Really simple TCP client

Question

I want with my app to enter in the url of my server e.g. http://192.168.1.8/ and the port e.g. 1234. When my server receives the TCP Request message, it sends back a file (the server is already implemented).

I think that I don't need something complicated like an AsyncTask, as I do not want to keep the connection. Receiving the answer from the server, my connection must be closed.

Any indication for a way forward or a tip is highly appreciated.

Answer 1

Here is a simple TCP client that uses Sockets that I got working based on code in this tutorial (the code for the tutorial can also be found in this GitHub repository).

Note that this code is geared to sending strings back and forth between the client and server, usually in JSON format.

Here is the TCP client code:

import android.util.Log;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.BufferedWriter;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.Socket;

public class TcpClient {

    public static final String TAG = TcpClient.class.getSimpleName();
    public static final String SERVER_IP = "192.168.1.8"; //server IP address
    public static final int SERVER_PORT = 1234;
    // message to send to the server
    private String mServerMessage;
    // sends message received notifications
    private OnMessageReceived mMessageListener = null;
    // while this is true, the server will continue running
    private boolean mRun = false;
    // used to send messages
    private PrintWriter mBufferOut;
    // used to read messages from the server
    private BufferedReader mBufferIn;

    /**
     * Constructor of the class. OnMessagedReceived listens for the messages received from server
     */
    public TcpClient(OnMessageReceived listener) {
        mMessageListener = listener;
    }

    /**
     * Sends the message entered by client to the server
     *
     * @param message text entered by client
     */
    public void sendMessage(final String message) {
        Runnable runnable = new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                if (mBufferOut != null) {
                    Log.d(TAG, "Sending: " + message);
                    mBufferOut.println(message);
                    mBufferOut.flush();
                }
            }
        };
        Thread thread = new Thread(runnable);
        thread.start();
    }

    /**
     * Close the connection and release the members
     */
    public void stopClient() {

        mRun = false;

        if (mBufferOut != null) {
            mBufferOut.flush();
            mBufferOut.close();
        }

        mMessageListener = null;
        mBufferIn = null;
        mBufferOut = null;
        mServerMessage = null;
    }

    public void run() {

        mRun = true;

        try {
            //here you must put your computer's IP address.
            InetAddress serverAddr = InetAddress.getByName(SERVER_IP);

            Log.d("TCP Client", "C: Connecting...");

            //create a socket to make the connection with the server
            Socket socket = new Socket(serverAddr, SERVER_PORT);

            try {

                //sends the message to the server
                mBufferOut = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(socket.getOutputStream())), true);

                //receives the message which the server sends back
                mBufferIn = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()));


                //in this while the client listens for the messages sent by the server
                while (mRun) {

                    mServerMessage = mBufferIn.readLine();

                    if (mServerMessage != null && mMessageListener != null) {
                        //call the method messageReceived from MyActivity class
                        mMessageListener.messageReceived(mServerMessage);
                    }

                }

                Log.d("RESPONSE FROM SERVER", "S: Received Message: '" + mServerMessage + "'");

            } catch (Exception e) {
                Log.e("TCP", "S: Error", e);
            } finally {
                //the socket must be closed. It is not possible to reconnect to this socket
                // after it is closed, which means a new socket instance has to be created.
                socket.close();
            }

        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.e("TCP", "C: Error", e);
        }

    }

    //Declare the interface. The method messageReceived(String message) will must be implemented in the Activity
    //class at on AsyncTask doInBackground
    public interface OnMessageReceived {
        public void messageReceived(String message);
    }

}

Then, declare a TcpClient as a member variable in your Activity:

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    TcpClient mTcpClient;

    //............

Then, use an AsyncTask for connecting to your server and receiving responses on the UI thread (Note that messages received from the server are handled in the onProgressUpdate() method override in the AsyncTask):

public class ConnectTask extends AsyncTask<String, String, TcpClient> {

    @Override
    protected TcpClient doInBackground(String... message) {

        //we create a TCPClient object
        mTcpClient = new TcpClient(new TcpClient.OnMessageReceived() {
            @Override
            //here the messageReceived method is implemented
            public void messageReceived(String message) {
                //this method calls the onProgressUpdate
                publishProgress(message);
            }
        });
        mTcpClient.run();

        return null;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onProgressUpdate(String... values) {
        super.onProgressUpdate(values);
        //response received from server
        Log.d("test", "response " + values[0]);
        //process server response here....

}

To start the connection to your server, execute the AsyncTask:

new ConnectTask().execute("");

Then, sending a message to the server:

//sends the message to the server
if (mTcpClient != null) {
    mTcpClient.sendMessage("testing");
}

You can close the connection to the server at any time:

if (mTcpClient != null) {
    mTcpClient.stopClient();
}

Answer 2

Thanks for code. In my case I was having trouble receiving data, as I'm not using a line-based protocol. I wrote an alternate implementation that works with my specific server setup:

1. In TcpClient.java file, "run()" command you should replace with code fragment below

   public void run() {

   mRun = true;
   
   try {
       InetAddress serverAddr = InetAddress.getByName(SERVER_IP);
       Log.e("TCP Client", "C: Connecting...");
       Socket socket = new Socket(serverAddr, SERVER_PORT);
       try {
           mBufferOut = new PrintWriter(socket.getOutputStream());
           Log.e("TCP Client", "C: Sent.");
           mBufferIn = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()));
           int charsRead = 0; char[] buffer = new char[1024]; //choose your buffer size if you need other than 1024
   
           while (mRun) {
               charsRead = mBufferIn.read(buffer);
               mServerMessage = new String(buffer).substring(0, charsRead);
               if (mServerMessage != null && mMessageListener != null) {
                   mMessageListener.messageReceived(mServerMessage);}
               mServerMessage = null;
           }
           Log.e("RESPONSE FROM SERVER", "S: Received Message: '" + mServerMessage + "'"); 
   

//rest of code is OK, see original

2. doInBackgroud in your MainActivity.java posts received message to onProgressUpdate, you can display it in other object e.g. TextView

   @Override
   protected void onProgressUpdate(String... values) {
           super.onProgressUpdate(values);
           Log.d("test", "response " + values[0]);
           response.setText(response.getText() + "/n" +values[0]);
   } 
   

//"response" is TextView object declared in your function

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
TextView response; //...so on

and function

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { response = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView); //..so on