CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javasocketstcpinputstream
WIllJBD
WIllJBD

Reputation: 6154

Socket streaming in Java

When continuously writing/reading sets of data through a socket, how do you recognize the end of 1 set, the start of the next set, and if the entire set is even in the stream for retrieval yet, and not just a piece of it?

To make things simple let's say I'm sending JSON strings through the socket. How do I know if the whole object is there, and get that object from start to finish so I can correctly read it? Keep in mind there may be more objects behind this one.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 246

Answers (1)

Maarten Bodewes
Maarten Bodewes

Reputation: 94088

That depends. If you use an ObjectOutputStream then Java takes care of this for you. Obviously this is Java specific and requires you to have a ObjectInputStream on the other side. It also expects that you send serializable objects to the other side. String however is a serializable object, and I would in general expect any data structure to be serializable.

Otherwise you will have to think of some kind of container format yourself. Nowadays it is also pretty common to use XML structures to serialize the data into. If you go to an even higher level you get to the point of using web-services.

Upvotes: 1

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