Audio over socket c++ - c++

Question

I am capturing some audio from my microphone using SFML.
The data is being stored in samples of type Int16*.
Int16* samples;
My question is. What should I do to this samples to stream it over a socket to be played in another place? I ask in relation of data type. Do I need to convert this Int16 array to another type? Or can I just send this Int16* as it is?
EDIT
void BroadcastRecorder::loadBufferFromSamples()
{
//m_samples is of type vector<Int16*>
if (!m_samples.empty()){
m_buffer.loadFromSamples(&m_samples[0], m_samples.size(), 1, getSampleRate());
m_samples.clear();
}
}
void Broadcaster::Send()
{
//load the buffer with the samples
if(!m_recorder->empty()){
m_recorder->loadBufferFromSamples();
const sf::SoundBuffer& buffer = m_recorder->getBuffer();
size_t dataLength = m_recorder->GetSamplesSize();
wxSocketClient * socket = new wxSocketClient(wxSOCKET_NOWAIT);
socket->Notify(false);
// ------------- DATA----------------------
wxString data = "";
wxString strToPrepend(_("--myboundary\r\nContent-Type: audio/wav\r\n"));
wxString strToAppend(_("\r\n--myboundary\r\n"));
// ------------- HEADER -----------------------
wxString header = "";
header.append("POST ");
header.append("/cgi-bin/operator/transmit");
header.append(" HTTP/1.0\r\n");
header.append("Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=--myboundary\r\n");
header.append("Content-Length: " + wxString::Format(wxT("%i"),(dataLength + strToPrepend.Len() + strToAppend.Len()) ) + "\r\n");
header.append("Authorization: Basic keykeykeykey\r\n");
header.append("\r\n");
//-------------- CONNECTION ---------------
wxString host = _("192.168.50.11");
wxIPV4address * address = new wxIPV4address();
address->Hostname(host);
address->Service(8084);
if (socket->Connect(*address)){
//Write header
socket->Write(header.c_str(),header.Len());
//Write data
socket->Write(strToPrepend.c_str(),strToPrepend.Len());
const sf::Int16* samples = buffer.getSamples();
const char* bytesData = reinterpret_cast<const char*>(samples);
socket->Write(bytesData,dataLength);
socket->Write(strToAppend.c_str(),strToAppend.Len());
socket->Close();
}
delete socket;
delete address;
}
}
I am getting only some noises between gaps.
BTW. The audio is being sent to an IP camera p2 connector.

Answer 1

The data format is just the way your application treats them. After all you send raw bytes over a socket. And you can do it with anything you want
Int16 data;
const char* pBytesOfData = (const char*) &data;
int size = sizeof (Int16);
send( socket, pBytesOfdata, size, flags);
When the bytes arrive on the second end it is up to you to interpret them correctly. Probably you will want again treat them as Int16. You need to have a protocol (common way of communication) to do it right (maybe send size of the data at the begining of the transmission, etc).
You can also take a look on libraries that ease serialization: Boost.Asio and Boost.Serialization.

Answer 2

Firstly, You need to create and bind a socket. Then you have to send the data stored in "samples" to another peer by using socket API. For using socket API to send the data, you need to convert this data to char*. As send API of socket takes input of data you need to send as char*. For more information about sending you can go through this link. This is for windows. For Unix you can check the manpage for send API for unix.

Answer 3

Int16* is a pointer. The samples you get should also have an associated length. Your data will likely be between addresses: [samples, samples + length) (where samples is the address to the first sample).
To play the samples remotely (actual code will depend on what APIs you use):
open socket
in a loop
get samples from your microphone
transmit the data over socket
on the server, you will have to read samples in a loop and send them to whatever sound output API you use.

Answer 4

Sockets work with bytes, so in the end you will send bytes. As long as the way you interpret these bytes on the receiving side matches the data you sent, you can send whatever you want in those bytes.
In this case sending the samples directly without conversion seems the most trivial thing to do, but you will probably need to send the size of the sample before, most likely in a fixed length format, for example:
[size on 4 bytes][sample on `size` bytes]
[] [] [] [][] [] [] [] [] []