Break while()-loop using UDP - c++

Question

Is it possible to do some work, such as increment a counter, in a while()-loop, and then break this while()-loop with a UDP message?
I have a Raspberry Pi 4, that is setup as a UDP-server. The programming language i'm using is C++. UDP.hpp:
#pragma once
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <netdb.h>
using namespace std;
/////GLOBAL CONSTANTS/////
const int c_PORT = 8080;
class UDP
{
private:
int fdSocketUDP_; //File descriptor for UDP socket
int ClientAddressLength_; //Length of client address
struct sockaddr_in ServerAddress_; //Struct handling internet address for server
struct sockaddr_in ClientAddress_; //Struct handling internet address for client
public:
UDP(); //Initialize and bind socket
~UDP(); //Close socket
string readUDP(const int readSize); //Read via UDP protocol (Only for blocking socket)
void writeUDP(string message); //Write via UDP protocol (Only for blocking socket)
};
UDP.cpp:
#include "udp.hpp"
UDP::UDP()
{
if ((fdSocketUDP_ = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0)) < 0) //Create UDP socket
{
perror("Error - socket creation - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
memset(&ServerAddress_, 0, sizeof(ServerAddress_)); //Sets ServerAddress_ to 0
memset(&ClientAddress_, 0, sizeof(ClientAddress_)); //Sets ClientAddress_ to 0
ServerAddress_.sin_family = AF_INET; //Address family, must be AF_INET = IPv4
ServerAddress_.sin_port = htons(c_PORT); //PORT number, convert PORT number to network byte order using htons()
ServerAddress_.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY; //IP-Address of host (server IP), INADDR_ANY gets this IP Address
if (bind(fdSocketUDP_, (const struct sockaddr *)&ServerAddress_, sizeof(ServerAddress_)) < 0) //Bind the socket to ServerAddress_
{
perror("Error - socket bind - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
UDP::~UDP()
{
close(fdSocketUDP_); //Close socket
}
string UDP::readUDP(const int readSize)
{
char readMsg[readSize] = {0}; //Read buffer
ClientAddressLength_ = sizeof(ClientAddress_);
if ((recvfrom(fdSocketUDP_, readMsg, readSize, 0, (struct sockaddr *)&ClientAddress_, (socklen_t *)&ClientAddressLength_)) < 0) //Receive data via UDP protocol
{
perror("Error - recvfrom - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
string str(readMsg); //Convert char array to string
str = str.substr(0, readSize); //Make sure the string is the length of readsize
return str;
}
void UDP::writeUDP(string message)
{
//Make char array
int writeSize = message.size();
char writeMsg[writeSize + 1] = {'\0'};
//Convert string message to char array
for (int i = 0; i < writeSize; i++)
{
writeMsg[i] = message[i];
}
if ((sendto(fdSocketUDP_, writeMsg, writeSize, 0, (const struct sockaddr *)&ClientAddress_, (socklen_t)ClientAddressLength_)) < 0) //Send data via UDP protocol
{
perror("Error - sendto - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
I have a laptop, running a Labview program. It acts as a UDP client. By sending data to the RPi from the laptop, I want to be able to break a while loop in the main()-function by sending specific data via UDP.
Let's say I send "111" data to the RPi from the laptop. The RPi then goes into a while()-loop in the main()-function, doing some work. I want the RPi to stay in this while()-loop, until I send som specific data from the Laptop. Let's say the data i want to break this while()-loop with is "999".
Is this possible using UDP?

Answer 1

Sure. Just set the socket non-blocking and periodically check if there's data received on the socket. If there is, check if it's a command to stop and, if so, stop. You can check every iteration of the loop or, if the loop repeats very quickly, every 10 or every 100 iterations.

Answer 2

I have solved my problem thanks to #Marquis of Lorne and #David Schwartz. The solution was to use fcntl and set the socket to non-blocking.
I've updated the UDP.hpp to:
#pragma once
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <sys/unistd.h>
#include <sys/fcntl.h>
using namespace std;
/////GLOBAL CONSTANTS/////
const int c_PORT = 8080;
class UDP
{
private:
int fdSocketUDP_; //File descriptor for UDP socket
int ClientAddressLength_; //Length of client address
struct sockaddr_in ServerAddress_; //Struct handling internet address for server
struct sockaddr_in ClientAddress_; //Struct handling internet address for client
public:
UDP(); //Initialize and bind socket
~UDP(); //Close socket
void initNonBlock(); //Initialize and bind socket (non blocking)
void initBlock(); //Initialize and bind socket (blocking)
void closeSocket(); //Close socket
string readNonBlock(const int readSize); //read via UDP protocol with non blocking socket
string readUDP(const int readSize); //Read via UDP protocol (Only for blocking socket)
void writeUDP(string message); //Write via UDP protocol (Only for blocking socket)
};
I've updated the UDP.cpp to:
#include "udp.hpp"
UDP::UDP()
{
}
UDP::~UDP()
{
closeSocket();
}
void UDP::initNonBlock()
{
if ((fdSocketUDP_ = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0)) < 0) //Create UDP socket
{
perror("Error - socket creation - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fcntl(fdSocketUDP_, F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK); //Set to non-blocking mode
memset(&ServerAddress_, 0, sizeof(ServerAddress_)); //Sets ServerAddress_ to 0
memset(&ClientAddress_, 0, sizeof(ClientAddress_)); //Sets ClientAddress_ to 0
ServerAddress_.sin_family = AF_INET; //Address family, must be AF_INET = IPv4
ServerAddress_.sin_port = htons(c_PORT); //PORT number, convert PORT number to network byte order using htons()
ServerAddress_.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY; //IP-Address of host (server IP), INADDR_ANY gets this IP Address
if (bind(fdSocketUDP_, (const struct sockaddr *)&ServerAddress_, sizeof(ServerAddress_)) < 0) //Bind the socket to ServerAddress_
{
perror("Error - socket bind - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
void UDP::initBlock()
{
if ((fdSocketUDP_ = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0)) < 0) //Create UDP socket
{
perror("Error - socket creation - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
memset(&ServerAddress_, 0, sizeof(ServerAddress_)); //Sets ServerAddress_ to 0
memset(&ClientAddress_, 0, sizeof(ClientAddress_)); //Sets ClientAddress_ to 0
ServerAddress_.sin_family = AF_INET; //Address family, must be AF_INET = IPv4
ServerAddress_.sin_port = htons(c_PORT); //PORT number, convert PORT number to network byte order using htons()
ServerAddress_.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY; //IP-Address of host (server IP), INADDR_ANY gets this IP Address
if (bind(fdSocketUDP_, (const struct sockaddr *)&ServerAddress_, sizeof(ServerAddress_)) < 0) //Bind the socket to ServerAddress_
{
perror("Error - socket bind - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
void UDP::closeSocket()
{
close(fdSocketUDP_); //Close socket
}
string UDP::readNonBlock(const int readSize)
{
char readMsg[readSize] = {0}; //Read buffer
ClientAddressLength_ = sizeof(ClientAddress_);
recvfrom(fdSocketUDP_, readMsg, readSize, 0, (struct sockaddr *)&ClientAddress_, (socklen_t *)&ClientAddressLength_);
string str(readMsg); //Convert char array to string
str = str.substr(0, readSize); //Make sure the string is the length of readsize
return str;
}
string UDP::readUDP(const int readSize)
{
char readMsg[readSize] = {0}; //Read buffer
ClientAddressLength_ = sizeof(ClientAddress_);
if ((recvfrom(fdSocketUDP_, readMsg, readSize, 0, (struct sockaddr *)&ClientAddress_, (socklen_t *)&ClientAddressLength_)) < 0) //Receive data via UDP protocol
{
perror("Error - recvfrom - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
string str(readMsg); //Convert char array to string
str = str.substr(0, readSize); //Make sure the string is the length of readsize
return str;
}
void UDP::writeUDP(string message)
{
//Make char array
int writeSize = message.size();
char writeMsg[writeSize + 1] = {'\0'};
//Convert string message to char array
for (int i = 0; i < writeSize; i++)
{
writeMsg[i] = message[i];
}
if ((sendto(fdSocketUDP_, writeMsg, writeSize, 0, (const struct sockaddr *)&ClientAddress_, (socklen_t)ClientAddressLength_)) < 0) //Send data via UDP protocol
{
perror("Error - sendto - udp.cpp");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
Thanks to this, i was able to break the do-while loop:
udp.closeSocket();
udp.initNonBlock();
do
{
//Do something
} while (udp.readNonBlock(3).compare("153") != 0);
udp.closeSocket();
udp.initBlock();
If the message sent from the UDP client is "153", it breaks the do-while loop.