Android asynctask reading from socket - android

Im having some trouble reading/writing to a tcp server for which im building an app. In a recent thread I was suggested to use a service instead but this is a project for school which suggested asyncTask so I might aswell go for that.
So the classes ive got are my activity class and async, nothing interesting is going on in activity but sending a string which is working so ill get on with the async one.
class ServerTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void>{
public static String ip = "10.0.2.2";
public static int port = 2002;
Socket socket;
public DataInputStream dis;
public DataOutputStream dos;
public String message;
#Override
protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) {
try {
socket = new Socket(ip, port);
dis = new DataInputStream(socket.getInputStream());
dos = new DataOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.i("AsyncTank", "Cannot create Socket");
}
while(socket.isConnected()){
read();
}
}
}
return null;
}
public void write(String message) {
try {
if (socket.isConnected()){
dos.writeUTF(message);
dos.flush();
} else {
Log.i("AsynkTask", "Socket appears to be closed");
}
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.i("AsynkTask", "Writing failed");
}
}
public String read() {
try {
if (socket.isConnected()) {
message = dis.readLine();
} else {
Log.i("AsyncTask", "Cannot read");
}
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.i("AsyncTask", "Cannot read from stream");
}
return message;
}
}
Things I do know, the server DOES get the messages but it doesnt update until I restart the server which leads me to believe that im not pushing a new line or something which makes it all appear as one line after its closed. This however might aswell be the server for which im not reponsible so ill have to read up in that.
The read part however does not want to work, im not sure on how to call the method to have it constantly listen and react to the servers sockt? I tried make a thread just before the return in doInBackGround but then the application starts works for a couple of seconds the force closes due to lack of memory? Do I need a thread to keep constantly listen?
The whole point of this as you might guess is to make a chat so the read method is eventually supposed to update a textView in my activity class. The send method is "working" but not as it should though this might be as I said earlier the server doing some funky buisness.
Another one, is it even possible to have the read as a method like I have or does something have to react when the server sends data and then call the method?
Edit
I have now moved the read part, or atleast some of it to doInBackGround so its now
dis = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()));
message = dis.readLine();
Log.i("AsynkTask", "Read : "+message+" this is doInBackGround!");
This along with a change to simply hardcode a printline in the server made me read that line in the client so im guessing its working realtively good for now.
How is it looking? Is it utter crap this code and should be done some other way? Got my functionality but never bad to learn to do it better so to speak :).

You should do both your writing and reading to the Socket in an AsyncTask's doInBackground() method, as both take time and could block the main (UI) thread. I don't know how you are calling your write() method above but you might also want to take a look at this question that might be related.

Related

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.

AsyncTask hangs on at beginning

AsyncTask works fine in Android 4.x, but not for Android 2.3.6. I've step-by-step debugged Android 2.3.6 with a physical mobile device.
It hangs on here:
myTask = new GetDataFromServer();
GetDataFromServer is the class of AsyncTask.
What's going on?
Here under is my code, I only used 1 AsyncTask in my code and received messages from server.
that's all.
class GetDataFromServer extends AsyncTask<String, String, String>
{
protected void onPreExecute ()
{
progressDialog1=ProgressDialog.show(MainActivity.this, "Loading data", "Please wait...",true);
}
protected String doInBackground(String... params)
{
String resulttxt="";
try {
serverIp = InetAddress.getByName("192.168.1.123");
int serverPort=31000;
Socket clientSocket=new Socket(serverIp,serverPort);
BufferedWriter bw=new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(clientSocket.getOutputStream()));
bw.write(params[0]);
bw.flush();
BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(clientSocket.getInputStream()));
resulttxt=br.readLine();
if(resulttxt.contains("OK"))
{
publishProgress(resulttxt);
}
else
{
publishProgress(resulttxt);
clientSocket.close();
bw.close();
br.close();
return null;
}
resulttxt="";
resulttxt=br.readLine();
resulttxt=resulttxt.trim();
clientSocket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
if(Status_txt!=null)
Status_txt.append( "Server is done.");
}
catch (NetworkOnMainThreadException e){
if(Status_txt!=null)
Status_txt.append( "NetworkOnMainThreadException");
}
return resulttxt;
}
protected void onProgressUpdate(String...inStr){
String[] strData=inStr[0].split("_");
String szTemp="Last Purchase Date: ";
szTemp+=strData[1];
szTemp+=" ,Valid days: ";
szTemp+=strData[2];
//Status_txt.setText(szTemp);
if(Status_txt!=null)
Status_txt.setText("You Are The Super User");
}
protected void onPostExecute(String data) {
tl_prediction2.removeAllViews();
if (data == null)
{
}
else {
if((data.contains("#")==true) || (data.contains("*")==true)
||data.contains("&")==true)
{
String[] arrayTmp=data.split("#");
for(Integer i=0;i<arrayTmp.length;i++)
{
String[] SubArrayTmp=arrayTmp[i].split("_");
tl_prediction2.addView(generateRow(4,SubArrayTmp));
}
}
}
progressDialog1.dismiss();
}
};
Since you haven't posted any code, I could only give you some random probable solutions:
May be your AsyncTask is taking a lot of time to download. Trying increasing its priority using android.os.Process.setThreadPriority(9) inside doInBackground()
Check if you have other previous running long AsyncTask in your code. AsyncTask by default operates on a single background thread. That means your AsyncTask task wouldn't be executed unless your previous AsyncTask are done. To allow parallel execution use executeOnExecutor(AsyncTask.THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR, params). You can read more here
Check for Internet and other permissions in Manifest. This is mostly where people make mistake.
AsyncTask works with ThreadPool. If there too many synctasks are executing, the later AsyncTask will be blocked by others. I think you can use the thread tool in DDMS to check the How many ayncTasks are executing.

Android app doesn't work on Android 4

I created an Android project on 2.3.3 and tried it on mobile 2.3.3, everything works OK. It didn't work on mobile 4, so I re-built for Android 4, but I have the same problem.
This is the code:
public void FTP_Download(){
String server = "192.168.1.135";
int port = 21;
String user = "pc1";
String pass = "1551";
FTPClient ftpClient = new FTPClient();
try {
ftpClient.connect(server, port);
ftpClient.login(user, pass);
ftpClient.enterLocalPassiveMode();
ftpClient.setFileType(FTP.BINARY_FILE_TYPE);
Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "download starting.",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
// APPROACH #1: using retrieveFile(String, OutputStream)
String remoteFile1 = "i.xml";
File downloadFile1 = new File("sdcard/i.xml");
OutputStream outputStream1 = new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(downloadFile1));
boolean success = ftpClient.retrieveFile(remoteFile1, outputStream1);
outputStream1.close();
if (success) {
Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "File #1 has been downloaded successfully.",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
} catch (IOException ex) {
System.out.println("Error: " + ex.getMessage());
ex.printStackTrace();
} finally {
try {
if (ftpClient.isConnected()) {
ftpClient.logout();
ftpClient.disconnect();
}
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Note:
I use commons-net-3.1 to connect.
In android version 2.3 above you can not start internet connection from main UI thread. Instead you should use AsyncTask. I assumed you are not using AsyncTask. If you are, then post the code and log cat also. Some examples of other operations that ICS and HoneyComb won't allow you to perform on the UI thread are:( from link posted in comment below ) -
Opening a Socket connection (i.e. new Socket()).
HTTP requests (i.e. HTTPClient and HTTPUrlConnection).
Attempting to connect to a remote MySQL database.
Downloading a file (i.e. Downloader.downloadFile()).
You should not use the main UI Thread to start a network connection or read/write data from it as #phazorRise explained it. But I strongly disagree with using an AsyncTask to perform your download. AsyncTask have been designed for short living operations and downloading a file doesn't belong to that category.
The most relevant way to achieve your goal, if your files are big (and I assume it depends on users, so we can say they are big) is to use a service to download the files.
I invite you to have a look at RoboSpice, it will give your app robustness for networking and it's really the most interesting library for network requests on Android.
Here is an inforgraphics to get familiarized with alternatives and understand why using a service is better than any other technology.
When I use "internet conections" programming for andoid 4, I do an Async Task as follows:
You can put this Class code into the same file as principal file to intercatue with global variables or functions.
public class MyAsyncTask extends AsyncTask<String, Void, String> {
#Override
protected String doInBackground(String... urls) {
String url = urls[0]
try {
//Connection request code, in your case ftp
} catch (Exception e) {
//Catch code
}
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
//Code to de After the connection is done
}
}
Then, in the Activity I call the Asyn Task
String url = "http://...";
new MyAsyncTask().execute(url);
Edit
Here it's explained how to use Async Task, with an example
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/AsyncTask.html
I added this code, and all thing OK
StrictMode.ThreadPolicy policy = new StrictMode.ThreadPolicy.Builder().permitAll().build();
StrictMode.setThreadPolicy(policy);
Note: I taked the code from #user1169115 comment in another post.
This isn't the best soluation, but I don't know why asynctask isn't work, so I don't have another choice.

How to call restful services in android

I'm porting some of my Windows Phone 7 apps to Android. When we call services in the WP7 world, the calls are async. We call the service and there is a delegate _completed event that triggers when when the result is returned. Meanwhile we go on about our way.
The java android code pasted below is how I am calling an HTTP service on my cloud server. I developed this code by going through Android tutorials teaching how to call a service in the android world. Apparently, service calls here are synchronus so the instruction starting with InputStream in... doesn't get executed until the result is returned.
Is this how it is supposed to work for Android? If the service does not respond, there is a wait of a couple minutes and then a timeout exception takes place. That's no good. Everything will hang.
What is the reccommended way to call services in android?
Thanks, Gary
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
HttpURLConnection urlConnection = null;
try
{
URL url = new URL("http://www.deanblakely.com/REST/api/products");
urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
InputStream in = new BufferedInputStream(urlConnection.getInputStream());
String myString = readStream(in);
String otherString = myString;
otherString = otherString + " ";
}
catch (MalformedURLException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
catch (IOException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
finally
{
urlConnection.disconnect();
}
}
Is this how it is supposed to work for Android?
Yes. Do HTTP operations in a background thread, such as the one supplied by an AsyncTask.
If the service does not respond, there is a wait of a couple minutes and then a timeout exception takes place. That's no good. Everything will hang.
You can set a socket timeout to be something shorter than "a couple minutes". For example, you can call setReadTimeout() on your HttpURLConnection to specify a timeout period in milliseconds.

Need some explaining

So this is the weirdest thing ever to happen to me during programing. Yes I'm no pro at programing, but I'm learning as I go. I've got an app talking to a server, a socket in the main thread, reading is done in a separate class and thread and writing in a separate class with asynctask.
The problem is LocationManager. I could talk to server and write/read commands just fine, I implemented the LocationManager and its listener.
I then proceeded to implement a method to update my textview with the new coordinates on locatinChanged. So far so good. Thing is when I use the Emulator control in eclipse and send coordinates the app crashed with a stringOutOfBoundsException (I've programed for 3 years now never seen this). I looked at the code stepped through it and so on. Read the stacktrace, logcat, console and everywhere I could think of but it got me nowhere. Until I finally went to the readerthread which looks like this:
public class ReaderThread extends Thread {
public void run() {
new Thread(new Runnable(){
public void run(){
try {
//Establish a bufferedreader to read from the socket/server.
in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()), 8 * 1024);
}
catch(Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
//As long as connect is true.
while (connected) {
String line;
try {
//Try to read a line from the reader.
line = in.readLine();
System.out.println(in.readLine());
if (in == null) {
//No one has sent a message yet.
System.out.println("No data recieved");
}
else {
int i = 0;
//As long as someone is sending messages.
while((line = in.readLine()) != null ){
//Make a new Message.
Message msg;
msg = new Message();
//Set the object to the input line.
msg.obj = line;
//Set an id so it can be identified in the main class and used in a switch.
msg.what = i;
System.out.println("i is: "+i);
//Send the message to the handler.
Main.this.h.sendMessage(msg);
}
}
}
catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
}
}
}).start();
}
The variable i is in an if statement depending on what the server sent but I cut that out as it has nothing to do with this problem.
The problem is the freaking catch. When the catch is IOException, the app crashes. Out of dumb luck I changed this to Exception and printed e.message to catch the error and see what caused it. Thing is this change fixed it. How can switching IOException to just plain Exception fix a problem like this?
Its like with IOException the program says: "hey your not gonna catch the error but there is no error" but with Exception it says "Well now you could catch it so I'll proceed".
My app is working but I just can't grasp this, why and how does this happen?
You're essentially telling the application to catch the base Exception class. This means that any type of error will be caught, since all exception classes descend from that base type. Since StringOutOfBoundsException does not descend from IOException it was not being caught before and the error was not being caught. Instead of catching all exceptions, you might try the following:
try {
// Your code here...
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "Caught an IOException!", e);
} catch (StringOutOfBoundsException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "Caught a string out of bounds Exception!", e);
}
I'm unable to determine what is actually throwing the StringOutOfBoundsException to begin with. It may be in the if statement that you cut out of your example.
while (connected) {
String line;
try {
//Try to read a line from the reader.
line = in.readLine();
System.out.println(in.readLine());
if (in == null) {
//No one has sent a message yet.
System.out.println("No data recieved");
}
The test for in == null is in a funny location. You should receive a NullPointerException if that test were to ever return true by nature of calling methods on it a few lines earlier. Obviously something is a little funny with this code.
You fail to save the return value from in.readLine() the second time you call it. I hope it did not contain anything useful. (Though, since you print the line, you obviously wanted to know what data it contained.)
Whatever that line was (from the first call to in.readLine()), it gets thrown away; there's nothing else in the loop that uses it before it is over-written on this line:
while((line = in.readLine()) != null ){
At this point, the two lines that you read are gone forever.
I'm not entirely sure what should be done to fix this; if it were me, I'd be sorely tempted to start over with a sheet of paper and sketch out what the method should be doing without looking at the existing code, then compare the sketch against the code to see which cases each one has overlooked.

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