How to ensure that TCP file transfer is done (c++) - c++

Question

I am using boost to implement a TCP client and server. On the client side, I have to send multiple files one after the other. I use a separate mechanism to notify the server of a file transfer. If the server is ready to receive the file it will respond to the client and the transfer is initiated.
I defined asynchronous handlers to write the data and then let the OS take care of it by calling io_service.run(). To my knowledge io_service.run() blocks until there are no more handlers to be dispatched, however that does not mean that the data was actually received on the remote side correct? The issue is that after io_service.run() returns I initiate the next transfer, but the server is not done receiving the first one.
Do I need to implement some kind of external mechanism on the remote side to notify the client that the data was received or am I doing something wrong?
Client implementation:
#include "StdAfx.h"
#include <boost/bind.hpp>
#include <boost/thread.hpp>
#include <boost/enable_shared_from_this.hpp>
#include <boost/thread.hpp>
#include "AsyncTCPClient.h"
AsyncTCPClient::AsyncTCPClient(boost::asio::io_service& iIoService, const std::string& iServerIP, const std::string& iPath)
: mResolver(iIoService), mSocket(iIoService)
{
size_t wPos = iServerIP.find(':');
if(wPos==std::string::npos)
{
return;
}
std::string wPortStr = iServerIP.substr(wPos + 1);
std::string wServerIP = iServerIP.substr(0, wPos);
mSourceFile.open(iPath, std::ios_base::binary | std::ios_base::ate);
if(!mSourceFile)
{
LOG(LOGERROR) << "Failed to open file: " << iPath;
return;
}
size_t wFileSize = mSourceFile.tellg();
mSourceFile.seekg(0);
std::ostream wRequestStream(&mRequest);
wRequestStream << iPath << "\n" << wFileSize << "\n\n";
LOG(LOGINFO) << "File to transfer: " << iPath;
LOG(LOGINFO) << "Filesize: " << wFileSize << " bytes";
tcp::resolver::query wQuery(wServerIP, wPortStr);
mResolver.async_resolve(wQuery, boost::bind(&AsyncTCPClient::HandleResolve, this, boost::asio::placeholders::error, boost::asio::placeholders::iterator));
}
AsyncTCPClient::~AsyncTCPClient()
{
}
void AsyncTCPClient::HandleResolve(const boost::system::error_code & iErr, tcp::resolver::iterator iEndpointIterator)
{
if(!iErr)
{
tcp::endpoint wEndpoint = *iEndpointIterator;
mSocket.async_connect(wEndpoint, boost::bind(&AsyncTCPClient::HandleConnect, this, boost::asio::placeholders::error, ++iEndpointIterator));
}
else
{
LOG(LOGERROR) << "Error: " << iErr.message();
}
}
void AsyncTCPClient::HandleConnect(const boost::system::error_code &iErr, tcp::resolver::iterator iEndpointIterator)
{
if(!iErr)
{
boost::asio::async_write(mSocket, mRequest, boost::bind(&AsyncTCPClient::HandleWriteFile, this, boost::asio::placeholders::error));
}
else if(iEndpointIterator != tcp::resolver::iterator())
{
mSocket.close();
tcp::endpoint wEndpoint = *iEndpointIterator;
mSocket.async_connect(wEndpoint, boost::bind(&AsyncTCPClient::HandleConnect, this, boost::asio::placeholders::error, ++iEndpointIterator));
}
else
{
LOG(LOGERROR) << "Error: " << iErr.message();
}
}
void AsyncTCPClient::HandleWriteFile(const boost::system::error_code& iErr)
{
if(!iErr)
{
if(mSourceFile)
{
mSourceFile.read(mBuffer.c_array(), (std::streamsize)mBuffer.size());
// EOF reached
if(mSourceFile.gcount() <= 0)
{
LOG(LOGINFO) << "File transfer done";
return;
}
//LOG(LOGTRACE) << "Send " << mSourceFile.gcount() << "bytes, total: " << mSourceFile.tellg() << " bytes.\n";
boost::asio::async_write(mSocket, boost::asio::buffer(mBuffer.c_array(), mSourceFile.gcount()), boost::bind(&AsyncTCPClient::HandleWriteFile, this, boost::asio::placeholders::error));
}
else
{
LOG(LOGINFO) << "File transfer done";
return;
}
}
else
{
LOG(LOGERROR) << "Error value: " << iErr.value();
LOG(LOGERROR) << "Error message: " << iErr.message();
throw std::exception();
}
}
Server implementation:
#include "StdAfx.h"
#include <boost/array.hpp>
#include <boost/bind.hpp>
#include <boost/thread.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <boost/enable_shared_from_this.hpp>
#include "AsyncTCPClient.h"
#include "AsyncTCPServer.h"
#include "Debug.h"
AsyncTCPServer::AsyncTCPServer(unsigned short iPort, const std::string iFilePath)
:mAcceptor(mIoService, boost::asio::ip::tcp::endpoint(boost::asio::ip::tcp::v4(), iPort), true)
{
mAsyncTCPConnectionPtr wNewConnection(new AsyncTCPConnection(mIoService, iFilePath));
mAcceptor.async_accept(wNewConnection->Socket(), boost::bind(&AsyncTCPServer::HandleAccept, this, wNewConnection, boost::asio::placeholders::error));
mIoService.run();
}
AsyncTCPServer::~AsyncTCPServer()
{
mIoService.stop();
}
void AsyncTCPServer::HandleAccept(mAsyncTCPConnectionPtr iCurConnection, const boost::system::error_code& iErr)
{
if (!iErr)
{
iCurConnection->Start();
}
else
{
BIOLOG(BioSans::LOGERROR) << " " << iErr << ", " << iErr.message();
}
}
Connection implementation:
#include "StdAfx.h"
#include <boost/bind.hpp>
#include <boost/thread.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include "Debug.h"
#include "AsyncTCPConnection.h"
AsyncTCPConnection::AsyncTCPConnection(boost::asio::io_service& iIoService, const std::string iFilePath)
: mSocket(iIoService), mFileSize(0), mFilePath(iFilePath)
{
}
AsyncTCPConnection::~AsyncTCPConnection()
{
}
void AsyncTCPConnection::Start()
{
LOG(LOGINFO) << "Start";
async_read_until(mSocket, mRequestBuffer, "\n\n", boost::bind(&AsyncTCPConnection::HandleReadRequest, shared_from_this(), boost::asio::placeholders::error, boost::asio::placeholders::bytes_transferred));
}
void AsyncTCPConnection::HandleReadRequest(const boost::system::error_code& iErr, std::size_t iBytesTransferred)
{
if(iErr)
{
return HandleError(__FUNCTION__, iErr);
}
LOG(LOGTRACE) << "(" << iBytesTransferred << ")" << ", in_avail = " << mRequestBuffer.in_avail() << ", size = " << mRequestBuffer.size() << ", max_size = " << mRequestBuffer.max_size();
std::istream wRequestStream(&mRequestBuffer);
std::string wFilePath;
wRequestStream >> wFilePath;
wRequestStream >> mFileSize;
wRequestStream.read(mBuffer.c_array(), 2);
mOutputFile.open(mFilePath, std::ios_base::binary);
if(!mOutputFile)
{
LOG(LOGERROR) << "Failed to open: " << wFilePath;
return;
}
do
{
wRequestStream.read(mBuffer.c_array(), (std::streamsize)mBuffer.size());
LOG(LOGTRACE) << "Write " << wRequestStream.gcount() << " bytes";
mOutputFile.write(mBuffer.c_array(), wRequestStream.gcount());
}
while(wRequestStream.gcount() > 0);
async_read(mSocket, boost::asio::buffer(mBuffer.c_array(), mBuffer.size()),boost::bind(&AsyncTCPConnection::HandleReadFileContent, shared_from_this(), boost::asio::placeholders::error, boost::asio::placeholders::bytes_transferred));
}
void AsyncTCPConnection::HandleReadFileContent(const boost::system::error_code& iErr, std::size_t iBytesTransferred)
{
if(iBytesTransferred>0)
{
mOutputFile.write(mBuffer.c_array(), (std::streamsize)iBytesTransferred);
LOG(LOGTRACE) << "Received " << mOutputFile.tellp() << " bytes";
if (mOutputFile.tellp()>=(std::streamsize)mFileSize)
{
return;
}
}
if(iErr)
{
return HandleError(__FUNCTION__, iErr);
}
async_read(mSocket, boost::asio::buffer(mBuffer.c_array(), mBuffer.size()), boost::bind(&AsyncTCPConnection::HandleReadFileContent, shared_from_this(), boost::asio::placeholders::error, boost::asio::placeholders::bytes_transferred));
}
void AsyncTCPConnection::HandleError(const std::string& function_name, const boost::system::error_code& err)
{
LOG(LOGERROR) << " in " << function_name <<" due to " << err <<" " << err.message();
}
Code to send file:
void SendFile(std::string iFilePath, std::string iServerIP)
{
static int wRetries = 0;
try
{
boost::asio::io_service wIoService;
LOG(LOGINFO) << "Sending data to: " << iServerIP;
LOG(LOGINFO) << "Filename is: " << iFilePath;
AsyncTCPClient client(wIoService, iServerIP, iFilePath);
wIoService.run();
// here I want to make sure that the data got to the remote host
// it looks like wIoService.run() returns once bytes are written to the socket
}
catch(std::exception)
{
// retry 3 times in case something goes wrong
if(wRetries < 3)
{
wRetries++;
LOG(LOGWARNING) << "Problem sending file : " << iFilePath << " to address: " << iServerIP;
LOG(LOGWARNING) << "Retry #" << wRetries;
SendFile(iFilePath, iServerIP);
}
else
{
LOG(LOGERROR) << "Unable to send file: " << iFilePath << " to address: " << iServerIP;
wRetries = 0;
return;
}
}
wRetries = 0;
}

Answer 1

You could use 'boost::asio::io_service::work' to keep your IO Service thread alive until you want to shutdown your process. Otherwise, io_service::run will return when all posted tasks are complete.
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_65_1/doc/html/boost_asio/reference/io_service__work.html
I wouldn't think you'd want to exit and recreate threads over and over for every transfer.
You can use a condition variable to signal when you want to shutdown the io_service thread and then destroy the work object, or just simply destroy the work object.
As to knowing when the server has received everything you've sent. You could design something in your protocol or just rely on the guaranteed aspects of TCP. I suggest reading up on TCP and IO-Completion in general.