Answer

How to store/manage connected tcpclients

Jordan Siebe

15y

3.6k

Hi All,

I am messing around with a tcp 'chat' server/client program.. I can connect my multiple clients to my server console app just fine, and send and receive data just fine as well... the problem I am running into now is how I can store and then manage those connected clients.

I am accepting clients using the code below.. I'm guessing I need to take the client object and store in an arraylist along with some other association field so that I can loop through the array list when I need to send something to a specific client.. (i.e. like a private message or whisper..)

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Threading;

namespace Chat_Server
{
    class Program
    {
        private static TcpListener tcpListener;
        private static Thread listenThread;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            tcpListener = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Any, 7890);
            listenThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(ListenForClients));
            listenThread.Start();

            Console.WriteLine(" >> Listening for new connections...");
        }

        private static void ListenForClients()
        {
            tcpListener.Start();

            while (true)
            {
                TcpClient client = tcpListener.AcceptTcpClient();

                Thread clientThread = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(HandleClientComm));
                Console.WriteLine(" >> New connection detected...");

                clientThread.Start(client);
            }
        }

        private static void HandleClientComm(object client)
        {
            TcpClient tcpClient = (TcpClient)client;

            NetworkStream clientStream = tcpClient.GetStream();

            byte[] message = new byte[4096];
            int bytesRead;

            while (true)
            {
                bytesRead = 0;

                try
                {
                    // Blocks Until a Client Sends a Message //
                    bytesRead = clientStream.Read(message, 0, 4096);
                }
                catch
                {
                    // Socket Error //
                    Console.WriteLine(" >> SERVER: Socket Exception while handling client communications..");
                    break;
                }

                if (bytesRead == 0)
                {
                    // Client Has Disconnected From Server //
                    Console.WriteLine(" >> SERVER: Client has disconnected from the server..");
                    break;
                }

                // Message Has Been Received //
                ASCIIEncoding encoder = new ASCIIEncoding();
                string strData = encoder.GetString(message, 0, bytesRead).ToString();
                Console.WriteLine(strData);
            }

            tcpClient.Close();
        }
    }
}