Question

SO I just tried to read text from a socket, and I did the following:

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;

public class apples{
    public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException{
        Socket client = null;
        PrintWriter output = null;
        BufferedReader in = null;
        try {
               client = new Socket("127.0.0.1", 2235);
               output = new PrintWriter(client.getOutputStream(), false);
               in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(client.getInputStream()));

               while (true) {
                       System.out.println("Line: " + client.getOutputStream());
               }
        }
        catch (IOException e) {
            System.out.println(e);
        }
        output.close();
        in.close();
        client.close();
    }
}

This prints out weird numbers and stuff like:

java.net.SocketOutputStream@316f673e

I’m not really sure of all the Java functions and things, so how would I make the output print out as text?

Answer 1

look at:

while (true) {
     System.out.println("Line: " + client.getOutputStream());
}

getOutputSteam() returns an object that represents a stream. you can use this object to send data through the stream. here’s an example:

BufferedOutputStream out = new BufferedOutputStream(this._socket.getOutputStream());
out.write("hello");
out.flush();

this will send the message “hello” through the socket

to read the data, you will use the inputstream instead

let me just point out – this is a client that you are creating. You also need to create a server. Use java’s ServerSocket class for creating a server

EDIT:
you want to write a client/server application in java.
you need to implement 2 processes: a client and a server.
the server will listen on some port (using ServerSocket).
the client will connect to that port, and send a message.

first object you need to understand is ServerSocket.
Server code:

ServerSocket s = new ServerSocket(61616);    // this will open port 61616 for listening
Socket incomingSocket = s.accept();    // this will accept new connections

s.accept method is blocking – it waits for incoming connections, and goes to the next line only after a connection has been accepted. it creates a Socket object.
for this socket object you will set up an input stream and output stream (to send/receive data).

on the client:

Socket s = new Socket(serverIp, serverPort);

this will open a socket to the server. ip in your case will be “127.0.0.1” or “localhost” (local machine), and port will be 61616.

you will again, set up input/output stream, to send/receive messages

if you are connecting to a server that already exists, you only need to implement the client of course

you can find many examples online