Receiving commandline input while listening for connections in Python

Question

I am trying to write a program that has clients connect to it while the server is still able to send commands to all of the clients. I am using the "Twisted" solution. How can I go about this? Here is the code I have so far (I understand that Twisted already uses non-blocking sockets):

import threading
print 'threading.'

def dock():
   try:
       from twisted.internet.protocol import Factory, Protocol
       from twisted.internet import reactor
       import currentTime
       print '[*]Imports succesful.'
   except:
       print '[/]Imports failed.'

   #Define the class for the protocol
   class Master(Protocol):
       command = raw_input('> ')
       def connectionMade(self):
           print 'Slave connected.'
           print currentTime.getTime() #Print current time
           #self.transport.write("Hello")

       def connectionLost(self, reason):
           print 'Lost.'
   #Assemble it in a "factory"

   class MasterFactory(Factory):
       protocol = Master


   reactor.listenTCP(8800, MasterFactory())

   #Run it all
   reactor.run()

def commandline():
   raw_input('>')

threading.Thread(target=dock()).start()
threading.Thread(target=commandline()).start()

Answer 1

Since you're already using twisted, you should also use it for the console part, instead of using raw_input in a thread.

Twisted's event loop can monitor any file descriptor for changes, including the standard input, so you can get event-based callbacks on a new line entered -- It works asynchronously without need for threads.

I've found this example of a interactive console in a twisted application, maybe you can use it.