Flex - Socket.close() issues (#2031: Socket Error) - sockets

I'm having an issue using sockets in flash builder 4. The code below sends a set of bytes to a receiving c# sockerServer. If I dismiss the error I get in flash builder manually, the bytes are sent fine and all comes across as it should on 127.0.0.1:10. Now if I could just get the same results without an error being displayed in Flex.
So, I have two questions:
1) Why does it return an error when I try to close the socket? See closeConnection() below for context. I tried flushing it just before which didn't help.
2) Why is nothing sent when I use socket.flush()?
package
{
import flash.events.IOErrorEvent;
import flash.net.Socket;
import flash.utils.ByteArray;
public class socketClient
{
private var socket:Socket;
public function openConnection(address:String, port:int):void
{
if (socket != null && socket.connected)
socket.close();
socket = new Socket();
try {
socket.connect( address, port );
}
catch( e:Error ) { }
}
public function sendProtocol(p:socketProtocol):void {
//p.serialize() gets me a bunch of bytes in a ByteArray
var buffer:ByteArray = p.serialize();
socket.writeBytes(buffer, 0, buffer.length);
//Nothing happens when I flush
socket.flush();
}
public function closeConnection():void {
//As soon as I get to socket.close(), I get this
//"Unhandled IOErrorEvent:. text=Error #2031: Socket Error."
socket.close();
}
}
}
I use the class like this:
var socket:socketClient = new socketClient();
//works fine, I see the connection on the server
socket.openConnection("127.0.0.1", 10);
//no errors, but nothing sent
socket.sendProtocol(protocol);
//returns the error. (if manually dismissed, data is sent)
socket.closeConnection();

I finally solved it after hammering this one since I posted the question.
I had to add a
socket.addEventListener(flash.events.Event.CLOSE, closeHandler)
and do the socket.close() from there.

Related

UWP streamsocket ping networktimer issues

I have a StreamSocket in UWP and I send my messages like this using a DataWriter object using the StoreAsync() method:
public static async Task<bool> SendNetworkMessage(NetworkMember member, NetworkMessage message)
{
DataWriter writer = member.DataWriter;
//Check that writer is not null
if (writer != null)
{
try
{
//Serialize Message
string stringToSend = SerializeObject<NetworkMessage>(message);
//Send Message Length
writer.WriteUInt32(writer.MeasureString(stringToSend));
//Send Message
writer.WriteString(stringToSend);
await writer.StoreAsync();
return true;
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Debug.WriteLine("DataWriter failed because of " + e.Message);
Debug.WriteLine("");
Disconnect(member);
OnMemberDisconnectedEvent(member);
return false;
}
}
else { return false; }
}
All is well, the only problem is that I don't know if a connection went down.
Now I want to check my connection using a DispatcherTimer like this:
private static async void NetworkTimer_Tick(object sender, object e)
{
foreach (NetworkMember member in networkMemberCollection)
{
if (member.Connected == true && member.Disconnecting == false)
{
await SendNetworkMessage(member, new PingMessage());
}
}}
However, this is causing timing issues which is causing ObjectDisposedExceptions on the DataWriter. It seems that the DispatcherTimer thread cannot use the StreamSocket when I send a message from a different thread. My question is: How can I make sure the Ping is sent each time but that SendNetworkMessage operations are done in order instead of overlapping?
Thanks
It seems that the DispatcherTimer thread cannot use the StreamSocket when I send a message from a different thread.
How can I make sure the Ping is sent each time but that SendNetworkMessage operations are done in order instead of overlapping?
It's possible, and I think your code using foreach and await operation can ensure the work of sending message in order.
the only problem is that I don't know if a connection went down.
If you want to know if the connection went down, you can refer to Handling WinRT StreamSocket disconnects (both server and client side).

Cloud Service for incoming TCP connections hangs

I'm developing a cloud service (worker role) for collecting data from a number of instruments. These instruments reports data randomly every minute or so. The service itself is not performance critical and doesn't need to be asynchronous. The instruments are able to resend their data up to an hour on failed connection attempt.
I have tried several implementations for my cloud service including this one:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.sockets.tcplistener.stop(v=vs.110).aspx
But all of them hang my cloud server sooner or later (sometimes within an hour).
I suspect something is wrong with my code. I have a lot of logging in my code but I get no errors. The service just stops to receive incoming connections.
In Azure portal it seems like the service is running fine. No error logs and no suspicious cpu usage etc.
If I restart the service it will run fine again until it hangs next time.
Would be most grateful if someone could help me with this.
public class WorkerRole : RoleEntryPoint
{
private LoggingService _loggingService;
public override void Run()
{
_loggingService = new LoggingService();
StartListeningForIncommingTCPConnections();
}
private void StartListeningForIncommingTCPConnections()
{
TcpListener listener = null;
try
{
listener = new TcpListener(RoleEnvironment.CurrentRoleInstance.InstanceEndpoints["WatchMeEndpoint"].IPEndpoint);
listener.Start();
while (true)
{
_loggingService.Log(SeverityLevel.Info, "Waiting for connection...");
var client = listener.AcceptTcpClient();
var remoteEndPoint = client.Client != null ? client.Client.RemoteEndPoint.ToString() : "Unknown";
_loggingService.Log(SeverityLevel.Info, String.Format("Connected to {0}", remoteEndPoint));
var netStream = client.GetStream();
var data = String.Empty;
using (var reader = new StreamReader(netStream, Encoding.ASCII))
{
data = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
_loggingService.Log(SeverityLevel.Info, "Received data: " + data);
ProcessData(data); //data is processed and stored in database (all resources are released when done)
client.Close();
_loggingService.Log(SeverityLevel.Info, String.Format("Connection closed for {0}", remoteEndPoint));
}
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
_loggingService.Log(SeverityLevel.Error, exception.Message);
}
finally
{
if (listener != null)
listener.Stop();
}
}
private void ProcessData(String data)
{
try
{
var processor = new Processor();
var lines = data.Split('\n');
foreach (var line in lines)
processor.ProcessLine(line);
processor.ProcessMessage();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
_loggingService.Log(SeverityLevel.Error, ex.Message);
throw new Exception(ex.InnerException.Message);
}
}
}
One strange observation i just did:
I checked the log recently and no instrument has connected for the last 30 minutes (which indicates that the service is down).
I connected to the service myself via a TCP client i've written myself and uploaded some test data.
This worked fine.
When I checked the log again my test data had been stored.
The strange thing is, that 4 other instruments had connected about the same time and send their data successfully.
Why couldn't they connect by themself before I connected with my test client?
Also, what does this setting in .csdef do for an InputEndpoint, idleTimeoutInMinutes?
===============================================
Edit:
Since a cuple of days back my cloud service has been running successfully.
Unfortunately this morning last log entry was from this line:
_loggingService.Log(SeverityLevel.Info, String.Format("Connected to {0}", remoteEndPoint));
No other connections could be made after this. Not even from my own test TCP client (didn't get any error though, but no data was stored and no new logs).
This makes me think that following code causes the service to hang:
var netStream = client.GetStream();
var data = String.Empty;
using (var reader = new StreamReader(netStream, Encoding.ASCII))
{
data = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
I've read somewhere that StremReader's ReadToEnd() could hang. Is this possible?
I have now changed this piece of code to this:
int i;
var bytes = new Byte[256];
var data = new StringBuilder();
const int dataLimit = 10;
var dataCount = 0;
while ((i = netStream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)) != 0)
{
data.Append(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytes, 0, i));
if (dataCount >= dataLimit)
{
_loggingService.Log(SeverityLevel.Error, "Reached data limit");
break;
}
dataCount++;
}
Another explanation could be something hanging in the database. I use the SqlConnection and SqlCommand classes to read and write to my database. I always close my connection afterwards (finally block).
SqlConnection and SqlCommand should have default timeouts, right?
===============================================
Edit:
After some more debugging I found out that when the service wasn't responding it "hanged" on this line of code:
while ((i = netStream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)) != 0)
After some digging I found out that the NetStream class and its read methods could actually hang. Even though MS declares otherwise.
NetworkStream read hangs
I've now changed my code into this:
Thread thread = null;
var task = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
thread = Thread.CurrentThread;
while ((i = netStream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)) != 0)
{
// Translate data bytes to a ASCII string.
data.Append(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytes, 0, i));
}
streamReadSucceeded = true;
});
task.Wait(5000);
if (streamReadSucceeded)
{
//Process data
}
else
{
thread.Abort();
}
Hopefully this will stop the hanging.
I'd say that part of your problem is you are processing your data on the thread that listens for connections from clients. This would prevent new clients from connecting if another client has started a long running operation of some type. I'd suggest you defer your processing to worker threads thus freeing the "listener" thread to accept new connections.
Another problem you could be experiencing, if your service throws an error, then the service will stop accepting connections as well.
private static void ListenForClients()
{
tcpListener.Start();
while (true)
{
TcpClient client = tcpListener.AcceptTcpClient();
Thread clientThread = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(HandleClientComm));
clientThread.Start(client);
}
}
private static void HandleClientComm(object obj)
{
try
{
using(TcpClient tcpClient = (TcpClient)obj)
{
Console.WriteLine("Got Client...");
using (NetworkStream clientStream = tcpClient.GetStream())
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(clientStream))
using(StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(clientStream))
{
//do stuff
}
}
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
}
}

MessageQueue Quirks while Sending Messages

Writing to remote MSMQ seems to be working on/off. I am not sure what is wrong and what else to do to confirm sending.
I am reluctant to setup some kind of ack. It seems to be an overkill.
using (var queue = new MessageQueue(queueName, QueueAccessMode.Send))
{
var messageQueueTransaction = new MessageQueueTransaction();
messageQueueTransaction.Begin();
try
{
queue.Formatter = new XmlMessageFormatter(new Type[] { typeof(EmailMessage) });
var msg = new Message();
msg.Label = emailMessage.Subject;
msg.Body = emailMessage;
queue.Send(msg, messageQueueTransaction);
messageQueueTransaction.Commit();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
LoggerLib.Logger.ErrorException(e, "Error Sending Email using MSMQ", emailMessage);
messageQueueTransaction.Abort();
}
finally
{
queue.Close();
}
}
The Connection string for MSMQ is in the format of:"FormatName:DIRECT=OS:FULLMACHINENAME\private$\emailmessagequeue"
Also, I used "FormatName:DIRECT:TCP:IPAddress\private$\emailmessagequeue".
It works without a glitch when I ran it locally. So, I allowed Everyone to have Full access and It still doesn't work.
Any ideas?
The port number 1801 was blocked. That resolved it. –

Socket connection gets closed for no apparent reason

I am trying to implement Facebook X_FACEBOOK_PLATFORM SASL mechanism so I could integrate Facebook Chat to my application over XMPP.
Here is the code:
var ak = "my app id";
var sk = "access token";
var aps = "my app secret";
using (var client = new TcpClient())
{
client.Connect("chat.facebook.com", 5222);
using (var writer = new StreamWriter(client.GetStream())) using (var reader = new StreamReader(client.GetStream()))
{
// Write for the first time
writer.Write("<stream:stream xmlns=\"jabber:client\" xmlns:stream=\"http://etherx.jabber.org/streams\" version=\"1.0\" to=\"chat.facebook.com\"><auth xmlns=\"urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-sasl\" mechanism=\"X-FACEBOOK-PLATFORM\" /></stream:stream>");
writer.Flush();
Thread.Sleep(500);
// I am pretty sure following works or at least it's not what causes the error
var challenge = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Convert.FromBase64String(XElement.Parse(reader.ReadToEnd()).Elements().Last().Value)).Split('&').Select(s => s.Split('=')).ToDictionary(s => s[0], s => s[1]);
var response = new SortedDictionary<string, string>() { { "api_key", ak }, { "call_id", DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString() }, { "method", challenge["method"] }, { "nonce", challenge["nonce"] }, { "session_key", sk }, { "v", "1.0" } };
var responseString1 = string.Format("{0}{1}", string.Join(string.Empty, response.Select(p => string.Format("{0}={1}", p.Key, p.Value)).ToArray()), aps);
byte[] hashedResponse1 = null;
using (var prov = new MD5CryptoServiceProvider()) hashedResponse1 = prov.ComputeHash(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(responseString1));
var builder = new StringBuilder();
foreach (var item in hashedResponse1) builder.Append(item.ToString("x2"));
var responseString2 = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(string.Format("{0}&sig={1}", string.Join("&", response.Select(p => string.Format("{0}={1}", p.Key, p.Value)).ToArray()), builder.ToString().ToLower()))); ;
// Write for the second time
writer.Write(string.Format("<response xmlns=\"urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-sasl\">{0}</response>", responseString2));
writer.Flush();
Thread.Sleep(500);
MessageBox.Show(reader.ReadToEnd());
}
}
I shortened and shrunk the code as much as possible, because I think my SASL implementation (whether it works or not, I haven't had a chance to test it yet) is not what causes the error.
I get the following exception thrown at my face: Unable to read data from the transport connection: An established connection was aborted by the software in your host machine.
10053
System.Net.Sockets.SocketError.ConnectionAborted
It happens every time I try to read from client's stream for the second time. As you can see i pause a thread here so Facebook server has enough time to answer me, but I used asynchronous approach before and I encountered the exact same thing, so I decided to try it synchronously first. Anyway actual SASL mechanism implementation really shouldn't cause this because if I don't try to authenticate right away, but I send the request to see what mechanisms server uses and select that mechanism in another round of reading and writing, it fails, but when I send mechanism selection XML right away, it works and fails on whatever second I send.
So the conclusion is following: I open the socket connection, write to it, read from it (first read works both sync and async), write to it for the second time and try to read from it for the second time and here it always fails. Clearly then, problem is with socket connection itself. I tried to use new StreamReader for second read but to no avail. This is rather unpleasant since I would really like to implement facade over NetworkStream with "Received" event or something like Send(string data, Action<string> responseProcessor) to get some comfort working with that stream, and I already had the implementation, but it also failed on second read.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Edit: Here is the code of facade over NetworkStream. Same thing happens when using this asynchronous approach, but couple of hours ago it worked, but for second response returned same string as for first. I can't figute out what I changed in a meantime and how.
public void Send(XElement fragment)
{
if (Sent != null) Sent(this, new XmppEventArgs(fragment));
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
AsyncCallback callback = null;
callback = (a) =>
{
var available = NetworkStream.EndRead(a);
if (available > 0)
{
StringBuilder.Append(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(buffer, 0, available));
NetworkStream.BeginRead(buffer, 0, buffer.Length, callback, buffer);
}
else
{
var args = new XmppEventArgs(XElement.Parse(StringBuilder.ToString()));
if (Received != null) Received(this, args);
StringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
// NetworkStream.BeginRead(buffer, 0, buffer.Length, callback, buffer);
}
};
NetworkStream.BeginRead(buffer, 0, buffer.Length, callback, buffer);
NetworkStreamWriter.Write(fragment);
NetworkStreamWriter.Flush();
}
The reader.ReadToEnd() call consumes everything until end-of-stream, i.e. until TCP connection is closed.

Android InputStream

I am learning android but I can't get past the InputStream.read().
This is just a socket test - the server sends back two bytes when it receives a connection and I know that this working fine. All I want to do is read these values. The b = data.read reads both values in turn but then hangs, it never returns the -1 value which is what expect it to. Also it does not throw an exception.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
protected void startLongRunningOperation() {
// Fire off a thread to do some work that we shouldn't do directly in the UI thread
Thread t = new Thread() {
public void run() {
try {
Log.d("Socket", "try connect ");
Socket sock = new Socket("192.168.0.12", 5001);
Log.d("socket", "connected");
InputStream data = sock.getInputStream();
int b = 0;
while (b != -1) {
b = data.read();
}
data.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.d("Socket", e.toString());
}
}
};
t.start();
}
Reaching the end of the stream is a special state. It doesn't happen just because there is nothing left to read. If the stream is still open, but there's nothing to be read, it will "hang" (or block) as you've noticed until a byte comes across.
To do what you want, the server either needs to close/end the stream, or you need to use:
while (data.available() > 0) {
..
When the number of available bytes is zero, there's nothing sitting in the stream buffer to be read.
On the other hand, if you know that there should only ever be two bytes to read, and that's the end of your data, then just read the two bytes and move on (i.e. don't use a while loop). The reason to use a while loop here would only be if you weren't sure how many total bytes to expect.