Socket input stream hangs on final read. Best way to handle this?

Question

I'm a bit stumped on how to avoid my socket hanging on read. Here's my code:

    Socket socket = new Socket("someMachine", 16003);
    OutputStream outputStream = socket.getOutputStream();
    InputStream inputStream = socket.getInputStream();
    try {
        outputStream.write(messageBuffer.toByteArray());
        outputStream.flush();
        BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));
        StringBuffer response = new StringBuffer();
        int result;
        while ((result = in.read()) != -1) {
            response.append(Character.toChars(result));
            System.out.println(result);
        }
        System.out.println("Done!");  //never gets printed
     } catch (...) {}

The above code successfully reads all the data from the stream but then hangs. Reading up on the net I was expecting to receive a -1 from the server (which I can't control) to indicate that I had reached the end of stream but instead I get this:

(Lots of data above this point)
57
10
37
37
69
79
70
10

It then hangs. So, my questions are:

1) Have I coded this wrong or is there an issue with the server's response?

2) If there is an issue with the server's response (i.e. no -1 being returned), how can I work around this (i.e. to stop reading when it hangs).

Any help appreciated!

Answer 1

I think you will only get -1 when the server decides to stop the conversation, i.e. closes its output stream or closes the socket completely. Else, the stream stays open for potential future incoming data.

Answer 2

I'm not a Android expert, but this seems to work just fine on Android:

    try {
        telnetClient = new Socket(server, port);
    } catch (UnknownHostException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    if (telnetClient.isConnected()) {
        try {
            InputStream instr = telnetClient.getInputStream();
            int buffSize = telnetClient.getReceiveBufferSize();
            if (buffSize > 0) {
                byte[] buff = new byte[buffSize];
                int ret_read = instr.read(buff);
                screen.append(new String(buff, 0, ret_read));
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            screen.append("Exception while reading socket:" + e.getMessage());
        }
    }