Develop Reference

Android TCP Socket InputStrem Intermittent Read or too Slow

I need to implement a TCP comunication between an IoT device(custom) and an Android App.
For the Wifi device we have a Server Socket, while in Android i have an AsyncTask as a Client Socket. Both the device and the smarthone are connected to the same network.
Here is the Android Client Socket code for the initialization/socket-read and socket-write:
Variables:
static public Socket nsocket; //Network Socket
static public DataInputStream nis; //Network Input Stream
static private OutputStream nos; //Network Output Stream
AsyncTask method doInBackgroud:
#Override
protected Boolean doInBackground(Void... params) { //This runs on a different thread
boolean result = false;
try {
//Init/Create Socket
SocketInit(IP, PORT);
// Socket Manager
SocketUpdate();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
Log.i("AsyncTask", "doInBackground: IOException");
clearCmdInStack();
MainActivity.SocketDisconnectAndNetworkTaskRestart();
result = true;
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
Log.i("AsyncTask", "doInBackground: Exception");
result = true;
} finally {
try {
SocketDisconnect();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Log.i("AsyncTask", "doInBackground: Finished");
}
return result;
}
Socket Initializzation:
public void SocketInit(String ip, int port) throws IOException {
InetAddress addr = InetAddress.getByName(ip);
SocketAddress sockaddr = new InetSocketAddress(addr, port);
nsocket = new Socket();
nsocket.setReuseAddress(false);
nsocket.setTcpNoDelay(true);
nsocket.setKeepAlive(true);
nsocket.setSoTimeout(0);
nsocket.connect(sockaddr, 0);
StartInputStream();
StartOutputStream();
}
Read from Socket:
private void SocketUpdate() throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
int read = 0;
// If connected Start read
if (socketSingleton.isSocketConnected()) {
// Print "Connected!" to UI
setPublishType(Publish.CONNECTED);
publishProgress();
if(mConnectingProgressDialog != null)
mConnectingProgressDialog.dismiss(); //End Connecting Progress Dialog Bar
//Set Communications Up
setCommunicationsUp(true);
Log.i("AsyncTask", "doInBackground: Socket created, streams assigned");
Log.i("AsyncTask", "doInBackground: Waiting for inital data...");
byte[] buffer = new byte[3];
do{
nis.readFully(buffer, 0, 3);
setPublishType(Publish.READ);
publishProgress(buffer);
}while(!isCancelled());
SocketDisconnect();
}
}
Streams init:
public void StartInputStream() throws IOException{
nis = new DataInputStream(nsocket.getInputStream());
}
public void StartOutputStream() throws IOException{
nos = nsocket.getOutputStream();
}
Read and Write methods:
public int Read(byte[] b, int off, int len) throws IOException{
return nis.read(b, off, len); //This is blocking
}
public void Write(byte b[]) throws IOException {
nos.write(b);
nos.flush();
}
public boolean sendDataToNetwork(final String cmd)
{
if (isSocketConnected())
{
Log.i("AsyncTask", "SendDataToNetwork: Writing message to socket");
new Thread(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
try
{
Write(cmd.getBytes());
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
Log.i("AsyncTask", "SendDataToNetwork: Message send failed. Caught an exception");
}
}
}).start();
return true;
}
Log.i("AsyncTask", "SendDataToNetwork: Cannot send message. Socket is closed");
return false;
}
The application is very simple, the android app sends a command(via sendDataToNetwork method) to the IoT device and the latter sends back an "ACK" Command string.
The problem
The problem is that while the IoT device always receives the command, the smartphone rarely gets the ACK back. Sometimes i get something like "ACKACKACKACK". By debugging the IoT device i'm sure that it successfully sends back the ACK, so the problem lies in the InputStream read() method which doesn't retrieve the string right away.
Is there a way to empty the InputStream buffer right away, so that i get an "ACK" string back from the IoT device every time i send a command?
Update
I've updated the socket config so that there are no more buffer limitations and i've replaced read() method with readFully. It greatly improved, but still make some mistakes. For istance one out of 2-3 times no ack is received and i get 2 ack the next turn. Is this perhaps the computational limit of the IoT device? Or is there still margin for a better approach?

the problem lies in the InputStream read() method which doesn't empty the buffer right away.
I don't know what 'empty the buffer' means here, but InputStream.read() is specified to return as soon as even one byte has been transferred.
Is there a way to empty the InputStream buffer right away, so that i get an "ACK" string back from the IoT device every time i send a command?
The actual problem is that you could be reading more than one ACK at a time. And there are others.
If you're trying to read exactly three bytes, you should be using DataInputStream.readFully() with a byte array of three bytes.
This will also get rid of the need for the following array copy.
You should not mess with the socket buffer sizes except to increase them. 20 and 700 are both ridiculously small values, and will not be the actual values used, as the platform can adjust the value supplied. Your claim that this improved things isn't credible.
You should not spin-loop while available() is zero. This is literally a waste of time. Your comment says you are blocked in the following read call. You aren't, although you should be. You are spinning here. Remove this.

QTcpServer with android client unable to print or use data received from client

I am developing Client-Server application in C++ using Qt framework, but the clients can be android phones and computers(Qt client app)
Now i'm having troubles to handle Reception of data on the server side; the server is not receiving data properly.
First, I got things working nicely between the server(Qt app) and the client(Qt app) using these methods for sending and receiving:
The size of the message is kept at the beginning of the packet to help check whether the whole message is received or not.
This is the method to send message to the clients
void Server::send(const QString &message)
{
QByteArray paquet;
QDataStream out(&paquet, QIODevice::WriteOnly);
out << (quint16) 0; // just put 0 at the head of the paquet to reserve place to put the size of the message
out << message; // adding the message
out.device()->seek(0); // coming back to the head of the paquet
out << (quint16) (paquet.size() - sizeof(quint16)); // replace the 0 value by the real size
clientSocket->write(paquet); //sending...
}
This slot is called every time a single paquet is received.
void Server::dataReceived()
{
forever
{
// 1 : a packet has arrived from any client
// getting the socket of that client (recherche du QTcpSocket du client)
QTcpSocket *socket = qobject_cast<QTcpSocket *>(sender());
if (socket == 0)
return;
QDataStream in(socket);
if (dataSize == 0) // if we don't know the size of data we are suppose to receive...
{
if (socket->bytesAvailable() < (int)sizeof(quint16)) // we haven't yet receive the size of the data completly then return...
return;
in >> dataSize; // now we know the amount of data we should get
}
if (socket->bytesAvailable() < dataSize)
return;
// Here we are sure we got the whole data then we can startreadind
QString message;
in >> message;
//Processing....
dataSize = 0; // re-initialize for the coming data
}
}
This is working well when the server is talking with the Qt app Client, because the same methods are used there, and the size of quint16 will remain the same hover it doesn't work with android client, then i tried another way in which i wanted to ignore the size of the message sent, but format the message in a way such that i can know where it starts and where it ends, then with some controls i can get it however i'm stuck here, cause the data read doesn't contain anything when printed, but his size has a value(which even vary according to the amount of text the client send)!
void Server::dataReceived() // a packet is received!
{
QTcpSocket *socket = qobject_cast<QTcpSocket *>(sender());
if (socket == 0)
return;
QByteArray data= socket->readAll(); //reading all data available
QString message(data)
qDebug() << data; // this prints nothing!
qDebug() << data.size();// But this prints a non null number, wich means we got something, and that number varies according to the amount of text sent!
qDebug() << message; // this also prints notghing!
}
PS: it's not working even for the Qt app Client.
Can you help me find out what's wrong, i'm a bit confused how the tcp protocol is handling the data, and if you could and also advise me a good way for doing this.
here is the android class I made for the purpose
class QTcpSocket implements Runnable {
private String ip="";
private int port;
private Socket socket;
private PrintWriter printWriter;
private DataOutputStream dataOutputStream;
private DataInputStream dataInputStream;
public QTcpSocket(String ip, int port) {
this.ip = ip;
this.port = port;
}
public void setIp(String ip) {
this.ip = ip;
}
public String getIp() {
return this.ip;
}
public void setPort(int port) {
this.port = port;
}
public void run() {
try {
socket = new Socket(this.ip, this.port);
dataOutputStream = new DataOutputStream( socket.getOutputStream() );
dataInputStream = new DataInputStream(socket.getInputStream());
String response = dataInputStream.readUTF();
dataOutputStream.writeUTF("Hello server!");
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void sendMessage(String message) {
try {
dataOutputStream.writeUTF(message);
}catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void disconnect() {
try {
printWriter.flush();
printWriter.close();
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public boolean isClosed() {
return socket.isClosed();
}
}

Replace in 'data' all bytes with value 0 by value 20 and print again. I think you see nothing printed because the first byte is 0. You could also replace with 'X'. Did you already replace writeUTF() by write() ?
20 is the space character. But then you also see nothing printed so better use a X char. Strings get printed until a \0 char (which indicates the end of a string) is met. Because nothing was printed i supposed one right at the beginning. So writeUTF causes that leading 0. I could only explain that if all chars had doubled. What was the first char you sent?
But now: send size-of-message first so it equals your qt client.

Android client socket doesn't send data after some time

I'm developing an Android real-time-data app that sends data (floats and ints) to a server on the local subnet via a TCP socket. The problem I'm facing is that after sending some data simultaneously the socket doesn't send anymore data at all. I debugged the app and it shows that data is being sent but doesn't show up on the server. After this happens if I close the connection the server doesn't even get the notification that the connection has been terminated which it should according to my design model. Meanwhile I get an exception on the app saying it can not write to a broken pipe. This tells me that the problem is with the app because I also did test using a desktop app and I can send huge amounts of data to the server and it gets delivered.
And please keep in mind that the data size I'm talking about here is 252 bytes per packet.
Here's my class I'm using. (This runs in an AsyncTask object )
public class Network
{
private Socket handle;
public static enum TASK
{
TASK_CONNECT, TASK_SEND, TASK_CLOSE
}
public Network()
{
}
public String lastError = "";
public boolean Connect(String host, int port)
{
try
{
lastError = "Connecting to server.";
handle = new Socket(host, port);
handle.setTcpNoDelay(true); //
handle.setSendBufferSize(SIZE_OF_PACKET); ///==> These don't seem to help at all
handle.setKeepAlive(true); ///
return true;
}catch(IOException e)
{
lastError += e.getMessage() != null ? " "+ e.getMessage() : "";
return false;
}
}
private void err(String e){
System.err.println(e);
}
private boolean SendPacket(byte buffer[])
{
OutputStream oStream = null;
err("sending: " + buffer.length + " bytes");
try
{
lastError = "Obtaining output stream.";
oStream = handle.getOutputStream();
lastError = "Error sending data.";
oStream.write(buffer);
oStream.flush();
return true;
}catch(Exception e)
{
lastError += e.getMessage() != null ? " "+ e.getMessage() : "";
}
return false;
}
public void Close()
{
try{ handle.close(); handle = null; }catch(Exception e){} // swallow exception
}
}
I send my data in a loop depending on how many numbers I have. I tried a Google search but didn't find anything relevant. Has anyone experienced this before? It's making me mad now.
EDIT: Wireshark shows incoming "red" packets that don't reach the desktop app (server)
Look at this picture.
You can see the first few have Len > 0 the red ones have 0.
I think it's time Google interfaced the USB so we can use it. At least that'd would have been my first option.

Should you not be calling oStream.close() after you flush the stream, given that you never use it again?
Also, you say that this is being run in an AsyncTask object. Is it possible that multiple threads could be attempting to send packets at the same time? If so, you might need some form of synchronisation around the SendPacket method.

Ok. I solved the issue by using UDP instead. Thank you all.
But I still didn't find the source of the problem.

Error to send data to tablet through bluetooth device

I'm facing the following problem:
I am connecting two devices via Bluetooth socket, one tablet android and a bluetooth device like reader barcode, up to now it's ok, the problem is, when a read the barcode by the bluetooth device and I send it to tablet, the bar code sometimes it's sent in two parts, for example, if I read a barcode with content "212154521212", the tablet receive "2121" and after "54521212", Anyone know tell me what should I do to avoid this?
Thanks in advanced.
My code that read the data from bluetooth device:
[code]
private class ConnectedThread extends Thread {
private final InputStream mmInStream;
private BluetoothSocket socket;
public ConnectedThread(BluetoothSocket socket) {
this.socket = socket;
InputStream tmpIn = null;
try {
tmpIn = socket.getInputStream();
} catch (IOException e) {
new LogDeErrosRodesTablet(e);
Log.e(TAG, e.getMessage());
Log.e(TAG, "Erro no construtor da classe ConnectedThread.");
}
mmInStream = tmpIn;
}
public void run() {
// continua lendo o inputstream até ocorrer um erro
while (true) {
int read = 0;
byte[] buffer = new byte[128];
do {
try {
read = mmInStream.read(buffer);
Log.e(TAG, "read: " + read);
final String data = new String(buffer, 0, read);
Log.e(TAG, "data: " + data);
//TODO
//send data only (bar code) only after read all
Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
bundle.putString(TelaInserirPedido.CODIGO_BARRAS, data);
Message message = new Message();
message.what = TelaInserirPedido.MSG_COD_BARRAS;
message.setData(bundle);
//Send a message with data
handler.sendMessage(message);
} catch(Exception ex) {
read = -1;
return;
}
Log.e(TAG, "inside while.");
} while (read > 0);
Log.e(TAG, "outside of while.");
}
}
public void cancel () {
try {
socket.close ();
} catch ( IOException e) { }
}
}
[/code]

This isn't a Bluetooth error. The Bluetooth device is sending all of the data to your application, but you are reading the stream before all of the data have been received. You could check for the amount of bytes available() on the stream before reading, if you know the exact length of the data; you could concatenate the results of all of the reads until you reach a known end point. Or you could put in an arbitrary time delay and hope the transmission completed in that time.
You would create the Bundle and Message after the while loop that collects the input string, because you don't know the entire string until that loop finishes. (Unless you are expecting multiple strings in one connection, in which case you need more complex code to handle partial numbers).

Use OutputStream.flush() to force send the all data.

How to accept bluetooth received file in Android application?

I would like to implement an application to receive a file from a Bluetooth device.
Before receiving, a notification will be raised to accept an incoming file request.
From there, i would like to activate "accept" and download the file automatically without raising an accept dialog when the user receive a second file from another Bluetooth paired device, without notification disturbance when the user launchs an application.

I developed an app that include this kind of task, and you can use BluetoothChat example.
You must set the secure flag to false:
`
boolean secure = false;
try {
if (secure) {
tmp = mAdapter.listenUsingRfcommWithServiceRecord(NAME_SECURE,
MY_UUID_SECURE);
} else {
tmp = mAdapter.listenUsingInsecureRfcommWithServiceRecord(
NAME_INSECURE, MY_UUID_INSECURE);
}
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "Socket Type: " + mSocketType + "listen() failed", e);
mmServerSocket = tmp;
}`
And then read the buffer from the InputStream that you can find in ConnectedThread:
while (true) {
try {
bytes = mmInStream.read(buffer);
/*write bytes in a file*/
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "disconnected", e);
connectionLost();
BluetoothChatService.this.start();
break;
}
}

You can try using the Bluetooth socket connection to set a client server TCP like connection.

ON ROOTED DEVICES, You can just install only two apps on your phone to achieve your goal.
XPosed Installer
Auto-Accept
This way you hook System service.
import android.util.*;
import de.robv.android.xposed.*;
import de.robv.android.xposed.callbacks.XC_LoadPackage.*;
import static de.robv.android.xposed.XposedHelpers.findAndHookMethod;
public class Tutorial implements IXposedHookLoadPackage
{
private String TAG="TUTORIAL";
public void handleLoadPackage(final LoadPackageParam lpparam) throws Throwable {
if (!lpparam.packageName.equals("com.android.bluetooth"))
{
Log.i(TAG,"Not: "+lpparam.packageName);
return;
}
Log.i(TAG,"Yes "+lpparam.packageName);
findAndHookMethod("com.android.bluetooth.opp.BluetoothOppManager", lpparam.classLoader, "isWhitelisted", String.class,new XC_MethodHook() {
#Override
protected void beforeHookedMethod(MethodHookParam param) throws Throwable {
Log.v(TAG,"HOOK DONE");
param.setResult(true); /* you can compare the sender address(String) with your computer and determine if you return true or just allow the original method to be called after this returns.*/
}
});
}
}
For more information, please visit my answer in SO.
I'll post some direct links here.
Links
Dropbox link of the auto accepting app
Dropbox link of the project files (zip)
Xposed apk site
Towelroot site to root your phone
Auto-Accept github repository