Unable to read all messages sent from client - c++

Question

I want to read all messages that are sent from the client.
I am implementing a tcp server and it receives data. Each message is appended by the size of the message as a header. So Now I can read the header and find the size from that and allocate that much memory for the message to be read later. However, with my very little exposure to C++ this is what I came up with.
How to read all messages ?
void *dothistask(void *socket_desc)
{
int sock = *(int*)socket_desc;
free(socket_desc);
int read_size;
unsigned int x = 4;
char *header = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char) * 4);
char *message;
int index = 0;
long p;
int status;
while(true) {
status = ReadXBytes(sock, 4, header);
if(status == -1)
{
break;
}
message = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * 10);
status = ReadXBytes(sock, 10, message);
if(status == -1)
{
break;
}
cout<<"The header is "<<header<<endl;
cout<<"The message is "<<message<<endl;
}
return 0;
}
int ReadXBytes(int socket, unsigned int x, void* buff)
{
char *buffer = (char*)buff;
int bytesRead = 0;
int result;
while (bytesRead < x)
{
result = recv(socket, buffer + bytesRead, x - bytesRead, 0);
if(result == 0)
{
cout<<"Client disconnected"<<endl;
fflush(stdout);
return -1;
}
else if( result == -1)
{
perror("recv failed");
return -1;
}
bytesRead += result;
}
return 0;
}
Read that it is ideal to read the header first and then read the message. I am able to do this once but I want to do this over a repeated period of time, basically forever, till the client disconnects.
Thank you! for the help!

Answer 1

To read the message, you have
ReadXBytes(sock, 10, message);
but it should be something like
ReadXBytes(sock, *((int*)header), message);
depending on the content of header. As you have a hard-coded 10 in there, you will only ever read 10 bytes. You will also have to adjust the malloc accordingly to not only allocate 10 bytes.