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How can a server broadcast a message to other clients?

The program is intended to have multiple clients connect to a single server and the clients are able to send and receive messages among other clients.
For example if Client A says "Hi", Client B and Client C connected to the server would also receive "Hi".
In my current code, the server only receives the messages sent by the clients.
I'm currently looking for a solution to have the server broadcast the message sent by a client (eg. ClientA) to other clients. Any advice would be much appreciated.
This server class handles the connections of multiple clients with the use of threads:
import java.io.*;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
class EchoThread extends Thread {
private Socket socket;
//constructor
public EchoThread(Socket clientSocket) {
this.socket = clientSocket;
}
#Override
public void run() {
DataInputStream inp = null;
try {
inp = new DataInputStream(new BufferedInputStream(socket.getInputStream()));
//print whatever client is saying as long as it is not "Over"
String line = "";
while (!line.equals("Over")) {
try {
line = inp.readUTF();
System.out.println(line);
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
}
//closes connection when client terminates the connection
System.out.print("Closing Connection");
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
}
}
public class Server {
private static final int PORT = 5000;
public static void main(String args[]) {
ServerSocket serverSocket = null;
Socket socket = null;
//starts the server
try {
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(PORT);
System.out.println("Server started");
System.out.println("Waiting for a client ...\n");
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
//while loop to accept multiple clients
int count = 1;
while(true) {
try {
socket = serverSocket.accept();
System.out.println("Client " + count + " accepted!");
count++;
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
//starts the server thread
new EchoThread(socket).start();
}
}
}
and this is the client class (I have multiple instances of this code running):
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;
public class ClientA {
private Socket socket = null;
private DataInputStream input = null;
private DataOutputStream output = null;
public ClientA(String address, int port) {
//establish connection
try {
socket = new Socket(address, port);
System.out.println("Connected");
//takes input from terminal
input = new DataInputStream(System.in);
//sends output to the socket
output = new DataOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
//string to read message from input
String line = "";
//keep reading until "Over" is input
while (!line.equals("Over")) {
try {
line = input.readLine();
output.writeUTF(line);
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
}
//close the connection
try {
input.close();
output.close();
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
}
public static void main (String args[]) {
ClientA client = new ClientA("127.0.0.1", 5000);
}
}
Do feel free to correct me on my code comments as I'm still not very familiar with socket programming.

You did well. Just add a thread to receive message in ClientA; and store socket clients in Server.
In fact, Server is also a "client" when is send message to client.
I add some code based on your code. It works well, hope it's helpful.
class EchoThread extends Thread {
//*****What I add begin.
private static List<Socket> socketList = new ArrayList<>();
//*****What I add end.
private Socket socket;
//constructor
public EchoThread(Socket clientSocket) {
this.socket = clientSocket;
socketList.add(socket);
}
#Override
public void run() {
DataInputStream inp = null;
try {
inp = new DataInputStream(new BufferedInputStream(socket.getInputStream()));
//print whatever client is saying as long as it is not "Over"
String line = "";
while (!line.equals("Over")) {
try {
line = inp.readUTF();
System.out.println(line);
//*****What I add begin.
sendMessageToClients(line);
//*****What I add end.
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); break;}
}
//closes connection when client terminates the connection
System.out.print("Closing Connection");
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
}
//*****What I add begin.
private void sendMessageToClients(String line) throws IOException {
for (Socket other : socketList) {
if (other == socket) {
continue;//ignore the sender client.
}
DataOutputStream output = new DataOutputStream(other.getOutputStream());
output.writeUTF(line);
}
}
//*****What I add end.
}
public class ClientA {
private Socket socket = null;
private DataInputStream input = null;
private DataOutputStream output = null;
public ClientA(String address, int port) {
//establish connection
try {
socket = new Socket(address, port);
System.out.println("Connected");
//takes input from terminal
input = new DataInputStream(System.in);
//sends output to the socket
output = new DataOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
//*****What I add begin.
//Here create a thread to receive message from server.
DataInputStream inp = new DataInputStream(new BufferedInputStream(socket.getInputStream()));
new Thread(() -> {
while (true) {
String str;
try {
str = inp.readUTF();
System.out.println(str);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();//error.
break;
}
}
}, "Client Reveiver.").start();
//*****What I add end.
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
//string to read message from input
String line = "";
//keep reading until "Over" is input
while (!line.equals("Over")) {
try {
line = input.readLine();
output.writeUTF(line);
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
}
//close the connection
try {
input.close();
output.close();
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); }
}

I would have a single server thread which would maintain a register of the clients, possibly in a concurrent collection. Then I would send each message received from a client to all other clients.

Network communication isn´t working

I made a little game. Now i want to get the highscore from my Server. The code on the client:
private int getOnlineHighscore() {
int highscore = 0;
try {
socket = new Socket("localhost", 444);
input = socket.getInputStream();
System.out.println(input);
highscore = input.read();
input.close();
socket.close();
input = null;
socket = null;
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println("Verbindung fehlgeschlagen!");
}
System.out.println(highscore);
return highscore;
}
And on the Server:
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class ReadServer extends Thread {
private Socket socket;
public ReadServer(Socket socket) {
super();
this.socket = socket;
}
public void run() {
try {
System.out.println(socket.getInetAddress());
String result = "";
try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(
new FileReader(System.getProperty("user.home") + "/AppData/Roaming/GameServer/.sg"))) {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
String line = br.readLine();
System.out.println("2");
while (line != null) {
sb.append(line);
sb.append(System.lineSeparator());
line = br.readLine();
}
System.out.println("3");
result = sb.toString();
System.out.println("3.5");
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println("4");
socket.getOutputStream().write(Integer.parseInt(result));
System.out.println(result);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
try {
socket.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
}
}
public static void main(String[] Args) {
Socket socket = null;
ServerSocket server = null;
try {
server = new ServerSocket(444);
while (true) {
socket = server.accept();
new ReadServer(socket).start();
}
} catch (Exception e) {
}
try {
server.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
}
}
}
If I run it, the client function returns:
-1
The server writes in the console(not important I think):
/127.0.0.1
2
3
3.5
4
How to solve the problem? I want to send an int stored on my Server to a client.
-Jakob

-1 is returned by read() to specify end of stream , make sure data to be read is being returned .

What is the highscore stored in the file? I believe the file is empty and it fails on parsing the integer but as your catch block is empty, you don't see the exception. Put printStacktrace or rethrow.
Another problem is that OutputStream sends only bytes and therefore write method sends only low 8 bits. To send int wrap the stream with DataOutputStream and DataInputStream on the client side.

Handle more clients

Right now my server only can handle one client at a time. I am trying to use a Thread so that the server can handle several clients, but I am doing it wrong. I have added the thread in the try/catch clause where the serverSocket accepts the client, but this makes no difference. I don't get an error or anything, but it just doesn't work.
So what I want to do, is make the server not freeze at one client, but still accept several clients.
Here is the server code:
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class Server {
private BufferedReader reader;
private PrintWriter writer;
private int port;
public Server(int port)
{
this.port = port;
}
private String getSeverAddress() {
String host = null;
try {
InetAddress adr = InetAddress.getLocalHost();
host = adr.getHostAddress();
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return host;
}
public void startServer() {
print("Contact this sever on address: " + getSeverAddress() + " port: " + port);
ServerSocket ss = null;
Socket socket = null;
Thread clientThread = null;
try {
ss = new ServerSocket(port);
socket = ss.accept();
clientThread = new Thread(new Client(socket));
clientThread.start();
reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()));
writer = new PrintWriter(socket.getOutputStream(), true);
String msg = null;
while (( msg = reader.readLine()) != null) {
print("System out: " + msg);
if(msg.equals("Bye")) {
print("Client left");
break;
}
}
ss.close();
socket.close();
reader.close();
writer.close();
} catch(SocketException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException i ) {
i.printStackTrace();
return;
}
}
private void print(String msg) {
System.out.println(msg);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Server server = new Server(1111);
server.startServer();
}
}
Here is the client code:
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.net.Socket;
public class Client implements Runnable{
private Socket client;
private BufferedReader reader;
private PrintWriter writer;
public Client(Socket socket)
{
client = socket;
try{
reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(client.getInputStream()));
writer = new PrintWriter(client.getOutputStream(), true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
return;
}
}
#Override
public void run() {
String msg = null;
BufferedReader r = null;
try {
r = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
} catch (Exception e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println("Write message to server");
while(true) {
try {
msg = r.readLine();
if(msg.equals("Quit") || msg == null) {
print("Disconnect");
break;
}
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
writeToServer(msg);
}
try {
r.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void writeToServer(String msg) {
writer.println(msg);
}
private void print(String msg) {
System.out.println(msg);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Socket socket = null;
try {
socket = new Socket("localhost", 1111);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Client client = new Client(socket);
client.run();
}
}

You are still trying to handle clients in your main thread. Main thread should just accept new connections and start new threads. You also have to do accept in a loop so multiple connections can be accepted:
ss = new ServerSocket(port);
while(true) {
Socket socket = ss.accept();
Thread clientThread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()));
PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(socket.getOutputStream(), true);
String msg = null;
while (( msg = reader.readLine()) != null) {
print("System out: " + msg);
if(msg.equals("Bye")) {
print("Client left");
break;
}
}
socket.close();
reader.close();
writer.close();
}});
clientThread.start();
}

You need to put your ss.accept() into a while loop and create a new Thread for every client accepted, which handles the connection.

Client server programming in java with options to user

My task is to display three options to the user 1)connect to server 2)post data 3)disconnect. I am having trouble in sending the file to the server. "The file needs to be sent from client to server". I am new to socket programming and however I try the connection is being reset while I try to send the file to server.
server
import java.net.*;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;
public class Server extends Thread {
private ServerSocket serverSocket;
public Server(int port) throws IOException {
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(port);
}
public void run() {
boolean flag = true;
while (flag) {
try {
System.out.println("Waiting for client on port "
+ serverSocket.getLocalPort() + "...");
Socket server = serverSocket.accept();
Scanner reader = new Scanner(server.getInputStream());
File file = new File("compile.txt");
BufferedWriter fileWriter = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(
file));
while (reader.hasNextLine()) {
String str = reader.next();
fileWriter.write(str);
System.out.println("" + str);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
break;
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
int port = 4444;
try {
Thread t = new Server(port);
t.start();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
client
import java.net.*;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;
public class Client {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Socket client = null;
boolean flag = true;
while (flag) {
System.out
.println("Please enter your choice\n1.Connect to Server\n2.Post Data\n3.Disconnect from Server");
Scanner userChoice = new Scanner(System.in);
int choice = userChoice.nextInt();
String serverName = "localhost";
int port = 4444;
if (choice == 1) {
try {
System.out.println("Connecting to " + serverName
+ " on port " + port);
client = new Socket(serverName, port);
System.out.println("Just connected to "
+ client.getRemoteSocketAddress());
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
} else if (choice == 2) {
System.out.println("enter path of file to be compiled");
Scanner pathReader = new Scanner(System.in);
String path = pathReader.next();
pathReader.close();
String line;
try {
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path));
while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(
client.getOutputStream(), true);
writer.write(line);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
try {
client.wait();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
} else if (choice == 3) {
try {
client.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
} else
System.out.println("enter a valid input");
}
}
}

First of all client-server socket connections and applications are pretty complicated. I'd recommend reading:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/socket-140484.html#sockets
couple of things to consider:
make sure there is nothing running on the socket.
make sure that the server is listening
You are running the server on one thread, so if it finishes at all then it won't restart
You are not closing the fileWriter once you have finished writing -
please post your output/any stacktraces you have

Java Sockets - A Client that reads the data the server gets

I am working on a java socket program and have difulcites with the client part. The server get's what all the clients write, but the client only gets what it writes. Could someone provide me with an example of a client part of a program that gets what all the clients write? Thanks!

Here is an "echo server" example
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
class TCPServer
{
public static void main(String argv[]) throws IOException
{
ServerSocket serverSocket = null;
DataInputStream serverInput = null;
PrintStream serverOutput = null;
String line = null;
Socket clientSocket = null;
// create server socket
try
{
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(2012);
clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
serverInput = new DataInputStream(clientSocket.getInputStream());
serverOutput = new PrintStream(clientSocket.getOutputStream());
}
catch(IOException e){System.out.println(e);}
// receive data and send it back to the client
try
{
while(true)
{
line = serverInput.readLine();
if(line.equals("exit"))
{
break;
}
else
{
if(!line.equals(null) && !line.equals("exit"))
{
System.out.println("Received " +line);
line = line+" MODIFIED";
serverOutput.println(line);
}
}
}
}
catch(IOException e){System.out.println("SERVER SIDE: Unable send/receive data");}
try
{
serverInput.close();
serverOutput.close();
clientSocket.close();
serverSocket.close();
}
catch(IOException e){System.out.println(e);}
}
}
Here is the client
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class TCPClient
{
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
{
Socket echoSocket = null;
PrintWriter out = null;
BufferedReader in = null;
try {
echoSocket = new Socket("localhost", 2012);
out = new PrintWriter(echoSocket.getOutputStream(), true);
in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(echoSocket.getInputStream()));
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
System.err.println("Don't know about host");
System.exit(1);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println("Couldn't get I/O");
System.exit(1);
}
BufferedReader stdIn = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
String userInput;
while ((userInput = stdIn.readLine()) != null) {
out.println(userInput);
System.out.println("echo: " + in.readLine());
if(userInput.equals("exit"))
break;
}
out.close();
in.close();
stdIn.close();
echoSocket.close();
}
}