Get python tcp server to send and recive messages once that are sent?

Question

I have been experimenting with network programing with python. To teach myself how to do this I have been playing with multiple versions of TCP chat servers and clients. My newest attempt has left me wondering what is wrong with the code I have just written. Only when a message has been sent from the client I have just created, does the other messages come in. I am not sure why this is happening. I have been searching online and I can't figure out why it is happening. All I do know is that it is not the servers mistake. I am certain that the problem is with the client I just created.

import socket, thread, threading, os

def sendMsg():
    Message = raw_input('[-]You:')
    s.send(Message)

def recvMsg():
    data = s.recv(buff)
    print(data)

s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)

host = raw_input('[-]Target Ip-> ')
port = 5000
buff = 1024

try:
    s.connect((host, port))

except:
    print('[-]Failed to Connect')
    s.close()

loop = True
threads = []
while loop == True:
    try:
        t1 = threading.Thread(target=sendMsg())
        threads.append(t1)
        t1.start()

        t2 = threading.Thread(target=recvMsg())
        threads.append(t2)
        t2.start()

    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        print('\n')
        break


s.close()
os.system('clear')

Server code

# Tcp Chat server

import socket, select, os, time

def broadcast_data (sock, message):
    for socket in CONNECTION_LIST:
            if socket != server_socket and socket != sock :
            try :
                socket.send(message)
            except :
                socket.close()
                CONNECTION_LIST.remove(socket)

if __name__ == "__main__":

        CONNECTION_LIST = []
    RECV_BUFFER = 4096
    IP_MNG = ''
    PORT = 5000     
    server_socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    server_socket.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
    server_socket.bind((IP_MNG, PORT))

    server_socket.listen(10)
    CONNECTION_LIST.append(server_socket)

    print "[-]Connected To " + str(PORT)

    start = True 
    while start == True:
        try:
            read_sockets,write_sockets,error_sockets = select.select(CONNECTION_LIST,[],[])

            for sock in read_sockets:
                    if sock == server_socket:
                    sockfd, addr = server_socket.accept()
                    CONNECTION_LIST.append(sockfd)
                    print "Client (%s, %s) connected" % addr
                    broadcast_data(sockfd, "[-][%s:%s] entered room\n" % addr)


                else:

                        try:
                        data = sock.recv(RECV_BUFFER)
                        if data:
                            broadcast_data(sock, "\r" + '<' + str(sock.getpeername()) + '> ' + data)                

                    except:
                        broadcast_data(sock, "Client (%s, %s) is offline" % addr)
                        print "Client (%s, %s) is offline" % addr
                        sock.close()
                        CONNECTION_LIST.remove(sock)
                        continue

        except KeyboardInterrupt:
            print('[-]Server Stopped')
            start = False


server_socket.close()
time.sleep(1)
os.system('clear')

"*Only when a message has been sent from the client I have just created, does the other messages come in.*" - what other messages? come in where? — TessellatingHeckler, Oct 05 '16 at 23:51
The messages are coming from other clients connected to the TCP chat server. My goal is to have those messages automatically appear when they are sent from those other clients. — Matthew Lukaszewski, Oct 06 '16 at 00:14

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

I am pretty new to socket programming, so this may be a shot in the darK:

The client is generating a lot of threads reading and writing from a blocking socket. It looks like only a single operation can be performed at one time, a thread is blocking on a write or a thread is blocking on a read, since there is only one socket, all threads are operating on that single resource. You could have each thread you spawn open its own own socket connection write to it the read from it, which should address the issue.
For the client, Are socket reads/writes thread safe?? Yes
On the server should the accepted connection be marked as non-blocking??

sockfd, addr = server_socket.accept()

sockfd.setblocking(0)
On the server, do you need to manage when sockets are writable? It looks like sockets are written to as they become readable. I'd imagine that socket.send blocks during the readcall, so new connections aren't being handled during this time. Python module of the week has awesome clear example of using select for non blocking servers

Get python tcp server to send and recive messages once that are sent?

1 Answers1