I have a basic server thread in which I accept sockets with the accept () function. For a certain period of time, I would need to avoid connecting new sockets. I want to do this from another thread by telling the server thread to not make new connections.
public class ServerThread extends Thread {
private boolean running = false;
private final ConnectionManager connectionManager;
private final AtomicBoolean acceptNewConnections;
ServerThread(ConnectionManager connectionManager, int port) {
super("ServerThread");
this.connectionManager = connectionManager;
this.port = port;
this.acceptNewConnections = new AtomicBoolean(false);
}
// This is called from other threads
public void setAcceptNewConnections(boolean value) {
acceptNewConnections.set(value);
}
#Override
public void shutdown() {
acceptNewConnections.set(false);
running = false;
try {
join();
} catch (InterruptedException ignored) {}
}
#Override
public void run() {
running = true;
connectionManager.serverThreadStart();
try (ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(port)) {
acceptNewConnections.set(true);
while (running) {
try {
if (acceptNewConnections.get()) {
final Socket socket = serverSocket.accept();
if (acceptNewConnections.get()) connectionManager.addClient(socket);
else socket.close();
} else {
try {Thread.sleep(10);} catch(InterruptedException e){}
}
} catch (SocketTimeoutException ignored) {
//
}
}
} catch (IOException e) {
//
}
connectionManager.serverThreadStop();
}
}
My questions are:
Is there a way to interrupt waiting for a new socket while waiting?
Is there a way to wait for a new socket, but would accept it as needed after waiting for it, not wait and accept it in one command?
How can I pause the server thread while blocking new connections without using Thread.sleep() and useless overusage of cpu?
Thank you so much for help.
Disclaimer: I'm fairly new to Java, so mabye it's a stupid question.
Here we go.
I am writing a program that listens on a port, accepts a connection, does its thing, and closes the port.
I want this to run in it's own thread which handles the complete communication. So, ServerSocket.accept() would be started in the thread.
But how can I only spawn a thread if I need it? I can not know if I receive data if I didn't use ServerSocket.accept() yet, but if I do this in the main method, I will not be able to accept a new one while this one is open.
Some sample code omitting imports for clarity:
public class communicator implements Runnable{
private ServerSocket server;
private Socket socket;
Thread t;
communicator(ServerSocket server){
this.server = server;
t = new Thread(this,"MyThread");
t.start();
}
public void run() {
try {
socket = server.accept();
//do stuff
socket.close();
} catch (IOException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(communicator.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
}
and the main class:
public class test {
private static ServerSocket server;
private static Socket socket;
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
server = new ServerSocket(123);
communicator comm = new communicator(server);
}
}
Or maybe I can use something like, "if one thread is active, provide a new one"?
Thx.
You can use Threadpools and an ExecturonerService something like this.
public class Listener implements Runnable {
private ServerSocket serverSocket;
ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
public Listener(ServerSocket serverSocket) {
this.serverSocket = serverSocket;
}
#Override
public void run() {
try {
while (true) {
Socket accept = serverSocket.accept();
executorService.execute(new Worker(accept));
}
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Listener waits until a connection comes, creates a new Worker object and gives it the executioner service to run it. This service will handle the number of threads that are needed for you und clean everything up when the task is done.
public class Worker implements Runnable{
private Socket socket;
public Worker(Socket socket) {
this.socket = socket;
}
#Override
public void run() {
//do stuff
}
}
So I have a multithreaded server, and data sends back and forth correctly, but my write operations stalls on the slower connections. I've noticed that it goes by connection time. The first client to connect always receives data first from the server. The next one has to wait until the first one is done receiving and so on so forth. What I'm looking for is a server that sends data to many clients without waiting for a client to finish receiving. I've read up about NIO (non-blocking), but I'd really prefer keeping my current method, which is to use a separate thread for each client.
Here's the code.
Server:
public class Server implements Runnable {
private Thread thread;
private ServerSocket serverSocket;
private ArrayList<ClientThread> clients;
public Server(int port) throws IOException {
thread = new Thread(this);
clients = new ArrayList<ClientThread>();
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(port);
thread.start();
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
try {
//Listens to clients connecting.
ClientThread client = new ClientThread(serverSocket.accept());
clients.add(client);
ServerWindow.addText("-- Someone connected!");
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public void broadcast(String data) {
broadcast(data, null);
}
public void broadcast(String data, ClientThread exclude) {
int amount = clients.size();
for (int i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
if (!clients.get(i).equals(exclude)) { //Don't send it to that client.
try {
clients.get(i).broadcast(data);
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
}
Client thread object:
public class ClientThread implements Runnable {
private Thread thread;
private Socket socket;
private Scanner input;
private PrintWriter output;
public ClientThread(Socket s) throws IOException {
thread = new Thread(this);
socket = s;
socket.setTcpNoDelay(true);
//socket.setSoTimeout(10); //Send little chunk for 10 milliseconds.
input = new Scanner(socket.getInputStream());
output = new PrintWriter(socket.getOutputStream());
thread.start();
}
public void run() {
while (true) {
if (input.hasNext()) {
reciever(input.nextLine());
}
}
}
private void reciever(String data) {
ServerWindow.addText(data);
ServerWindow.server.broadcast(data, this);
}
public void broadcast(String data) throws IOException {
output.println(data);
output.flush();
}
}
It seems you are calling the broadcast method from the same thread.
This is a common pitfall for users new to multithreading in Java.
The fact that the broadcast method is in a subclass of Thread does not mean it will be executed on that Thread
In fact it will be executed on the thread that called it. The only method that will be executed on your created ClientThread is run() and anything that run() calls while it is executing. If you want said thread to not only read data from your connection but also write to it, you have to modify the run method to listen to external commands to start writing.
So, this is what I have. This is a server program that connects to multiple clients by using threads. As of now, that main loop is pretty much infinite.
Say a client sent a shutdown command to a ServerThread. Would that ServerThread be able to access the main class, break out of the loop, and reach the end of the program?
I tried turning putting isRunning = false in the ServerThread, but that doesn't seem to work.
public class Server
{
public static boolean isRunning = true;
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// init stuff
try {
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(27647);
} catch (IOException e) {
println("Could not listen on port 27647");
}
while(isRunning)
{
Socket clientSocket = null;
try{
clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
} catch(IOException e) {
println("Could not connect to client");
}
ServerThread serv = new ServerThread(clientSocket);
serv.start();
}
try {
serverSocket.close();
} catch (IOException e1) { }
}
}
You need to make isRunning volatile and you have to close the serverSocket to unblock the accepting thread. I suggest you have a method like
public void close() throws IOException {
isRunning = false;
serverSocket.close();
}
If you call this from any thread, the thread will stop almost immediately.
In my main thread I have a while(listening) loop which calls accept() on my ServerSocket object, then starts a new client thread and adds it to a Collection when a new client is accepted.
I also have an Admin thread which I want to use to issue commands, like 'exit', which will cause all the client threads to be shut down, shut itself down, and shut down the main thread, by turning listening to false.
However, the accept() call in the while(listening) loop blocks, and there doesn't seem to be any way to interrupt it, so the while condition cannot be checked again and the program cannot exit!
Is there a better way to do this? Or some way to interrupt the blocking method?
You can call close() from another thread, and the accept() call will throw a SocketException.
Set timeout on accept(), then the call will timeout the blocking after specified time:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/SocketOptions.html#SO_TIMEOUT
Set a timeout on blocking Socket operations:
ServerSocket.accept();
SocketInputStream.read();
DatagramSocket.receive();
The option must be set prior to entering a blocking operation to take effect. If the timeout expires and the operation would continue to block, java.io.InterruptedIOException is raised. The Socket is not closed in this case.
Is calling close() on the ServerSocket an option?
http://java.sun.com/j2se/6/docs/api/java/net/ServerSocket.html#close%28%29
Closes this socket. Any thread currently blocked in accept() will throw a SocketException.
You can just create "void" socket for break serversocket.accept()
Server side
private static final byte END_WAITING = 66;
private static final byte CONNECT_REQUEST = 1;
while (true) {
Socket clientSock = serverSocket.accept();
int code = clientSock.getInputStream().read();
if (code == END_WAITING
/*&& clientSock.getInetAddress().getHostAddress().equals(myIp)*/) {
// End waiting clients code detected
break;
} else if (code == CONNECT_REQUEST) { // other action
// ...
}
}
Method for break server cycle
void acceptClients() {
try {
Socket s = new Socket(myIp, PORT);
s.getOutputStream().write(END_WAITING);
s.getOutputStream().flush();
s.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
}
}
The reason ServerSocket.close() throws an exception
is because you have an outputstream or an inputstream
attached to that socket.
You can avoid this exception safely by first closing the input and output streams.
Then try closing the ServerSocket.
Here is an example:
void closeServer() throws IOException {
try {
if (outputstream != null)
outputstream.close();
if (inputstream != null)
inputstream.close();
} catch (IOException e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
if (!serversock.isClosed())
serversock.close();
}
}
You can call this method to close any socket from anywhere without getting an exception.
Use serverSocket.setSoTimeout(timeoutInMillis).
OK, I got this working in a way that addresses the OP's question more directly.
Keep reading past the short answer for a Thread example of how I use this.
Short answer:
ServerSocket myServer;
Socket clientSocket;
try {
myServer = new ServerSocket(port)
myServer.setSoTimeout(2000);
//YOU MUST DO THIS ANYTIME TO ASSIGN new ServerSocket() to myServer‼!
clientSocket = myServer.accept();
//In this case, after 2 seconds the below interruption will be thrown
}
catch (java.io.InterruptedIOException e) {
/* This is where you handle the timeout. THIS WILL NOT stop
the running of your code unless you issue a break; so you
can do whatever you need to do here to handle whatever you
want to happen when the timeout occurs.
*/
}
Real world example:
In this example, I have a ServerSocket waiting for a connection inside a Thread. When I close the app, I want to shut down the thread (more specifically, the socket) in a clean manner before I let the app close, so I use the .setSoTimeout() on the ServerSocket then I use the interrupt that is thrown after the timeout to check and see if the parent is trying to shut down the thread. If so, then I set close the socket, then set a flag indicating that the thread is done, then I break out of the Threads loop which returns a null.
package MyServer;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.SocketException;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.SocketException;
public class Server {
public Server (int port) {this.port = port;}
private boolean threadDone = false;
private boolean threadInterrupted = false;
private boolean threadRunning = false;
private ServerSocket myServer = null;
private Socket clientSocket = null;
private Thread serverThread = null;;
private int port;
private static final int SO_TIMEOUT = 5000; //5 seconds
public void startServer() {
if (!threadRunning) {
serverThread = new Thread(thisServerTask);
serverThread.setDaemon(true);
serverThread.start();
}
}
public void stopServer() {
if (threadRunning) {
threadInterrupted = true;
while (!threadDone) {
//We are just waiting for the timeout to exception happen
}
if (threadDone) {threadRunning = false;}
}
}
public boolean isRunning() {return threadRunning;}
private Task<Void> thisServerTask = new Task <Void>() {
#Override public Void call() throws InterruptedException {
threadRunning = true;
try {
myServer = new ServerSocket(port);
myServer.setSoTimeout(SO_TIMEOUT);
clientSocket = new Socket();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
while(true) {
try {
clientSocket = myServer.accept();
}
catch (java.io.InterruptedIOException e) {
if (threadInterrupted) {
try { clientSocket.close(); } //This is the clean exit I'm after.
catch (IOException e1) { e1.printStackTrace(); }
threadDone = true;
break;
}
} catch (SocketException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
return null;
}
};
}
Then, in my Controller class ... (I will only show relevant code, massage it into your own code as needed)
public class Controller {
Server server = null;
private static final int port = 10000;
private void stopTheServer() {
server.stopServer();
while (server.isRunning() {
//We just wait for the server service to stop.
}
}
#FXML private void initialize() {
Platform.runLater(()-> {
server = new Server(port);
server.startServer();
Stage stage = (Stage) serverStatusLabel.getScene().getWindow();
stage.setOnCloseRequest(event->stopTheServer());
});
}
}
I hope this helps someone down the road.
Another thing you can try which is cleaner, is to check a flag in the accept loop, and then when your admin thread wants to kill the thread blocking on the accept, set the flag (make it thread safe) and then make a client socket connection to the listening socket.
The accept will stop blocking and return the new socket.
You can work out some simple protocol thing telling the listening thread to exit the thread cleanly.
And then close the socket on the client side.
No exceptions, much cleaner.
You can simply pass the timeout limit (milli seconds) as a parameter while calling accept function.
eg serverSocket.accept(1000);
automatically close the request after 1 sec