inputCatcher.start();
}
// has Queue some lines
public boolean hasNext(){
return lines.size() > 0;
}
// get next line from Queue
public String getNext(){
return lines.poll();
}
// how much time has elapsed since last line was read
public long timeElapsed(){
return (System.currentTimeMillis() - lastTimeModified);
}
}
With this class we could combine the output and error reading thread into one. That lives while the input reading buffer threads live and have not comsumed data. In each run it checks if some time has passed since last output was read and if so it prints all unprinted lines at a stroke. The same with the error output. Then it sleeps for some millis for not wasting cpu time.
private void exec(String command) throws IOException{
Process pro = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command, null);
inStream = pro.getInputStream();
inErrStream = pro.getErrorStream();
outStream = pro.getOutputStream();
InputStreamLineBuffer outBuff = new InputStreamLineBuffer(inStream);
InputStreamLineBuffer errBuff = new InputStreamLineBuffer(inErrStream);
Thread streamReader = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// start the input reader buffer threads
outBuff.start();
errBuff.start();
// while an input reader buffer thread is alive
// or there are unconsumed data left
while(outBuff.isAlive() || outBuff.hasNext() ||
errBuff.isAlive() || errBuff.hasNext()){
// get the normal output if at least 50 millis have passed
if(outBuff.timeElapsed() > 50)
while(outBuff.hasNext())
println(outBuff.getNext());
// get the error output if at least 50 millis have passed
if(errBuff.timeElapsed() > 50)
while(errBuff.hasNext())
println(errBuff.getNext());
// sleep a bit bofore next run
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
System.out.println("Finish reading error and output stream");
}
});
streamReader.start();
// remove outStreamReader and errStreamReader Thread
[...]
}
Maybe this is not a perfect solution but it should handle the situation here.
EDIT (31.8.2016)
We discussed in comments that there is still a problem with the code while implementing a stop button that kills the started
process using Process#destroy(). A process that produces very much output e.g. in an infinite loop will
be destroyed immediately by calling destroy(). But since it has already produced a lot of output that has to be consumed
by our streamReader we can't get back to normal programm behaviour.
So we need some small changes here:
We will introduce a destroy() method to the InputStreamLineBuffer that stops the output reading and clears the queue.
The changes will look like this:
public class InputStreamLineBuffer{
private boolean emergencyBrake = false;
[...]
public InputStreamLineBuffer(InputStream is){
[...]
while ((b = inputStream.read()) != -1 && !emergencyBrake){
[...]
}
}
[...]
// exits immediately and clears line buffer
public void destroy(){
emergencyBrake = true;
lines.clear();
}
}
And some little changes in the main programm
public class ExeConsole extends JFrame{
[...]
// The line buffers must be declared outside the method
InputStreamLineBuffer outBuff, errBuff;
public ExeConsole{
[...]
btnStop.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if(pro != null){
pro.destroy();
outBuff.destroy();
errBuff.destroy();
}
}});
}
[...]
private void exec(String command) throws IOException{
[...]
//InputStreamLineBuffer outBuff = new InputStreamLineBuffer(inStream);
//InputStreamLineBuffer errBuff = new InputStreamLineBuffer(inErrStream);
outBuff = new InputStreamLineBuffer(inStream);
errBuff = new InputStreamLineBuffer(inErrStream);
[...]
}
}
Now it should be able to destroy even some output spamming processes.
Note: I found out that Process#destroy() is not able to destroy child processes. So if you start cmd on windows
and start a java programm from there you will end up destroying the cmd process while the java programm is still running.
You will see it in the task manager. This problem could not be solved with java itself. it will need
some os depending external tools to get the pids of these processes and kill them manually.

Although #ArticLord solution is nice and neat, recently I faced the same kind of problem and came up with a solution that's conceptually equivalent, but slightly different in its implementation.
The concept is the same, namely "bulk reads": when a reader thread acquires its turn, it consumes all the stream it handles, and pass the hand only when it is done.
This guarantees the out/err print order.
But instead of using a timer-based turn assignment, I use a lock-based non-blocking read simulation:
// main method for testability: replace with private void exec(String command)
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
// create a lock that will be shared between reader threads
// the lock is fair to minimize starvation possibilities
ReentrantLock lock = new ReentrantLock(true);
// exec the command: I use nslookup for testing on windows
// because it is interactive and prints to stderr too
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("nslookup");
// create a thread to handle output from process (uses a test consumer)
Thread outThread = createThread(p.getInputStream(), lock, System.out::print);
outThread.setName("outThread");
outThread.start();
// create a thread to handle error from process (test consumer, again)
Thread errThread = createThread(p.getErrorStream(), lock, System.err::print);
errThread.setName("errThread");
errThread.start();
// create a thread to handle input to process (read from stdin for testing purpose)
PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(p.getOutputStream());
Thread inThread = createThread(System.in, null, str ->
{
writer.print(str);
writer.flush();
});
inThread.setName("inThread");
inThread.start();
// create a thread to handle termination gracefully. Not really needed in this simple
// scenario, but on a real application we don't want to block the UI until process dies
Thread endThread = new Thread(() ->
{
try
{
// wait until process is done
p.waitFor();
logger.debug("process exit");
// signal threads to exit
outThread.interrupt();
errThread.interrupt();
inThread.interrupt();
// close process streams
p.getOutputStream().close();
p.getInputStream().close();
p.getErrorStream().close();
// wait for threads to exit
outThread.join();
errThread.join();
inThread.join();
logger.debug("exit");
}
catch(Exception e)
{
throw new RuntimeException(e.getMessage(), e);
}
});
endThread.setName("endThread");
endThread.start();
// wait for full termination (process and related threads by cascade joins)
endThread.join();
logger.debug("END");
}
// convenience method to create a specific reader thread with exclusion by lock behavior
private static Thread createThread(InputStream input, ReentrantLock lock, Consumer<String> consumer)
{
return new Thread(() ->
{
// wrap input to be buffered (enables ready()) and to read chars
// using explicit encoding may be relevant in some case
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(input));
// create a char buffer for reading
char[] buffer = new char[8192];
try
{
// repeat until EOF or interruption
while(true)
{
try
{
// wait for your turn to bulk read
if(lock != null && !lock.isHeldByCurrentThread())
{
lock.lockInterruptibly();
}
// when there's nothing to read, pass the hand (bulk read ended)
if(!reader.ready())
{
if(lock != null)
{
lock.unlock();
}
// this enables a soft busy-waiting loop, that simultates non-blocking reads
Thread.sleep(100);
continue;
}
// perform the read, as we are sure it will not block (input is "ready")
int len = reader.read(buffer);
if(len == -1)
{
return;
}
// transform to string an let consumer consume it
String str = new String(buffer, 0, len);
consumer.accept(str);
}
catch(InterruptedException e)
{
// catch interruptions either when sleeping and waiting for lock
// and restore interrupted flag (not necessary in this case, however it's a best practice)
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
return;
}
catch(IOException e)
{
throw new RuntimeException(e.getMessage(), e);
}
}
}
finally
{
// protect the lock against unhandled exceptions
if(lock != null && lock.isHeldByCurrentThread())
{
lock.unlock();
}
logger.debug("exit");
}
});
}
Note that both solutions, #ArticLord's and mine, are not totally starvation-safe, and chances (really few) are inversely proportional to consumers speed.
Happy 2016! ;)

Java : Writing console output to file, Not working

I have written an app for port scanning and I want to write my console output to a file but a little problem occurred. "PrintStream" is not writing all console output to the file. For instance: code within try block which shows opened ports in the console does not write anything to the file, but dead hosts in catch block are written.
My code:
public class start {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
for (int i = 5935; i < 10000; i++){
new test(i);
}
PrintStream printStream = new PrintStream(new FileOutputStream("E:\\ports.txt"));
System.setOut(printStream);
printStream.flush();
}
}
class test implements Runnable{
static String host = "localhost";
int t;
Thread y;
public test(int t2){
t = t2;
y = new Thread(this);
y.start();
}
public void run() {
try {
Socket socket = new Socket(host, t);
System.out.println("Port is alive - " + t);
} catch (IOException e){
System.out.println("Port is dead... - " + t);
}
}
}

Close socket
Use Executor Service
Set output stream before writing output
Wait for all jobs to be ready
Flush output when ready
Close printStream
Results in:
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintStream;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
public class start
{
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
try (PrintStream printStream = new PrintStream(new FileOutputStream("E:\\ports.txt"))) {
System.setOut(printStream);
ExecutorService pool = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
for (int i = 5935; i < 10000; i++) {
final int port = i;
pool.execute(() -> {
try (Socket socket = new Socket("localhost", port)) {
System.out.println("Port is alive - " + port);
}
catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Port is dead... - " + port);
}
});
}
pool.awaitTermination(100, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
printStream.flush();
}
}
}

You have a few issues directly related to the issue at hand.
You set the output AFTER you have started the threads so where the output goes is almost random.
You don't wait for the threads to finish, so the application "just ends" at a random point.
You don't flush the output.
Updated code:
class StartPortTester {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
// Set up the stream BEFORE starting threads
// This should be in a try-with-resources, or the close done in a finally block.
PrintStream printStream = new PrintStream(new FileOutputStream("ports.txt"));
System.setOut(printStream);
// Start the threads!
List<PortTester> testers = new LinkedList<>();
for (int i = 5935; i < 10000; i++){
testers.add(new PortTester(i));
}
// Wait for the threads to end
for(PortTester t : testers ) {
t.y.join();
}
// Flush (write to disk) and close.
printStream.flush();
printStream.close();;
}
}
class PortTester implements Runnable{
static String host = "localhost";
int t;
Thread y;
public PortTester(int t2){
t = t2;
y = new Thread(this);
y.start();
}
public void run() {
try {
// You should close this either in the finally block or using a try-with-resource.
Socket socket = new Socket(host, t);
System.out.println("Port is alive - " + t);
} catch (IOException e){
System.out.println("Port is dead... - " + t);
}
}
}
This is not perfect as
it creates a ton of threads andit would be much better to use a thread pool.
It also waits forever for the thread to finish, you might want it to only wait x seconds before giving up.
Exceptions would cause the file to not be flushed & closed.
You mix up presentation with logic. I'd NOT write System.out in the PortTester, but create a data structure describing the ports statuses and then output that after (separate presentation from logic).
At the moment the ordering of the output is random (based on when the threads finish).

Java Runtime.exec() -- Is it possible to synchronize stream output with wait()/notify()?

I have implemented a simple external process executor in Java using Runtime.exec(). I have implemented a "stream gobbler" class that consumes process output from the process's output stream and error stream. My code waits for the external process to complete using Process.waitFor(), then I print the process return code.
The problem I'm experiencing is that the process ends before the "stream gobblers" have finished printing, so in my Java output (System.out), the returned exit code appears in the middle of the process output/error lines.
My question is, Is it possible to synchronize the output on System.out using wait()/notify() instead of polling the alive status of each StreamGobbler in a while loop?
Here is the code:
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
public class RuntimeExecExample
{
private enum StreamType
{
OUTPUT,
ERROR
}
public class MyStreamGobbler extends Thread
{
private InputStream is;
StreamType type;
public MyStreamGobbler(InputStream is, StreamType type)
{
this.is = is;
this.type = type;
}
public void run()
{
try
{
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
String line=null;
while ( (line = br.readLine()) != null)
{
System.out.println(type.toString() + ">" + line);
}
}
catch (IOException ioe)
{
ioe.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public void executeCommand(String args[])
{
try
{
Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
String commandLine = "";
for(String cmdItem : args)
{
commandLine += " " + cmdItem;
}
System.out.println("Exec-ing " + commandLine);
Process proc = rt.exec(args);
// any error message?
MyStreamGobbler errorGobbler = new MyStreamGobbler(proc.getErrorStream(), StreamType.ERROR);
// any output?
MyStreamGobbler outputGobbler = new MyStreamGobbler(proc.getInputStream(), StreamType.OUTPUT);
// kick them off
errorGobbler.start();
outputGobbler.start();
// any error???
int exitVal = proc.waitFor();
/*
* Wait for both to finish before printing exit value
* IS THERE A WAY TO DO THIS WITH wait()/notify() ??
*/
while(errorGobbler.isAlive())
;
while(outputGobbler.isAlive())
;
System.out.println("ExitValue: " + exitVal);
}
catch (Throwable t)
{
t.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
if(args.length < 1)
{
System.out.println("USAGE: java RuntimeExecExample <cmd> [<arg1> <arg2> ..]");
System.exit(1);
}
else
{
RuntimeExecExample runtimeExecExample = new RuntimeExecExample();
runtimeExecExample.executeCommand(args);
}
}
}

In your main thread, as well as doing a waitFor() the sub-process to finish, also do errorGobbler.join() and outputGobbler.join(), then you won't need the while(xGobbler.isAlive()).

First, you should call join() on any thread that you start.
Second, System.out is buffered, so that might explain it. Try calling System.out.flush() before reading the contents.
A way to know whether it's a buffering issue would be to temporarily change your invoked process to write into System.err instead of System.out. System.err is not buffered.

Log thread memory leak

I have coded a background logging thread for my program, if a class needs a logger it pulls it from my threadpool, so for each filename there is only one log running. The class, adds anything which needs to be logged via log(String).
Anyway whenever I set logging on and it runs the writetolog() after a while I get heapoutofmemory exception. This is caused by the log threads, but I can't see where the memory leak is, and I am not that great at threading. My only idea is that it is in the buffered writer?
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue;
public class Log extends Thread{
private String file;
private BlockingQueue<String> pq = new LinkedBlockingQueue<String>();
private BufferedWriter bw;
private boolean Writing;
#Depreciated
public Log(){
super();
file = "log.txt";
start();
}
public Log(ThreadGroup tg, String fileName){
super(tg,fileName);
file = fileName;
try {
new File(file).createNewFile();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
start();
}
public Log(String fileName){
file = fileName;
try {
new File(file).createNewFile();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
start();
}
#Override
public void run(){
//System.out.println("Log Thread booted " +file);
while(Run.running){
if (!Writing){
if(Run.logging)
writeToLog();
}
try{
Thread.sleep(500);
}catch(InterruptedException e){
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
break;
}
}
//System.out.println("Log Thread shutting down " +file);
}
public synchronized void log(String s){
if(Run.logging)
pq.add(s);
}
private void writeToLog(){
try{
Writing = true;
bw = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(file, true));
while(!pq.isEmpty()){
bw.write(Calendar.getInstance().getTime().toString() +" " +pq.poll());
bw.newLine();
}
bw.flush();
bw.close();
Writing = false;
}catch(Exception e){Writing = false; e.printStackTrace();}
}
}
EDIT - It is worth mentioning as well that in the context of the program it is logging 100's - 1000's of lines
Many thanks
Sam

If your background thread doesn't write to the disk fast enough, the LinkedBlockingQueue (whose capacity you left unspecified) will grow until it contains Integer.MAX_VALUE strings. That's too much for your java heap size.
Specify a capacity so that, in case of a full queue, the thread calling the log method will wait while some part of the queued log is dumped on disk :
private BlockingQueue<String> pq = new LinkedBlockingQueue<String>(1000);
Use put instead of add in the log method so that the logging operation waits instead of throwing an exception.
(did you notice that you write the time at writing on disk instead of the time at logging ?)

I believe having private BufferedWriter bw; as member variable is causing the trouble. Since you are only using it in your writeToLog() function there is no reason for it to be a member variable and get instantiated every time by multiple threads. Creating BufferedWriter within the function will GC the object as soon as it goes out of scope.
private void writeToLog(){
try{
Writing = true;
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(file, true));
while(!pq.isEmpty()){
bw.write(Calendar.getInstance().getTime().toString() +" " +pq.poll());
bw.newLine();
}
bw.flush();
bw.close();
Writing = false;
}catch(Exception e){Writing = false; e.printStackTrace();}
}

Using Threads to Handle Sockets

I am working on a java program that is essentially a chat room. This is an assignment for class so no code please, I am just having some issues determining the most feasible way to handle what I need to do. I have a server program already setup for a single client using threads to get the data input stream and a thread to handle sending on the data output stream. What I need to do now is create a new thread for each incoming request.
My thought is to create a linked list to contain either the client sockets, or possibly the thread. Where I am stumbling is figuring out how to handle sending the messages out to all the clients. If I have a thread for each incoming message how can I then turn around and send that out to each client socket.
I'm thinking that if I had a linkedlist of the clientsockets I could then traverse the list and send it out to each one, but then I would have to create a dataoutputstream each time. Could I create a linkedlist of dataoutputstreams? Sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling but I don't want to just start coding this, it could get messy without a good plan. Thanks!
EDIT
I decided to post the code I have so far. I haven't had a chance to test it yet so any comments would be great. Thanks!
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.DataOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue;
public class prog4_server {
// A Queue of Strings used to hold out bound Messages
// It blocks till on is available
static BlockingQueue<String> outboundMessages = new LinkedBlockingQueue<String>();
// A linked list of data output streams
// to all the clients
static LinkedList<DataOutputStream> outputstreams;
// public variables to track the number of clients
// and the state of the server
static Boolean serverstate = true;
static int clients = 0;
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
//create a server socket and a clientSocket
ServerSocket serverSocket = null;
try {
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(6789);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Could not listen on port: 6789");
System.exit(-1);
}// try{...}catch(IOException e){...}
Socket clientSocket;
// start the output thread which waits for elements
// in the message queue
OutputThread out = new OutputThread();
out.start();
while(serverstate){
try {
// wait and accept a new client
// pass the socket to a new Input Thread
clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
DataOutputStream ServerOut = new DataOutputStream(clientSocket.getOutputStream());
InputThread in = new InputThread(clientSocket, clients);
in.start();
outputstreams.add(ServerOut);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Accept failed: 6789");
System.exit(-1);
}// try{...}catch{..}
// increment the number of clients and report
clients = clients++;
System.out.println("Client #" + clients + "Accepted");
}//while(serverstate){...
}//public static void main
public static class OutputThread extends Thread {
//OutputThread Class Constructor
OutputThread() {
}//OutputThread(...){...
public void run() {
//string variable to contain the message
String msg = null;
while(!this.interrupted()) {
try {
msg = outboundMessages.take();
for(int i=0;i<outputstreams.size();i++){
outputstreams.get(i).writeBytes(msg + '\n');
}// for(...){...
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
} catch (InterruptedException e){
System.out.println(e);
}//try{...}catch{...}
}//while(...){
}//public void run(){...
}// public OutputThread(){...
public static class InputThread extends Thread {
Boolean threadstate = true;
BufferedReader ServerIn;
String user;
int threadID;
//SocketThread Class Constructor
InputThread(Socket clientSocket, int ID) {
threadID = ID;
try{
ServerIn = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(clientSocket.getInputStream()));
user = ServerIn.readLine();
}
catch(IOException e){
System.out.println(e);
}
}// InputThread(...){...
public void run() {
String msg = null;
while (threadstate) {
try {
msg = ServerIn.readLine();
if(msg.equals("EXITEXIT")){
// if the client is exiting close the thread
// close the output stream with the same ID
// and decrement the number of clients
threadstate = false;
outputstreams.get(threadID).close();
outputstreams.remove(threadID);
clients = clients--;
if(clients == 0){
// if the number of clients has dropped to zero
// close the server
serverstate = false;
ServerIn.close();
}// if(clients == 0){...
}else{
// add a message to the message queue
outboundMessages.add(user + ": " + msg);
}//if..else...
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}// try { ... } catch { ...}
}// while
}// public void run() { ...
}
public static class ServerThread extends Thread {
//public variable declaration
BufferedReader UserIn =
new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
//OutputThread Class Constructor
ServerThread() {
}//OutputThread(...){...
public void run() {
//string variable to contain the message
String msg = null;
try {
//while loop will continue until
//exit command is received
//then send the exit command to all clients
msg = UserIn.readLine();
while (!msg.equals("EXITEXIT")) {
System.out.println("Enter Message: ");
msg = UserIn.readLine();
}//while(...){
outboundMessages.add(msg);
serverstate = false;
UserIn.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println(e);
}//try{...}catch{...}
}//public void run(){...
}// public serverThread(){...
}// public class prog4_server

I have solved this problem in the past by defining a "MessageHandler" class per client connection, responsible for inbound / outbound message traffic. Internally the handler uses a BlockingQueue implementation onto which outbound messages are placed (by internal worker threads). The I/O sender thread continually attempts to read from the queue (blocking if required) and sends each message retrieved to the client.
Here's some skeleton example code (untested):
/**
* Our Message definition. A message is capable of writing itself to
* a DataOutputStream.
*/
public interface Message {
void writeTo(DataOutputStream daos) throws IOException;
}
/**
* Handler definition. The handler contains two threads: One for sending
* and one for receiving messages. It is initialised with an open socket.
*/
public class MessageHandler {
private final DataOutputStream daos;
private final DataInputStream dais;
private final Thread sender;
private final Thread receiver;
private final BlockingQueue<Message> outboundMessages = new LinkedBlockingQueue<Message>();
public MessageHandler(Socket skt) throws IOException {
this.daos = new DataOutputStream(skt.getOutputStream());
this.dais = new DataInputStream(skt.getInputStream());
// Create sender and receiver threads responsible for performing the I/O.
this.sender = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
while (!Thread.interrupted()) {
Message msg = outboundMessages.take(); // Will block until a message is available.
try {
msg.writeTo(daos);
} catch(IOException ex) {
// TODO: Handle exception
}
}
}
}, String.format("SenderThread-%s", skt.getRemoteSocketAddress()));
this.receiver = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// TODO: Read from DataInputStream and create inbound message.
}
}, String.format("ReceiverThread-%s", skt.getRemoteSocketAddress()));
sender.start();
receiver.start();
}
/**
* Submits a message to the outbound queue, ready for sending.
*/
public void sendOutboundMessage(Message msg) {
outboundMessages.add(msg);
}
public void destroy() {
// TODO: Interrupt and join with threads. Close streams and socket.
}
}
Note that Nikolai is correct in that blocking I/O using 1 (or 2) threads per connection is not a scalable solution and typically applications might be written using Java NIO to get round this. However, in reality unless you're writing an enterprise server which thousands of clients connect to simultaneously then this isn't really an issue. Writing bug-free scalable applications using Java NIO is difficult and certainly not something I'd recommend.