The System.Net.Sockets namespace provides all of the classes that are needed to communicate over the Winsock interface (see Chapter 1 for more information about general Winsock programming) when using the Compact Framework. The namespace provides the classes and enumerations described in Table 12.6.
Table 12.6 The System.Net.Sockets Namespace
Name
Object Type
Description
AddressFamily
Enumeration
Address scheme for a Socket class
AddressFamily
Enumeration
Address scheme for a Socket class
IrDACharacterSet
Enumeration
Character sets supported for infrared transfers
IrDAClient
Class
Handles the client in an infrared transfer
IrDADeviceInfo
Class
Provides information about infrared connections and servers
IrDADeviceInfo
Class
Provides information about infrared connections and servers
IrDAHints
Enumeration
Infrared device types
IrDAListener
Class
Handles the server in an infrared transfer
LingerOption
Class
Handles the socket linger options
MulticastOption
Class
Handles multicast address groups
NetworkStream
Class
Handles a stream over a network connection
ProtocolFamily
Enumeration
Socket protocol types that are available
ProtocolFamily
Enumeration
Socket protocol types that are available
ProtocolType
Enumeration
Socket protocol
SelectMode
Enumeration
Socket polling modes
Socket
Class
Class to handle socket communications
Socket
Class
Class to handle socket communications
Socket
Class
Class to handle socket communications
SocketException
Class
Exception that is used when an error occurs in a Socket class
SocketFlags
Enumeration
Socket constants
SocketOptionName
Enumeration
Socket names option constant values
SocketOptionLevel
Enumeration
Socket level option constant values
SocketShutdown
Enumeration
Socket shutdown constants
SocketType
Enumeration
Type of socket
TcpClient
Class
Class to handle TCP socket connections to a server
TcpListener
Class
Class to handle TCP socket connections as a server
UdpClient
Class
Class to handle UDP socket connections for both client and server
The namespace provides four classes that you will use primarily when working with Winsock connections:
The System.Net.Sockets.Socket class is essentially a full wrapper around a traditional SOCKET handle. It provides all of the functionality for both connectionless and connection-based TCP and UDP communications.
The System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient class provides all of the methods and properties for the client side of a TCP connection to a server.
The System.Net.Sockets.TcpListener class provides all of the methods and properties for the server side of a TCP connection that will listen for incoming connections on a specific port.
The System.Net.Sockets.UdpClient class provides all of the methods and properties for sending and receiving connectionless datagrams.
The Generic Socket Class
The System.Net.Sockets.Socket class is used to perform basic Win¬sock functionality in a manner similar to using a standard SOCKET handle. To create a new Socket object, you use the following constructor:
public Socket(AddressFamily addressFamily, SocketType socketType, ProtocolType protocolType);
All of the parameters that you use are standard enumerations that are part of the System.Net.Sockets namespace. The first parameter, addressFamily, should specify the addressing scheme for the socket, such as AddressFamily.InterNetwork for an IPv4 socket. This is followed by the type of socket you are creating, which is followed by the protocol that the socket should use.
The following example creates a standard IPv4 socket for communicating over a TCP connection using the IP protocol:
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Net.Sockets;
namespace PocketPCNetworkProgramming {
class SocketTestClass {
static void Main(string[] args) {
// Create a new socket
System.Net.Sockets.Socket newSocket = new Socket(
AddressFamily.InterNetwork,
SocketType.Stream,
ProtocolType.IP);
// Do something with the new socket
}
}
}
The System.Net.Sockets.Socket class supports the methods and properties described in Table 12.7.
Table 12.7 Socket Class Methods and Properties
Method
Description
Accept()
Creates a new System.Net.Sockets.Socket for the incoming connection
BeginAccept()
Begins asynchronous Accept() operation
BeginConnect()
Begins asynchronous Connect() operation
BeginReceive()
Begins asynchronous Receive() operation
BeginReceiveFrom()
Begins asynchronous Receive() operation from a specific remote EndPoint
BeginSend()
Begins asynchronous Send() operation
BeginSendTo()
Begins asynchronous Send() operation to a specific remote EndPoint
BeginSendTo()
Begins asynchronous Send() operation to a specific remote EndPoint
Bind()
Associates the socket with a local EndPoint
Close()
Closes the socket
Connect()
Establishes a connection with another host
EndAccept()
Asynchronously accepts an incoming connection
EndConnect()
Ends asynchronous Connect() operation
EndReceive()
Ends asynchronous Receive() operation from a specific remote EndPoint
EndSend()
Ends asynchronous Send() operation EndPoint
GetSocketOption()
Returns the value of the socket options
IOControl()
Sets low-level socket options
Listen()
Sets low-level socket options
Poll()
Returns the status of the socket
Receive()
Returns the status of the socket
ReceiveFrom()
Receives data over a socket from a specific remote EndPoint
Select()
Returns the status of one or more sockets
Send()
Sends data over a socket
SendTo()
Sends data over a socket to a specific remote EndPoint
SendTo()
Sends data over a socket to a specific remote EndPoint
SetSocketOption()
Sets the value of the socket options
Shutdown()
Stops communications over a socket
Property
Get/Set
Description
AddressFamily
Get
Gets the addressing scheme used for the socket
Available
Get
Gets the amount of data on the socket that is ready to be read
Blocking
Get/set
Gets or sets whether the socket is in blocking mode
Connected
Get
Returns TRUE if the socket is connected
Handle
Get
Gets the socket handle
ProtocolType
Get
Gets the protocol type for the socket
RemoteEndPoint e
Get
Gets the remote EndPoint for the socket
SocketType
Get
Gets the type of socket
Once you have created your Socket class, communicating over the Internet is relatively straightforward. The class supports methods such as Send() and Receive(), which are almost identical to the standard Winsock functions:
// Create a new socket
System.Net.Sockets.Socket webSocket = new
Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetwork, SocketType.Stream,
ProtocolType.IP);
// Make a request from a Web server
// Resolve the IP address for the server, and get the //
IPEndPoint for it on port 80
System.Net.IPHostEntry webServerHost =
System.Net.Dns.GetHostByName("www.furrygoat.com");
System.Net.IPEndPoint webServerEndPt = new
System.Net.IPEndPoint(webServerHost.AddressList[0], 80);
// Set up the HTTP request string to get the main index page
byte[] httpRequestBytes =
System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("GET /
HTTP/1.0rnrn");
// Connect the socket to the server
webSocket.Connect(webServerEndPt);
// Send the request synchronously
int bytesSent = webSocket.Send(httpRequestBytes,
httpRequestBytes.Length, SocketFlags.None);
// Get the response from the request.
We will continue to request // 4096 bytes from the response stream
and concat the string into // the strReponse variable
byte[] httpResponseBytes = new byte[4096];
int bytesRecv = webSocket.Receive(httpResponseBytes,
httpResponseBytes.Length, SocketFlags.None);
strResponse = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString
(httpResponseBytes, 0, bytesRecv);
while(bytesRecv > 0) {
bytesRecv = webSocket.Receive(httpResponseBytes,
httpResponseBytes.Length, SocketFlags.None);
strResponse = strResponse +
System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(
httpResponseBytes, 0, bytesRecv);
}
// At this point, the strResponse string has the Web page. // Do something with it
// ...
// Clean up the socket
webSocket.Shutdown(SocketShutdown.Both);
webSocket.Close();
Although using the Socket class provides you with a robust set of methods to handle almost any type of connection, you are more likely to use one of the more specific connection classes, such as TcpClient or TcpListener, to handle your protocol-specific network commu¬nications.
TCP Connections
As described in Chapter 1, a TCP (or streaming) socket provides you with an error-free data pipe (between a client and server) that is used to send and receive data over a communications session. The format of the data sent over the connection is typically up to you, but several ¬well-known Internet protocols, such as HTTP and FTP, use this type of connection.
The .NET Compact Framework provides you with two separate classes that can be used to handle TCP communications. The System.Net.Sockets.TcpListener class is used to create a socket that can accept an incoming connection request. This is also known as a server.
To create a TCP client, you use the System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient class. The methods provide functionality to connect to a server that is listening on a specific port.
TCP Servers
To create a new TcpListener object, you can use one of the following constructors:
public TcpListener(int port);
public TcpListener(IPAddress localaddr, int port);
public TcpListener(IPEndPoint localEP);
All three constructors basically do the same thing. The first one needs only the port number on which you want the object to listen. The second requires an IPAddress class that represents the local IP address of the device, and is followed by the port. The final constructor takes an IPEndPoint class, which should represent the local IP address and port on which to listen.
The following example shows how you can use each one of the constructors to initialize a new TcpListener class:
// Method 1 - Listen on the local IP address, port 80.
System.Net.Sockets.TcpListener tcpServerSocket = new
TcpListener(80);
// Method 2 - Listen on the local IP address, port 80.
System.Net.IPAddress localIPAddr =
System.Net.IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1");
System.Net.Sockets.TcpListener tcpServerSocket2 = new
TcpListener(localIPAddr, 80);
// Method 3 - Listen on the local IP address by creating an // endpoint
System.Net.IPEndPoint localIpEndPoint = new
System.Net.IPEndPoint(localIPAddr, 80);
System.Net.Sockets.TcpListener tcpServerSocket3 = new
TcpListener(localIpEndPoint);
The TcpListener object provides the methods and property described in Table 12.8.
Table 12.8 TCPListener Class Methods and Properties
Method
Description
AcceptSocket()
Accepts an incoming TCP connection request and returns a Socket class
AcceptTcpClient()
Accepts an incoming TCP connection request and returns a TcpClient class
Pending(
Determines whether any incoming connection requests are waiting
Start()
Starts listening for incoming requests
Stop()
Stops listening for incoming requests
Property Tool
Get/Set
Description
LocalEndpoint
Get.
Gets the local EndPoint to which the TcpListener is bound
Once you have constructed a TcpListener object, you can have it start listening on the port that you passed in by calling the Start() method. Now that you have a TcpListener socket that is awaiting a connection, let's take a brief look at network streams.
Using Network Streams
The System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream class is used for both sending and receiving data over a TCP socket. To create a NetworkStream object, use one of the following constructors:
public NetworkStream(Socket socket);
public NetworkStream(Socket socket, bool ownsSocket);
public NetworkStream(Socket socket, FileAccess access);
public NetworkStream(Socket socket, FileAccess access, bool
ownsSocket);
Each constructor specifies a Socket class with which the new stream object should be associated. The ownsSocket parameter should be set to TRUE if you want the Stream object to assume ownership of the socket. The access parameter can be used to specify any FileAccess values for determining access to the stream (such as Read, Write, or ReadWrite).
In addition, you can use the TcpClient.GetStream() method (as you will see in the next section) to get the NetworkStream for the active connection.
The NetworkStream class supports the methods and properties described in Table 12.9.
Table 12.9 NetworkStream Class Methods and Properties
Method
Description
BeginRead()
Begins an asynchronous Read() operation
BeginWrite()
Begins an asynchronous Write() operation
Close()
Closes the NetworkStream
CreateWaitHandle()
Creates a WaitHandle object for handling asynchronous operation blocking events
Dispose()
Releases resources used by the NetworkStream object
EndRead()
Ends asynchronous Read() operation
EndWrite()
Ends asynchronous Write() operation
Read()
Reads from the NetworkStream
ReadByte()
Reads a byte from the NetworkStream
Write()
Writes to the NetworkStream
WriteByte()
Writes a byte to the NetworkStream
Property
Get/Set
Description
CanRead
Get td>
Returns TRUE if the NetworkStream supports reading.
CanWrite
Get
Returns TRUE if the NetworkStream supports reading.
CanWrite
Get
Returns TRUE if the NetworkStream supports reading.
CanWrite
Get td
Returns TRUE if the NetworkStream supports write operations
DataAvailable
Get
Returns TRUE if the NetworkStream has data to be read
Length
Get
Returns the amount of data waiting to be read on the stream
The following example shows how you can use the NetworkStream class to send data to a client that is connected to a TcpListener object:
// Create a socket that is listening for incoming connections on // port 8080
string hostName = System.Net.Dns.GetHostName();
System.Net.IPAddress localIPAddress =
System.Net.Dns.Resolve(hostName).AddressList[0];
System.Net.Sockets.TcpListener tcpServer = new
TcpListener(localIPAddress, 8080);
// Start listening synchronously
tcpServer.Start();
// Get the client socket when a request comes in
Socket tcpClient = tcpServer.AcceptSocket();
// Make sure the client is connected
if(tcpClient.Connected == false)
return;
// Create a network stream to send data to the client
NetworkStream clientStream = new NetworkStream(tcpClient);
// Write some data to the stream
byte[] serverBytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(
"Howdy. You've connected!rn");
clientStream.Write(serverBytes, 0, serverBytes.Length);
// Immediately disconnect the client
tcpClient.Shutdown(SocketShutdown.Both);
tcpClient.Close();
TCP Clients
To establish a connection with a TCP server listening on a specific port, you use the System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient class. Its constructor is defined as follows:
public TcpClient();
public TcpClient(IPEndPoint localEP);
public TcpClient(string hostname, int port);
The TcpClient class has the methods and properties described in Table 12.10.
Table 12.10 TcpClient Class Methods and Properties
Method
Description
Close()
Closes the TcpClient socket.
Connect()
Connects to a remote host.
GetStream()
Gets the NetworkStream object to send and receive data
Property
Get/Set
Description
LingerState
Get/set
User accounts, group accounts, delegation administration, GPO management.
LingerState
Get/set
Gets or sets the socket linger time
NoDelay
Get/Set
Set to TRUE to disable the delay on a socket when the receive buffer is not full
ReceiveBufferSize
Get/Set
Gets or sets the receive buffer size
SendBufferSize
Get/Set
sets the send buffer size
Now that you have looked at both of the TCP client and server classes, let's examine how you could use the TcpListener class to write a small (and extremely simple) Web server that runs on the Pocket PC:
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Net.Sockets;
namespace TCPServer {
class WebServer {
static void Main(string[] args) {
// Create a socket that is listening for incoming
// connections on port 80.
string hostName = System.Net.Dns.GetHostName();
System.Net.IPAddress localIPAddress =
System.Net.Dns.Resolve(hostName).AddressList[0];
System.Net.Sockets.TcpListener tcpServer = new
TcpListener(localIPAddress, 80);
// Start listening synchronously and wait for an
// incoming socket
tcpServer.Start();
Socket tcpClient = tcpServer.AcceptSocket();
// Make sure the client is connected
if(tcpClient.Connected == false)
return;
// Create a network stream that we will use to send
// and receive data.
NetworkStream clientStream = new NetworkStream
(tcpClient);
// Get a basic request.
byte[] requestString = new byte[1024];
clientStream.Read(requestString, 0, 1024);
// Do something with the client request here.
// Typically, you'll need to parse the request, open the
// file and send the contents back. For this example,
// we'll just write out a simple HTTP response to the
// stream.
byte[] responseString =
System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("HTTP/1.0
200 OKrnrnTest Reponsernrn");
clientStream.Write(responseString, 0,
responseString.Length);
// Disconnect the client
tcpClient.Shutdown(SocketShutdown.Both);
tcpClient.Close();
}
}
}
Let's also take a look at the code for a small client that requests a Web page from the server:
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Net.Sockets;
namespace TCPWebClientTest {
class WebClientTest {
static void Main(string[] args) {
// Create a socket that will grab a Web page
System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient tcpWebClient = new
TcpClient();
// Set up the HTTP request string to get the main
// index page
byte[] httpRequestBytes = System.Text.Encoding.
ASCII. GetBytes("GET / HTTP/1.0rnrn");
// Connect the socket to the server
tcpWebClient.Connect("www.microsoft.com", 80);
// Make sure we are connected
if(tcpWebClient == null)
return;
// Create a network stream that we will use to send
// and receive data.
NetworkStream webClientStream = tcpWebClient.
GetStream();
// Send the request synchronously
webClientStream.Write(httpRequestBytes, 0,
httpRequestBytes.Length);
// Get the response from the request. We will continuously
// request 4096 bytes from the response stream and concat
// the string into the strReponse variable.
string strResponse = "";
byte[] httpResponseBytes = new byte[4096];
int bytesRecv = webClientStream.Read
(httpResponseBytes, 0, httpResponseBytes.Length);
strResponse = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.
GetString(httpResponseBytes, 0, bytesRecv);
while(bytesRecv > 0) {
bytesRecv = webClientStream.Read
(httpResponseBytes, 0, httpResponseBytes.Length);
strResponse = strResponse + System.Text.Encoding.
ASCII.GetString(httpResponseBytes, 0, bytesRecv);
}
// At this point, the strResponse string has the
// Web page. Do something with it
// Clean up the socket
tcpWebClient.Close();
}
}
Sending and Receiving Data over UDP
Both the sending and receiving of a datagram (or packet) over a connectionless socket is handled by the System.Net.Sockets.UdpClient class. A new UdpClient object is created by using one of the following constructors:
public UdpClient();
public UdpClient(int port);
public UdpClient(IPEndPoint localEP);
public UdpClient(string hostname, int port);
The UdpClient class supports the methods and properties described in Table 12.11.
Table 12.11 UdpClient Class Methods and Properties
Method
Description
Close()
Closes the UDP socket
Connect()
Connects to a remote host
Connect(DropMulticastGroup()
Connects to a remote host
JoinMulticastGroup()
Joins a multicast group
Receive()
Receives a UDP datagram from a remote host
Send()
Sends a UDP datagram to a remote host
Property
Get/Set Use
Description
Active
Get/set
Indicates whether a connection has been made to a remote host,
Client
Get/set
Indicates Gets or sets the socket handle
The following code shows how you can create a socket that sends a UDP datagram to a specific host and port:
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
namespace udpTest {
class UdpTestSend {
static void Main(string[] args) {
// Setup the target device address. For this sample, we
// are assuming it is a machine at 192.168.123.199, and on
// port 40040.
System.Net.IPEndPoint ipTarget = new
IPEndPoint(System.Net.IPAddress.Parse
("192.168.123.199"), 40040);
System.Net.Sockets.UdpClient udpSend = new
UdpClient(ipTarget);
// Send a datagram to the target device
byte[] sendBytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.
GetBytes("Testing a datagram buffer");
udpSend.Send(sendBytes, sendBytes.Length);
}
}
}
The code for receiving the datagram would look like the following:
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
namespace udpTest {
class UdpTestListen {
static void Main(string[] args) {
// Listen for datagrams on port 40040
System.Net.Sockets.UdpClient udpListener = new
UdpClient();
if(udpListener == null)
return;
// Create an endpoint for the incoming datagram
IPEndPoint remoteEndPoint = new IPEndPoint
(IPAddress.Any, 40040);
// Get the datagram
byte[] recvBytes = udpListener.Receive(ref
remoteEndPoint);
string returnData = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.
GetString(recvBytes, 0, recvBytes.Length);
// Do something with the data....
Use the following table of contents to navigate to chapter excerpts, or click here to view Chapter 12 in its entirety.
Pocket PC Network Programming is a comprehensive tutorial and reference for writing network applications on Pocket PC 2002 and Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition devices. It explains how the Pocket PC communicates with the Internet, with other mobile devices, and with networks. Click here to purchase the book from Addison-Wesley.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Steve Makofsky is a software design engineer on Microsoft's .NET XML Messaging team. In addition to having been a Microsoft Embedded MVP, he has worked on several commercial Windows CE products, including the award-winning bUSEFUL Utilities 1.0 and 2.0 (Best of Comdex Utility 1998/1999). Steve coauthored Teach Yourself Windows CE Programming in 24 Hours (Sams, 1999) and has published several magazine articles on .NET and mobile device development. When not working on cool embedded projects, Steve likes to drink lattes and hike on Mt. Everest.
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