Socket Programming

Socket Programming:
Java Networking
• Java networking (or, Java network programming) refers to writing programs that
execute across multiple devices (computers), in which the devices are all
connected to each other using a network.
Advantages of Java Networking

• Creating server-client applications
• Implementing networking protocols
• Implement socket programming
• Creating web services
• Java Socket programming is used for communication between the applications

running on different JRE.
Socket programming is a technique used to establish communication between

two nodes (computers or processes) over a network. It enables data exchange
between a server and a client
Java Socket programming can be connection-oriented or connection-less.
• Sockets provide the communication mechanism between two computers using

TCP. A client program creates a socket on its end of the communication and
attempts to connect that socket to a server.
• When the connection is made, the server creates a socket object on its end of the
communication. The client and the server can now communicate by writing to and
reading from the socket.
• Socket and ServerSocket classes are used for connection-oriented socket

programming and DatagramSocket and DatagramPacket classes are used for
connection-less socket programming.
The client in socket programming must know two information:

1. IP Address of Server, and
2. Port number.
• The Socket class is used to communicate client and server. Through this class, we
can read and write message. The ServerSocket class is used at server-side. After the
successful connection of client, it returns the instance of Socket at server-side.
• The following steps occur when establishing a TCP connection between two
computers using sockets −
• The server instantiates a ServerSocket object, denoting which port

number communication is to occur on.
• The server invokes the accept () method of the ServerSocket class. This
method waits until a client connects to the server on the given port.
• After the server is waiting, a client instantiates a Socket object,
specifying the server’s name and the port number to connect to.
• The constructor of the Socket class attempts to connect the client to the
specified server and the port number. If communication is established,
the client now has a Socket object capable of communicating with the
server.
• On the server side, the accept () method returns a reference to a new
socket on the server that is connected to the client's socket.
After the connections are established, communication can occur using I/O
streams. Each socket has both an OutputStream and an InputStream. The
client's OutputStream is connected to the server's InputStream, and the
client's InputStream is connected to the server's OutputStream.
TCP is a two-way communication protocol; hence data can be sent across both
streams at the same time. Following are the useful classes providing complete
set of methods to implement sockets.
• Socket class
A socket is simply an endpoint for communications between the machines. The

Socket class can be used to create a socket.
Some methods of interest in the Socket class are listed here. Notice that both
the client and the server have a Socket object, so these methods can be
invoked by both the client and the server.
S.No. Method & Description
public void connect (Socket Address host, int

timeout) throws IO Exception
This method connects the socket to the specified
1
host. This method is needed only when you
instantiate the Socket using the no-argument
constructor.
public InetAddress getInetAddress ()

2 This method returns the address of the other
computer that this socket is connected to.
public int getPort ()

3 Returns the port the socket is bound to on the
remote machine.
public int getLocalPort ()

4 Returns the port the socket is bound to on the local
machine.
public SocketAddress getRemoteSocketAddress ()

5
Returns the address of the remote socket.
public InputStream getInputStream () throws

IOException
6 Returns the input stream of the socket. The input
stream is connected to the output stream of the
remote socket.
public OutputStream getOutputStream() throws

IOException
7 Returns the output stream of the socket. The output
stream is connected to the input stream of the
remote socket.
public void close () throws IOException

8 Closes the socket, which makes this Socket object no
longer capable of connecting again to any server.
• ServerSocket class
The ServerSocket class can be used to create a server socket. This object is
used to establish communication with the clients.
ServerSocket Class Methods
Following is some of the common methods of the ServerSocket class −
S.No. Method & Description
public int getLocalPort ()

Returns the port that the server socket is listening on.
1 This method is useful if you passed in 0 as the port
number in a constructor and let the server find a port
for you.
public Socket accept () throws IOException

Waits for an incoming client. This method blocks until
2 either a client connects to the server on the specified
port or the socket times out, assuming that the time-
out value has been set using the setSoTimeout()
method. Otherwise, this method blocks indefinitely.
public void setSoTimeout (int timeout)

3 Sets the time-out value for how long the server
socket waits for a client during the accept().
public void bind (SocketAddress host, int backlog)

Binds the socket to the specified server and port in
4 the SocketAddress object. Use this method if you
have instantiated the ServerSocket using the no-
argument constructor.
When the ServerSocket invokes accept (), the method does not return until a
client connects. After a client does connect, the ServerSocket creates a new
Socket on an unspecified port and returns a reference to this new Socket. A
TCP connection now exists between the client and the server, and
communication can begin.
• We’ll create a basic client-server communication where the client sends a message
to the server, and the server reads and prints it.
Server Side:
1. Creating the Server:

o We need to create an instance of the ServerSocket class.
o In this example, we’ll use port number 6666 for communication
between the client and server. You can choose any other port
number.
o The accept () method waits for the client. When a client connects
with the given port number, it returns an instance of Socket.
Java
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class MyServer {

public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
ServerSocket ss = new ServerSocket(6666);
Socket s = ss.accept(); // Establishes connection and waits for
the client
DataInputStream dis = new

DataInputStream(s.getInputStream());
String message = dis.readUTF(); // Read the message from the
client
System.out.println("Received message from client: " + message);
ss.close(); // Close the server socket

} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Client Side:
1. Creating the Client:

o We need to create an instance of the Socket class.
o Pass the IP address or hostname of the server and the port
number.
o In this example, we’re using "localhost" because our server is
running on the same system.
Java
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class MyClient {

public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
Socket s = new Socket("localhost", 6666); // Connect to the
server
DataOutputStream dos = new

DataOutputStream(s.getOutputStream());
String message = "Hello from client!";
dos.writeUTF(message); // Send the message to the server
s.close(); // Close the client socket

} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

Socket Programming

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Socket Programming:

Advantages of Java Networking

• Java Socket programming is used for communication between the applications

Socket programming is a technique used to establish communication between

Java Socket programming can be connection-oriented or connection-less.

• Sockets provide the communication mechanism between two computers using

• Socket and ServerSocket classes are used for connection-oriented socket

The client in socket programming must know two information:

• The server instantiates a ServerSocket object, denoting which port

A socket is simply an endpoint for communications between the machines. The

public void connect (Socket Address host, int

public InetAddress getInetAddress ()

public int getPort ()

public int getLocalPort ()

public SocketAddress getRemoteSocketAddress ()

public InputStream getInputStream () throws

public OutputStream getOutputStream() throws

public void close () throws IOException

ServerSocket Class Methods

Following is some of the common methods of the ServerSocket class −

S.No. Method & Description

public int getLocalPort ()

public Socket accept () throws IOException

public void setSoTimeout (int timeout)

public void bind (SocketAddress host, int backlog)

1. Creating the Server:

public class MyServer {

DataInputStream dis = new

ss.close(); // Close the server socket

1. Creating the Client:

public class MyClient {

DataOutputStream dos = new

s.close(); // Close the client socket

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