Question

Is it possible to read multiple (2 TCP Ports) at the same time?

Example:

    public void getFeed()
    {
        while(true)
        {
            try 
            {
                if (!isReadableStream()) throw new Exception("not readable Stream");
                recieveMsg = streamReader.ReadLine();

                if(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(recieveMsg))
                {
                    displayConsole(recieveMsg, false);

                }
            }
            catch(Exception ex)
            {
                displayError(ex.Message);
            }
        }
    }

The function above reads 1 port, and i want to read another port, because the server is getting feeds from another server every 1-2 seconds.

Answer 1

You can read as many ports as you like, but you need to use asynchronous reads. You’re currently using synchronous (or “blocking”) calls, which means that your code stops and waits for data to arrive on one port, and can’t do anything else while it is reading.

Async reads on the other hand mean that when you call the Read method, it starts the read operation and returns to executing your code immediately. Your code continues to run, and at some point in the future (when some data is available) a delegate you have supplied will be called back. It then Ends the read operation to receive the data.

You can then trigger as many reads as required, and go off and do anything else you want to do (or sit in a busy wait loop) until the results come back in. You just have to pay attention to where the data has come from so that you keep track of the different message streams coming into your application.

Read up on Asynchronous Stream operations like NetworkStream.BeginRead.

You’ll find examples easily by searching on ‘C# TCPClient BeginRead’ and similar queries, e.g.

http://www.albahari.com/nutshell/ch20.aspx

NetworkStream BeginRead / EndRead

etc