ConcurrentQueue.Count remains zero when socket receive adds data - c#

I have some code that used to work for many years and even now in specific cases it works but in other cases I just cannot understand why it fails.
The following code is part of a Client class that uses a System.Net.Sockets.Socket for communication:
protected ConcurrentQueue<byte[]> ReadQueue { get; } = new ConcurrentQueue<byte[]>();
private void ReadTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e) {
ReadTimer.Stop();
try
{
while (ReadQueue.Count > 0 && !IsDisposing)
{
try
{
if (this.ReadQueue.TryDequeue(out var data))
{
[...]
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
[...]
}
}
}
catch (Exception)
{
[...]
}
finally
{
if (IsConnected && !IsDisposing) ReadTimer.Start();
}
}
protected void EnqueueData(IEnumerable<byte> data)
{
ReadQueue.Enqueue(data.ToArray());
}
The ReadTimer ticks every millisecond if it is not stopped in order to process data from the ConcurrentQueue.
There are two uses of the code:
First case
I open a connection to a Socket port. After the connection is established I call the Socket.BeginReceive method of the Socket.
Second case
I listen to a Socket port and call the Socket.BeginAccept method. Within the ´callback´ method of BeginAccept I also call the BeginReceive method of the Socket.
In both cases the same method is called:
private void StartReceiving(SocketAnswerBuffer state)
{
try
{
Status = ClientStatus.Receiving;
_ = state.Socket.BeginReceive(
state.Buffer, 0,
state.Buffer.Length,
SocketFlags.None,
ReceiveCallback,
state
);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
[...]
}
}
So in both cases the ReceiveCallback is used to handle incoming data:
private void OnReceive(IAsyncResult result)
{
if (result.AsyncState is SocketAnswerBuffer state)
{
try
{
var size = state.Socket.EndReceive(result);
if (size > 0)
{
var data = state.Buffer.Take(size).ToArray();
EnqueueData(data);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
[...]
}
finally
{
Status = ClientStatus.Connected;
if (state != null && state.Socket.Connected)
StartReceiving(state);
}
}
}
In both cases the EnqueueData method is called.
In the first case everything works. When the ReadTimer ticks ReadQueue.Count is more than 0 and the loop handles all data collected so far and processes it.
In the second case EnqueueData is also called and enqueues data to the ReadQueue. But when the ReadTimer ticks ReadQueue.Count is 0 and nothing works.
What I really cannot understand is that debugging the code shows that ReadQueue.Count is larger than 0 on EnqueueData and the ReadQueue even grows but in ReadTimer_Tick the ReadQueue remains empty ... I neither clear nor redeclare ReadQueue and ReadTimer_Tick is the only method in code that tries to dequeue the data from ReadQueue.

Somehow creating a new class that includes the Timer, the ConcurrentQueue and the method that proceeds the data and using this class inside the class with the Socket forced the ConcurrentQueue to be in sync with the Timer and the method.

Related

How to make multiple clients with SimpleTcp?

I have a connection with TCP / IP. I want a multiple connection. I'm using SimpleTcp. It is very simple and useful for single connection. Unfortunately, I don't know how to make multiple connections with SimpleTcp.
The code below is the one used for single connection.
public void EthernetConnect()
{
try
{
string IpAddress = Ip.Text;
int Port = Convert.ToInt32(PortName.Text);
SimpleTcpClient client = new SimpleTcpClient(IpAddress, Port, false, null, null);
if (!client.IsConnected)
{
client.Connect();
if (client != null)
{
if (client.IsConnected)
{
Console.WriteLine("Connected");
client.Events.DataReceived += EthernetDataReceived;
client.Events.Connected += EthernetConnected;
client.Events.Disconnected += EthernetDisconnected;
timer.Start();
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Not Connected");
}
}
}
else
{
client.Events.DataReceived -= EthernetDataReceived;
}
}
catch
{
}
}
EthernetDataReceived
private void EthernetDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedFromServerEventArgs e)
{
try
{
var Data = e.Data;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex);
}
}
How can the EthernetDataReceived function in single connection be used in multiple connections? Creating a separate function for each link sounds ridiculous.
I can use different structures other than SimpleTcp. But I'm a beginner please help?
EthernetDataReceived is just an event handler that can be used to handle the DataReceived event from any SimpleTcpClient object. You can think of it as a method that may be called by any object from any thread.
Isn't there a problem if data comes from all of them at the same time?
Then the method will be called once per event that gets raised. This isn't an issue as long as you don't read or modify any shared data in the event handler. If you do this, you need to make the method thread-safe which is a topic of its own.
Also, how do I know which server data is coming from?
You should be able to cast the sender argument and check the properties of the SimpleTcpClient:
private void EthernetDataReceived(object sender, DataReceivedFromServerEventArgs e)
{
SimpleTcpClient client = (SimpleTcpClient)sender;
//...
}
Or check the DataReceivedFromServerEventArgs whatever that is.

Class Inheriting from Mainwindow causes "the calling thread must be sta because many UI components require this"

I'm working on a Chat server which receives connections from multiple clients and sends/receives messages.
This is how it gets connections from the clients:
public void StartServer()
{
tcpListener = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Any, 60000);
tcpListener.Start();
listenTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(() => ListenLoop());
}
private async void ListenLoop()
{
int i = 0;
for (; ; )
{
var socket = await _tcpListener.AcceptSocketAsync();
if (socket == null)
break;
var c = new Client(socket, i);
i++;
}
}////Got this code from somewhere here, not really what I want to use (discussed down)
This is the Client class:
public class Client
{
//irrelevant stuff here//
public Client(Socket socket, int number)
{
//irrelevant stuff here//
Thread ct = new Thread(this.run);
ct.Start();
}
public void run()
{
writer.Write("connected"); //Testing connection
while (true)
{
try
{
string read = reader.ReadString();
// Dispatcher.Invoke(new DisplayDelegate(DisplayMessage), new object[] { "[Client] : " + read });
}////////Not working, because Client needs to inherit from MainWindow.
catch (Exception z)
{
MessageBox.Show(z.Message);
}
}
}
}
Ok so problem is, to update the UI Client class must inherit from MainWindow, but when it does, I get "the calling thread must be sta because many UI components require this" error. When it doesn't inherit it works just fine.
Another problem is, I want to use a Client[] clients array and then when a user connects, it adds him to the array so that i can individually write/read to/from specific clients.
while (true)
{
try
{
clients[counter] = new Client(listener.AcceptSocket(), counter);
counter ++;
MessageBox.Show("client " + counter.ToString());
}
catch (Exception e) { MessageBox.Show(e.Message); }
}
Problem here is, i get "Object refrence not set to an instance of an object" when a client connects.
Any ideas how to fix both/any of these problems?
Sorry code might be a bit messed up but I tried lots of stuff to get it working so I ended up with lots of junk in the code.
Thanks in advance.

C# sockets missing some data unless I set a breakpoint

I am troubleshooting an issue on a relatively simple socket application which is listening for status updates from a third party machine. I have set up a TcpListener object to wait for a connection request and then establish the socket to read the data coming in. I get the periodic heartbeat as expected without issue, but whenever there is a sudden change in status the server machine sends out an immediate update which I don't get. The bizarre thing here is that I get the update no problem if I set a breakpoint in the code.
The server itself handles these connections a little strangely and doesn't maintain an open socket connection. when it tries to send data, it opens the connection, sends data, and then closes the connection, which is why I've built this to similarly wait for a connection and close it when the data transfer is done before beginning to listen for another connection request.
private void ListeningThread()
{
bool keep_going = CreateConnection();
CreateTimer();
while (keep_going)
{
try
{
if (m_ThreadShutdownEvent.IsSet)
{
// event was set, so shut down
keep_going = false;
m_Listener.Stop();
bool appshuttingdown = false;
DestroyTimer();
lock (m_Lock)
{
appshuttingdown = m_ApplicationShutDown;
}
if (!appshuttingdown)
{
RunStatusNotification();
}
Connected = false;
}
else
{
if (m_Listener.Pending())
{
Socket socket = m_Listener.AcceptSocket();
if (socket != null)
{
StateObject state = new StateObject();
state.Socket = socket;
try
{
int bytes_read = socket.Receive(state.Buffer, 0, StateObject.BUFFER_SIZE, SocketFlags.None);
DateTime now = DateTime.UtcNow;
if (bytes_read == 14)
{
if (state.Buffer.Count() > 13)
{
int packet = state.Buffer[13];
InterpretRelevantByte(packet, now);
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
FireUnknownException(ex);
}
finally
{
socket.Close();
}
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
m_Logger.Error(ex);
}
}
}
It's possible that your call to receive gets you some value greater than or less than 14, you should probably add some logic to inspect the data you receive when bytes read is not equal to 14 since in these cases you are discarding what you've read.
int bytes_read = socket.Receive(state.Buffer, 0, StateObject.BUFFER_SIZE, SocketFlags.None);
DateTime now = DateTime.UtcNow;
if (bytes_read == 14)
{
if (state.Buffer.Count() > 13)
{
int packet = state.Buffer[13];
InterpretRelevantByte(packet, now);
}
}
else if (bytes_read > 14)
{
// maybe you received multiple messages in one packet
}
else
{
// maybe there is more data on the way
}
Ok, I've resolved this. Turns out I was closing the socket too soon which led to some weird behavior that, honestly, I don't fully understand, but I do know how I fixed it.
After opening the socket I needed to continue listening for data until receiving a 0 length message which signaled that the server had closed the connection. At that point I could start listening for a new socket connection request. I'm still not sure why I would get the heartbeats only, but everything has been working perfectly since I made the change.

Equivalent of Peek in C# async sockets?

I'm used to using synchronous sockets. In order to deal with messages that have not completely arrived yet, I'd set the first 4 bytes to be the expected length of the message. Then I'd use Socket.Receive(tcpRecv, 1024, SocketFlags.Peek); to take a look at the message without pulling it off the buffer. If all of it was there, I'd pull the data. If it wasn't, I'd leave it there. I had designed my protocol so that no message would ever be greater than 1024 bytes.
In asynchronous sockets, I don't see a way to peek at the data. Is there a way to do this? Is there a better approach to this than peeking at the data?
Thanks.
-Nick
You don't need to peek: .NET asynchronous sockets allow you to achieve the same type of functionality without peeking. I think you might be looking for something like this:
private void BeginReceive()
{
if ( _clientState == EClientState.Receiving)
{
if (_asyncTask.BytesReceived != 0 && _asyncTask.TotalBytesReceived <= _maxPageSize)
{
SocketAsyncEventArgs e = new SocketAsyncEventArgs();
e.SetBuffer(_asyncTask.ReceiveBuffer, 0, _asyncTask.ReceiveBuffer.Length);
e.Completed += new EventHandler<SocketAsyncEventArgs>(ReceiveCallback);
e.UserToken = _asyncTask.Host;
bool comletedAsync = false;
try
{
comletedAsync = _socket.ReceiveAsync(e);
}
catch (SocketException se)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error receiving data from: " + _asyncTask.Host);
Console.WriteLine("SocketException: {0} Error Code: {1}", se.Message, se.NativeErrorCode);
ChangeState(EClientState.Failed);
}
if (!comletedAsync)
{
// The call completed synchronously so invoke the callback ourselves
ReceiveCallback(this, e);
}
}
else
{
//Console.WriteLine("Num bytes received: " + _asyncTask.TotalBytesReceived);
ChangeState(EClientState.ReceiveDone);
}
}
}
When you get the callback you can schedule another receive:
private void ReceiveCallback(object sender, SocketAsyncEventArgs args)
{
lock (_sync) // re-entrant lock
{
// Fast fail: should not be receiving data if the client
// is not in a receiving state.
if (_clientState == EClientState.Receiving)
{
String host = (String)args.UserToken;
if (_asyncTask.Host == host && args.SocketError == SocketError.Success)
{
try
{
Encoding encoding = Encoding.ASCII;
_asyncTask.BytesReceived = args.BytesTransferred;
_asyncTask.TotalBytesReceived += _asyncTask.BytesReceived;
_asyncTask.DocSource += encoding.GetString(_asyncTask.ReceiveBuffer, 0, _asyncTask.BytesReceived);
BeginReceive();
}
catch (SocketException e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error receiving data from: " + host);
Console.WriteLine("SocketException: {0} Error Code: {1}", e.Message, e.NativeErrorCode);
ChangeState(EClientState.Failed);
}
}
else if (_asyncTask.Host != host)
{
Console.WriteLine("Warning: received a callback for {0}, but the client is currently working on {1}.",
host, _asyncTask.Host);
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Socket Error: {0} when receiving from {1}",
args.SocketError,
_asyncTask.Host);
ChangeState(EClientState.Failed);
}
}
}
}
You can see the entire asynchronous client on my blog: http://codesprout.blogspot.com/2011/04/asynchronous-http-client.html
Your same data flow works without peeking:
schedule a four byte read
when it completes, save it in the buffer and decode it into length "n"
schedule a read of length "n" - 4
when it completes, append it to the four bytes already there
decode your message
The only difference from peeking is that you have to save the four bytes when you initially read them.

How to use UdpClient.BeginReceive in a loop

I want to do this
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++ )
{
Byte[] receiveBytes = receivingUdpClient.Receive(ref RemoteIpEndPoint);
}
But instead of using UdpClient.Receive, I have to use UdpClient.BeginReceive. The problem is, how do I do that? There aren't a lot of samples using BeginReceive, and the MSDN example is not helping at all. Should I use BeginReceive, or just create it under a separate thread?
I consistently get ObjectDisposedException exception. I only get the first data sent. The next data will throw exception.
public class UdpReceiver
{
private UdpClient _client;
public System.Net.Sockets.UdpClient Client
{
get { return _client; }
set { _client = value; }
}
private IPEndPoint _endPoint;
public System.Net.IPEndPoint EndPoint
{
get { return _endPoint; }
set { _endPoint = value; }
}
private int _packetCount;
public int PacketCount
{
get { return _packetCount; }
set { _packetCount = value; }
}
private string _buffers;
public string Buffers
{
get { return _buffers; }
set { _buffers = value; }
}
private Int32 _counter;
public System.Int32 Counter
{
get { return _counter; }
set { _counter = value; }
}
private Int32 _maxTransmission;
public System.Int32 MaxTransmission
{
get { return _maxTransmission; }
set { _maxTransmission = value; }
}
public UdpReceiver(UdpClient udpClient, IPEndPoint ipEndPoint, string buffers, Int32 counter, Int32 maxTransmission)
{
_client = udpClient;
_endPoint = ipEndPoint;
_buffers = buffers;
_counter = counter;
_maxTransmission = maxTransmission;
}
public void StartReceive()
{
_packetCount = 0;
_client.BeginReceive(new AsyncCallback(Callback), null);
}
private void Callback(IAsyncResult result)
{
try
{
byte[] buffer = _client.EndReceive(result, ref _endPoint);
// Process buffer
MainWindow.Log(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(buffer));
_packetCount += 1;
if (_packetCount < _maxTransmission)
{
_client.BeginReceive(new AsyncCallback(Callback), null);
}
}
catch (ObjectDisposedException ex)
{
MainWindow.Log(ex.ToString());
}
catch (SocketException ex)
{
MainWindow.Log(ex.ToString());
}
catch (System.Exception ex)
{
MainWindow.Log(ex.ToString());
}
}
}
What gives?
By the way, the general idea is:
Create tcpclient manager.
Start sending/receiving data using udpclient.
When all data has been sent, tcpclient manager will signal receiver that all data has been sent, and udpclient connection should be closed.
It would seem that UdpClient.BeginReceive() and UdpClient.EndReceive() are not well implemented/understood. And certainly compared to how the TcpListener is implemented, are a lot harder to use.
There are several things that you can do to make using the UdpClient.Receive() work better for you. Firstly, setting timeouts on the underlying socket Client will enable control to fall through (to an exception), allowing the flow of control to continue or be looped as you like. Secondly, by creating the UDP listener on a new thread (the creation of which I haven't shown), you can avoid the semi-blocking effect of the UdpClient.Receive() function and you can effectively abort that thread later if you do it correctly.
The code below is in three parts. The first and last parts should be in your main loop at the entry and exit points respectively. The second part should be in the new thread that you created.
A simple example:
// Define this globally, on your main thread
UdpClient listener = null;
// ...
// ...
// Create a new thread and run this code:
IPEndPoint endPoint = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Any, 9999);
byte[] data = new byte[0];
string message = "";
listener.Client.SendTimeout = 5000;
listener.Client.ReceiveTimeout = 5000;
listener = new UdpClient(endPoint);
while(true)
{
try
{
data = listener.Receive(ref endPoint);
message = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(data);
}
catch(System.Net.Socket.SocketException ex)
{
if (ex.ErrorCode != 10060)
{
// Handle the error. 10060 is a timeout error, which is expected.
}
}
// Do something else here.
// ...
//
// If your process is eating CPU, you may want to sleep briefly
// System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10);
}
// ...
// ...
// Back on your main thread, when it's exiting, run this code
// in order to completely kill off the UDP thread you created above:
listener.Close();
thread.Close();
thread.Abort();
thread.Join(5000);
thread = null;
In addition to all this, you can also check UdpClient.Available > 0 in order to determine if any UDP requests are queued prior to executing UdpClient.Receive() - this completely removes the blocking aspect. I do suggest that you try this with caution as this behaviour does not appear in the Microsoft documentation, but does seem to work.
Note:
The MSDN exmaple code you may have found while researching this problem requires an additional user defined class - UdpState. This is not a .NET library class. This seems to confuse a lot of people when they are researching this problem.
The timeouts do not strictly have to be set to enable your app to exit completely, but they will allow you to do other things in that loop instead of blocking forever.
The listener.Close() command is important because it forces the UdpClient to throw an exception and exit the loop, allowing Thread.Abort() to get handled. Without this you may not be able to kill off the listener thread properly until it times out or a UDP packet is received causing the code to continue past the UdpClient.Receive() block.
Just to add to this priceless answer, here's a working and tested code fragment. (Here in a Unity3D context but of course for any c#.)
// minmal flawless UDP listener per PretorianNZ
using System.Collections;
using System;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Net;
using System.Threading;
void Start()
{
listenThread = new Thread (new ThreadStart (SimplestReceiver));
listenThread.Start();
}
private Thread listenThread;
private UdpClient listenClient;
private void SimplestReceiver()
{
Debug.Log(",,,,,,,,,,,, Overall listener thread started.");
IPEndPoint listenEndPoint = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Any, 1260);
listenClient = new UdpClient(listenEndPoint);
Debug.Log(",,,,,,,,,,,, listen client started.");
while(true)
{
Debug.Log(",,,,, listen client listening");
try
{
Byte[] data = listenClient.Receive(ref listenEndPoint);
string message = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(data);
Debug.Log("Listener heard: " +message);
}
catch( SocketException ex)
{
if (ex.ErrorCode != 10060)
Debug.Log("a more serious error " +ex.ErrorCode);
else
Debug.Log("expected timeout error");
}
Thread.Sleep(10); // tune for your situation, can usually be omitted
}
}
void OnDestroy() { CleanUp(); }
void OnDisable() { CleanUp(); }
// be certain to catch ALL possibilities of exit in your environment,
// or else the thread will typically live on beyond the app quitting.
void CleanUp()
{
Debug.Log ("Cleanup for listener...");
// note, consider carefully that it may not be running
listenClient.Close();
Debug.Log(",,,,, listen client correctly stopped");
listenThread.Abort();
listenThread.Join(5000);
listenThread = null;
Debug.Log(",,,,, listener thread correctly stopped");
}
I think you should not use it in a loop but instead whenever the BeginReceive callback is called you call BeginReceive once more and you keep a public variable for count if you want to limit the number to 100.
have look at MSDN first. They provide good example.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.sockets.udpclient.beginreceive.aspx
I would do network communication on a background thread, so that it doesn't block anything else in your application.
The issue with BeginReceive is that you must call EndReceive at some point (otherwise you have wait handles just sitting around) - and calling EndReceive will block until the receive is finished. This is why it is easier to just put the communication on another thread.
You have to do network operations, file manipulations and such things that are dependent to other things rather than your own program on another thread (or task) because they may freeze your program. The reason for that is that your code executes sequentially.
You have used it in a loop which is not fine. Whenever BeginRecieve callback is invoked you should call it again. Take a look at the following code:
public static bool messageReceived = false;
public static void ReceiveCallback(IAsyncResult ar)
{
UdpClient u = (UdpClient)((UdpState)(ar.AsyncState)).u;
IPEndPoint e = (IPEndPoint)((UdpState)(ar.AsyncState)).e;
Byte[] receiveBytes = u.EndReceive(ar, ref e);
string receiveString = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(receiveBytes);
Console.WriteLine("Received: {0}", receiveString);
messageReceived = true;
}
public static void ReceiveMessages()
{
// Receive a message and write it to the console.
IPEndPoint e = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Any, listenPort);
UdpClient u = new UdpClient(e);
UdpState s = new UdpState();
s.e = e;
s.u = u;
Console.WriteLine("listening for messages");
u.BeginReceive(new AsyncCallback(ReceiveCallback), s);
// Do some work while we wait for a message. For this example,
// we'll just sleep
while (!messageReceived)
{
Thread.Sleep(100);
}
}

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