Qt bidirectional client server using QTcpSocket and QTcpServer

Question

I am trying to implement a bidirectional client-server program, where clients and servers can pass serialized objects between one another. I am trying to do this using Qt (QTcpSocket and QTcpServer). I have implemented programs like this in java, but I can't figure out how to do it using Qt. I've checked out the fortune client and fortune server examples...but from what I can see, the client is simply signaling the server, and the server sends it some data. I need for the client and server to send objects back and forth. I am not looking for a complete solution, all I am looking for is some guidance in the right direction.

I wrote some code, which accepts a connection, but does not accept the data.

SERVER

this class is the server; it should be accepting a connection and outputting the size of the buffer which is being sent. However it is outputting 0

#include "comms.h"

Comms::Comms(QString hostIP, quint16 hostPort)
{
    server = new QTcpServer(this);
    hostAddress.setAddress(hostIP);
    this->hostPort = hostPort;


}

void Comms::attemptConnection(){
    connect(server, SIGNAL(newConnection()), this, SLOT(connectionAccepted()));
    //socket = server->nextPendingConnection();
    server->listen(hostAddress,hostPort);
    //receivedData = socket->readAll();
}

void Comms::connectionAccepted(){
    qDebug()<<"Connected";
    socket = new QTcpSocket(server->nextPendingConnection());

    char* rec = new char[socket->readBufferSize()];
    qDebug()<<socket->readBufferSize();
}

CLIENT

This class is the client. It should be sending the string 'hello'. It sends it successfully (to my knowledge)

#include "toplevelcomms.h"
#include "stdio.h"

TopLevelComms::TopLevelComms(QString hostIP, quint16 hostPort)
{
    tcpSocket = new QTcpSocket();
    hostAddress.setAddress(hostIP);
    this->hostPort = hostPort;
}


void TopLevelComms::connect(){
    tcpSocket->connectToHost(hostAddress,hostPort,QIODevice::ReadWrite);
    //tcpSocket->waitForConnected(1);

    QString string = "Hello";
    QByteArray array;
    array.append(string);
    qDebug()<<tcpSocket->write(array);
}

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong, or tell me the general logic of establishing what I want in Qt.

Answer 1

QTcpSocket is asynchronous by default, so when you call connectToHost and write in same context it won't be sent, as socket is not connected. You should change your "client" code:

void TopLevelComms::connect(){
    tcpSocket->connectToHost(hostAddress,hostPort,QIODevice::ReadWrite);
    if(tcpSocket->waitForConnected()) // putting 1 as parameter isn't reasonable, using default 3000ms value
    {
        QString string = "Hello";
        QByteArray array;
        array.append(string);
        qDebug()<<tcpSocket->write(array);
    }
    else
    {
        qDebug() << "couldn't connect";
    }
}

Note: you also didn't check if you're able to listen

void Comms::attemptConnection(){
    connect(server, SIGNAL(newConnection()), this, SLOT(connectionAccepted()));
    //socket = server->nextPendingConnection();

    if(server->listen(hostAddress,hostPort))
    {
        qDebug() << "Server listening";
    }
    else
    {
        qDebug() << "Couldn't listen to port" << server->serverPort() << ":" << server->errorString();
    }
    //receivedData = socket->readAll();
}

And last thing. Note that QTcpServer::nextPendingConnection() return QTcpSocket, so instead of taking that new connection you create new QTcpSocket with nextPendingConnection as parent

void Comms::connectionAccepted(){
    qDebug()<<"Connected";
    // WRONG! it will use QTcpSocket::QTcpSocket(QObject * parent)
    //socket = new QTcpSocket(server->nextPendingConnection());
    // use simple asign
    socket = server->nextPendingConnection();
    // move reading to slot
    connect(socket, SIGNAL(readyRead()), this, SLOT(readSocket()));
}

now we will move reading to separate slot

void Comms::readSocket()
{
    // note that dynamic size array is incompatible with some compilers
    // we will use Qt data structure for that
    //char* rec = new char[socket->readBufferSize()];
    qDebug()<<socket->readBufferSize();
    // note that QByteArray can be casted to char * and const char *
    QByteArray data = socket->readAll();
}

I must admit, that it is a lot of errors as for such small code sample. You need to get some knowledge about TCP/IP connections. Those are streams and there is no warranty that whole data chunk will get to you at once

Answer 2

It looks like you have a timing issue. Since your client and server are different processes, there's no way you can guarantee that the entirety of TopLevelComms::connect() is being executed (along with the network data transfer) before your server's connectionAccepted() function tries to read from the socket.

I suspect that if you take advantage of QTcpSocket's waitForReadyRead() function, you should have better luck:

void Comms::connectionAccepted(){
    qDebug()<<"Connected";
    socket = new QTcpSocket(server->nextPendingConnection());

    if( socket->waitForReadyRead() ) {
        char* rec = new char[socket->readBufferSize()];
        qDebug()<<socket->readBufferSize();
    }
}