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C# TCPListener keep listening after application shutdown only for the first time

I have an issue with my application,
I have a TCPListener which listen let's say on port 14000
After the application is being closed I can see on the CMD that the listener is still listening.
At the second run of the application as expected I cant start the listener on the same port (14000) because it is already taken, I am changing the application port to 15000 on the second running, work wonderful and the listener is being CLOSED after the application is being shut down,
I assume that on the first run, the first listener on port 14000 stays open after the app is dead, on the second run the application closed/open the listener on port 15000 very well, why is this happen? I thought maybe it is about the port 14000 I've switched the orders of the opening ports (first opened 15000) and saw that the 15000 stays open and the 14000 (on the second run) closed and open correctly, Why at the first run the listener not being closed??
The code to my server:
class Server : IDisposable
{
private const int TIMER_PERIOD = 60 * 1000; // ms
private string servePort;
private string serverIP;
byte[] DataReceived = new byte[1024];
Action<string> MssageReceiveCallback;
private bool isListening = false;
static Timer serverTimer = null;
private TcpListener _Server;
private Dictionary<int, TcpClient> clientsList = new Dictionary<int, TcpClient>();
private bool serverListening = true;
private static int ClientInstance = 0;
public Server(string _serverIP, string _serverPORT, Action<string> messageReceiveCallback)
{
serverIP = _serverIP;
servePort = _serverPORT;
MssageReceiveCallback = messageReceiveCallback;
// InitilizeServer();
}
private void InitilizeServer()
{
_Server = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Parse(serverIP), int.Parse(servePort));
// if (serverTimer == null)
// serverTimer = new Timer(new TimerCallback(OnTimerCallback), null, TIMER_PERIOD, TIMER_PERIOD);
Task.Run(() =>
{
try
{
_Server.Start();
while (_Server != null)
{
TcpClient tcpClient;
try
{
tcpClient = _Server.AcceptTcpClient();
}
catch
{
continue;
}
Task.Run(() =>
{
ClientInstance++;
int currentinstance = ClientInstance;
clientsList.Add(currentinstance, tcpClient);
try
{
while (tcpClient.Connected && serverListening)
{
if (tcpClient.GetStream().DataAvailable)
{
int actualBufferlength = tcpClient.GetStream().Read(DataReceived, 0, DataReceived.Length);
byte[] data = new byte[actualBufferlength];
Buffer.BlockCopy(DataReceived, 0, data, 0, actualBufferlength);
string asciiMessage = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(data);
MssageReceiveCallback(asciiMessage);
}
else
{
Thread.Sleep(5);
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
finally
{
clientsList[currentinstance].Close();
clientsList.Remove(currentinstance);
}
});
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
});
}
public void StartServer()
{
InitilizeServer();
isListening = true;
}
public void SendMessage(string msg)
{
byte[] data = ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(msg);
foreach (TcpClient client in clientsList.Values)
{
client.GetStream().Write(data, 0, data.Length);
}
}
public void Dispose()
{
serverListening = false;
foreach (var item in clientsList.Values)
{
if (item.Connected)
item.Close();
}
_Server.Server.Close();
}
}
UPDATE:
I've check in TCPView to see which application the listener bind to and found this:
It looks like the listener available for un exist process

The biggest problem here, I think (I've pointed out other problems in the comments) is that TCP shutdown requires network communications and by default prevents socket reuse for a period of time.
The function you need to get to is Socket.SetSocketOption, specifically the ReuseAddress option. You should be able to get at it via the Server property on the TcpListener. Pay attention that it needs to be done before you actually start the listener listening.

You could try putting:
_Server.Server =null;
After close.

Using UdpClient, how do you retry UdpClient.Connect() until it succeeds?

My client/server programs work well with each other, but only when the server is up and running before my client starts. If the client fails to connect on the first try, I can't get it to try again.
Here's my Client's connect method.
public void connect()
{
IPAddress server_address = IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1");
IPEndPoint server_ip = new IPEndPoint(server_address, 5685);
Console.WriteLine("2");
bool connected = false;
while (!connected)
{
try
{
Console.WriteLine("IN CONNECTED");
udp_client.Connect(server_ip);
byte[] send_data = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("INIT");
udp_client.Send(send_data, send_data.Length);
byte[] received_bytes = udp_client.Receive(ref server_ip);
string received_data = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(received_bytes);
if (received_data == "INIT")
{
connected = true;
Console.WriteLine("RECEIVED INIT");
listen(server_ip);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e);
}
}
}
What I was hoping to see is the udp_client.Connect(server_ip) to loop until I received that "INIT" message from the server.
As it currently stands, there is no loop. It seems to get stuck on udp_client.Receive(ref server_ip).
Any help would be appreciated!

This is pseudoCode - you will have to move somethings to class scope to allow future send/receives (which you'd do using a different method). This is only designed to show you how to connect when the connection blocks:
bool isClientConnected = false;
var connector = new System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker();
public void connectToUDP(){
connector.DoWork+= connect;
connector.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private void connect(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
IPAddress server_address = IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1");
IPEndPoint server_ip = new IPEndPoint(server_address, 5685);
Console.WriteLine("2");
try
{
Console.WriteLine("Waiting for server...");
udp_client.Connect(server_ip);
byte[] send_data = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("INIT");
udp_client.Send(send_data, send_data.Length);
byte[] received_bytes = udp_client.Receive(ref server_ip);
string received_data = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(received_bytes);
if (received_data == "INIT")
{
isClietConnected = true;
Console.WriteLine("now connected");
listen(server_ip);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e);
}
}
public bool sendReceiveUDP(string send){
if(!isClientConnected){
return false;
}
//perform send
return true;
}
You would then maintain the connected session using class scope and send/receive using a different method. This is for connect only since you only need to do it once.
How you set something like this up:
private bool isConnected = false();
private bool send(){
if(!isConnected){
connect();
}
//send
}
private bool connect(){
if(!isConnected){
//launch connection thread
}
}
private delegate void onNewReceive(string message);
public event onNewReceive onNewReceiveEvent;
public void fireEvent(string message){
onNewReceiveEvent.Invoke(message);
}
private void waitForData(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e){
//this is the backgroundworker
while(true){
receive();
fireEvent(message);
}
}
Then, subscribe to the onNewREceivedEvent in another class and process the inbound message. onNewReceivedEvent += processInboundMEsasage();
This is all psuedocode and "brain compiled" (creit to others) so it's only meant for demonstrations. Without intellisense, I'm lost.

application hangs when closing a listening port

I'm using com0com to create a part of virtual ports comA/comB, typing the input to comA from hyperterminal and listening on comB in a wpf application. When I run the following code (by triggering Connect), the application successfully connects and is able to get the data from comA, but hangs when I do Disconnect.
public void Connect()
{
readPort = new SerialPort("COMB");
readPort.WriteTimeout = 500;
readPort.Handshake = Handshake.None;
readPort.Open();
readThread = new Thread(Read);
readRunning = true;
readThread.Start();
System.Diagnostics.Debug.Print("connected");
}
public void Disconnect()
{
if (!readRunning)
{
readPort.Close();
}
else
{
readRunning = false;
readThread.Join();
readPort.Close();
}
System.Diagnostics.Debug.Print("disconnected");
}
public void Read()
{
while (readRunning)
{
try
{
int readData = 0;
readData = readPort.ReadByte();
System.Diagnostics.Debug.Print("message: " + readData.ToString());
}
catch (TimeoutException)
{
}
}
}
I tried changing the Read function to a write by using
byte[] writeData = { 1, 2, 3 };
readPort.Write(writeData, 0, 3);
instead of port.readbyte, and it starts working perfectly when disconnecting. Does anyone know if there is anything different about readbyte that could have caused the freeze? Or is it possibly related to com0com?

Just checking back, in case anyone runs into the same issue, I found an alternative way overriding SerialPort.DataReceived like this:
public override void OnDataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
SerialPort sp = (SerialPort)sender;
byte[] buf = new byte[sp.BytesToRead];
sp.Read(buf, 0, buf.Length);
receivedDataDel(buf);
}

UDP Connection Between Client and Server

Here is the server code of my program this is working, but after it sends data it gets stuck. I need it to be refreshed and ready for sending data again.
Server code:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
try {
String text = textBox1.Text;
UdpClient udpc = new UdpClient(text,8899);
IPEndPoint ep = null;
while (true) {
MessageBox.Show("Name: ");
string name = textBox2.Text;
if (name == "") break;
byte[] sdata = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(name);
udpc.Send(sdata, sdata.Length);
if (udpc.Receive(ref ep)==null) {
MessageBox.Show("Host not found");
} else {
byte[] rdata = udpc.Receive(ref ep);
string job = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(rdata);
MessageBox.Show(job);
}
}
} catch {
MessageBox.Show("Error Restarting");
}
Client code:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
try {
UdpClient subscriber = new UdpClient(8899);
IPAddress addr = IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.2");
subscriber.JoinMulticastGroup(addr);
IPEndPoint ep = null;
for (int i = 0; i < 1; i++) {
byte[] pdata = subscriber.Receive(ref ep);
string strdata = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(pdata);
MessageBox.Show(strdata);
textBox1.Text = strdata;
pass = strdata;
}
subscriber.DropMulticastGroup(addr);
} catch {
Refresh();
MessageBox.Show("Not Found");
}
}
The Server can send data to one client . I want to send one client at a time. But after sending the data, the server gets stuck.
I need it do refresh and send data again for a client.

If I understood your code, from the server your sending data, then waiting for an answer. In the client, your just getting the data, but not sending anything back. And unless you provide timeout to the socket, it will wait indefinitely until something arrives.

You shouldn't use udpc.Receive() in the main UI thread (inside button1_Click). If you do, your aplication will hang until something arrives. Using a timeout isn't a solution either. The application will just hang until the timeout expires. Instead You must use a multiple threads. You can do so by using BeginReceive instead of Receive or by explicitly creating a new thread and using Receive there. If you google for "asynchronous udp sockets in c#" or something like that, then you will find plenty of examples on how to set it up correctly.

The udpc.Receive() Method on your server side, will Block Until a datagram receive from client.
UDP in not reliable. it means that server doesnt expect any ACK from other side. so you can simply remove this part of code. or if you need to ensure message arrival, run a separate thread for each client as follow:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
System.Threading.Thread Server_thread = new Thread(My_Send_Function);
Server_thread .Start();
}
private void My_Send_Function() {
try {
String text = textBox1.Text;
UdpClient udpc = new UdpClient(text,8899);
IPEndPoint ep = null;
while (true) {
MessageBox.Show("Name: ");
string name = textBox2.Text;
if (name == "") break;
byte[] sdata = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(name);
udpc.Send(sdata, sdata.Length);
if (udpc.Receive(ref ep)==null) {
MessageBox.Show("Host not found");
} else {
byte[] rdata = udpc.Receive(ref ep);
string job = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(rdata);
MessageBox.Show(job);
}
}
} catch {
MessageBox.Show("Error Restarting");
}
}

How do I get all servers' IP which are listening on specific port LAN?

How do I get all servers IP which are listening on specific port (Ex:9090) in LAN
I have already read some basics information about multicast,anycast ,unicast and broadcast and it seems like broadcast is the one meant for my application.
I am thinking of two ideas .. Use TCP protocol to Connect to all IP Addresses (192.168.1.1-254) in parallel on port 9090 and set a little time period to the connection timeout. just to check if there's any responce. (but it doesn't seem like a good idea)Use UDP protocol and broadcast a message like "hello" and check for response then get all IP Addresses which respond.
So which idea should I pick, are there better ideas to do it?
I would also like to know if my broadcast-ed message is received to the server and how to get the IP address of it.

I've done it with TCP to search all server that is listening on a specific port.
Its not an idle solution, but it worked for me.
I've created a userControl with a public function Initialize to pass the port that i want to scan for servers.
public ServerDiscovery()
{
InitializeComponent();
// statusLabel.Image = imageState.Images[2];
timer.Elapsed += timer_tick;
}
int port = 0;
bool busy = false; // to tell that the function is busy with scanning.
public void Initialize(int port)
{
this.port = port;
}
System.Timers.Timer timer = new System.Timers.Timer(5000);
List<SocketAsyncEventArgs> list = new List<SocketAsyncEventArgs>();
// this list to hold all sockets that created to connect to IP .. to DISPOSE it later
HashSet<string> usedIP = new HashSet<string>();
//usedIP will be explained later.
public IPEndPoint getAddress()
{ //this function to get the IPEndPoint of the selected server from listview.
if (listServer.SelectedItems.Count > 0)
{
if (listServer.SelectedItems[0].ImageIndex == 0)
{
ListViewItem item = listServer.SelectedItems[0];
IPEndPoint ep = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse(item.SubItems[1].Text), port);
return ep;
}
}
return null;
}
public void Refresh() //to scan for servers
{
if (!busy)
{
usedIP.Clear();
listServer.Items.Clear();
// statusLabel.Text = "Scanning for servers.";
// statusLabel.Image = Image.FromFile("loading.gif");
// btnRefresh.Enabled = false;
busy = true;
timer.Start();
IPAddress[] IpA = Dns.GetHostByName(Dns.GetHostName()).AddressList;
for (int j = 0; j < IpA.Length ; j++)
{
if (IpA[j].AddressFamily == AddressFamily.InterNetwork) // to make sure it's an IPV4
{
string scanIP = IpA[j].ToString().Substring(0, IpA[j].ToString().LastIndexOf(".")) + ".";
if (!usedIP.Contains(scanIP))
//usedIP is a hashset that holds the first 3 parts on an ip (ex:"192.168.1." from "192.168.1.30") i used this to avoid scanning the same ip addresses more than once .. like if i had a wireless network ip ("192.168.1.5") and an Ethernet Network ip ("192.168.1.5"). so with that hashset it will scan once.
{
usedIP.Add(scanIP);
Parallel.For(1, 255, i =>
{
Scan(scanIP + i);
});
}
}
}
}
}
private void Scan(string ipAdd)
{
Socket s = new Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetwork, SocketType.Stream, ProtocolType.Tcp);
SocketAsyncEventArgs e = new SocketAsyncEventArgs();
e.RemoteEndPoint = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse(ipAdd), port);
e.UserToken = s;
e.Completed += new EventHandler<SocketAsyncEventArgs>(e_Completed);
list.Add(e); // add the created socket to a list to dispose when time is up.
s.ConnectAsync(e);
}
private void e_Completed(object sender, SocketAsyncEventArgs e)
{
if (e.ConnectSocket != null) //if there's a responce from the server [e.ConnectSocket] will not be equal null.
{
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(new NetworkStream(e.ConnectSocket));
ListViewItem item = new ListViewItem();
string[] cmd = sr.ReadLine().Split('<'); in my server constructor this line will receive a string like "PC_NAME<Available" ..
item.Text = cmd[0];
item.SubItems.Add(((IPEndPoint)e.RemoteEndPoint).Address.ToString());
item.SubItems.Add(cmd[1]);
if (cmd[1] == "Busy")
item.ImageIndex = 1;
else
item.ImageIndex = 0;
AddServer(item);
list.Remove(e); //active server should be remove from the list that holds the sockets and disposed.. because there's no need to keep connection after showing that this server is active.
((Socket)e.UserToken).Dispose();
}
}
delegate void AddItem(ListViewItem item);
private void AddServer(ListViewItem item)
{
if (InvokeRequired)
{
Invoke(new AddItem(AddServer), item); //just to add an item from a background thread.
return;
}
listServer.Items.Add(item);
}
private void timer_tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
busy = false; //when time's up .. set busy to false so we can scan again
timer.Stop();
foreach (var s in list) //dispose all sockets that's trying to connect and waiting for a response
{
try
{
((Socket)s.UserToken).Dispose();
}
catch { }
}
//this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate // for design
// {
// btnRefresh.Enabled = true;
// btnRefresh.BorderStyle = Border3DStyle.Raised;
// statusLabel.Text = "Ready.";
// statusLabel.Image = imageState.Images[2];
// });
}
private void btnRefresh_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// btnRefresh.BorderStyle = Border3DStyle.Sunken;
Refresh();
}
// private void listServer_KeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
// {
// if (e.KeyCode == Keys.F5)
// {
// btnRefresh_Click(sender, (EventArgs)e);
// }
// }
}
Again this's not an ideal solution that works on any case but it worked fine with me.