I am reading data from a NSFileHandle (from a NSPipe) using a readabilityHandler block:
fileHandle.readabilityHandler = ^( NSFileHandle *handle ) {
[self processData: [handle availableData]];
}
This works fine, I get all the data I expect fed to my processData method. The problem is that I need to know when the last chunk of data was read. availableData should return an empty NSData instance if it reached end-of-file, but the problem is that the reachability handler is not called again on EOF.
I can’t find anything about how to get some kind of notification or callback on EOF. So what am I missing? Is Apple really providing an asynchronous reading API without an EOF callback?
By the way, I cannot use the runloop based readInBackgroundAndNotify method since I don’t have a runloop available. If I cannot get this to work with the NSFileHandle API I probably will directly use a dispatch source to do the IO.
I personally compare current file offset with current file position and stop reading.
extension FileHandle {
func stopReadingIfPassedEOF() {
let pos = offsetInFile
let len = seekToEndOfFile()
if pos < len {
// Resume reading.
seek(toFileOffset: pos)
}
else {
// Stop.
// File offset pointer stays at the EOF.
readabilityHandler = nil
}
}
}
I couldn't understand why it's been designed in this way for a long time, but now I think this could be intentional.
In my opinion, Apple basically defines FileHandle as an infinite stream, therefore, EOF is not well defined unless you close the file. FileHandle seem to be more like a "channel".
It's also unclear what happens if another process appends/delete some data to/from the file while you're reading from it. What would be the EOF in this case? As far as I find, there's no mention about this case in Apple documentation. As far as I know, there's no true exclusive file I/O lock in macOS like other Unix-like systems.
In my opinion, availableData can return empty data at any time if I/O is not fast enough, and readabilityHandler just don't care about EOF.
I believe the accepted answer is actually incorrect. The readabilityHandler is indeed called when EOF is reached. That is signaled by having availableData be of 0 size.
Here’s a simple playground that attests to this.
import Foundation
import PlaygroundSupport
let pipe = Pipe()
pipe.fileHandleForReading.readabilityHandler = { fh in
let d = fh.availableData
print("Data length: \(d.count)")
if (d.count == 0) {
fh.readabilityHandler = nil
}
}
pipe.fileHandleForWriting.write("Hello".data(using: .utf8)!)
pipe.fileHandleForWriting.closeFile()
PlaygroundPage.current.needsIndefiniteExecution = true
I'm afraid you're out of luck doing this with NSFileHandle if you can't use readInBackgroundAndNotify.
Two solutions I see:
Create a runloop and then use readInBackgroundAndNotify.
Roll your own implementation using dispatch_io_*
Related
I should use Objective-C to read some slowly growing file (under Mac OS X).
"Slowly" means that I read to EOF before it grows bigger.
In means of POSIX code in plain syncronous C I can do it as following:
while(1)
{
res = select(fd+1,&fdset,NULL,&fdset,some_timeout);
if(res > 0)
{
len = read(fd,buf,sizeof(buf));
if (len>0)
{
printf("Could read %u bytes. Continue.\n", len);
}
else
{
sleep(some_timeout_in_sec);
}
}
}
Now I want to re-write this in some asynchronous manner, using NSInputSource or some other async Objective-C technique.
The problem with NSInputSource: If I use scheduleInRunLoop: method then once I get NSStreamEventEndEncountered event, I stop receiving any events.
Can I still use NSInputSource or should I pass to using NSFileHandle somehow or what would you recommend ?
I see a few problems.
1) some_Timeout, for select() needs to be a struct timeval *.
2) for sleep() some_timeout needs to be an integer number of seconds.
3) the value in some_timeout is decremented via select() (which is why the last parameter is a pointer to the struct timeval*. And that struct needs to be re-initialized before each call to select().
4) the parameters to select() are highest fd of interest+1, then three separate struct fd_set * objects. The first is for input files, the second is for output files, the third is for exceptions, however, the posted code is using the same struct fd_set for both the inputs and the exceptions, This probably will not be what is needed.
When the above problems are corrected, the code should work.
I'm writing a serial communication wrapper class in Objective-C. To list all serial available modems and setup the connection I'm using pretty much the same code as used in this example project by Apple.
I could read and write the ways apple does it. But I want to implement a loop on a second thread and write to the stream if a NSString *writeString longer 0 and read after write if bytes are available.
I got writing working quite straight forward. I just used the write function declared in unistd.h.
Reading will not work. Whenever I call read(), the function hangs and my loop does not proceed.
Here is the code used in my loop:
- (void)runInCOMLoop {
do {
// write
} while (bytesWritten < strlen([_writeString UTF8String]));
NSMutableString *readString = [NSMutableString string];
ssize_t bytesRead = 0;
ssize_t readB = 0;
char buffer[256];
do {
readB = read(_fileDescriptor, &buffer, sizeof(buffer));
// ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this function hangs
bytesRead += readB;
if (readB == -1 {
// error
}
else if (readB > 0) {
if(buffer[bytesRead - 1] == '\r' ]] buffer[bytesRead - 1] == '\n') {
break;
}
[readString appendString:[NSString stringWithUTF8String:buffer]];
}
} while (readB > 0);
What am I doing wrong here?
read() will block if there is nothing to read. Apple probably has their own of doing things, but you can use select() to see if there is anything to read on _fileDescriptor. Google around for examples on how to use select.
Here's one link on StackOverflow:
Can someone give me an example of how select() is alerted to an fd becoming "ready"
This excerpt from the select man is pertains:
To effect a poll, the timeout argument should be
non-nil, pointing to a zero-valued timeval structure. Timeout is not
changed by select(), and may be reused on subsequent calls, however it is
good style to re-initialize it before each invocation of select().
You can set the non-blocking flag (O_NONBLOCK) on the file descriptor using fcntl() to keep read() from waiting for data, but if you do that, you have to continuously poll looking for data, which is obviously bad from a CPU usage standpoint. As Charlie Burns' answer explains, the best solution is to use select() which will allow your program to efficiently wait until there is some data to be read on the port's file descriptor. Here's some example code taken from my own Objective-C serial port class, ORSSerialPort (slightly modified):
fd_set localReadFDSet;
FD_ZERO(&localReadFDSet);
FD_SET(self.fileDescriptor, &localReadFDSet);
timeout.tv_sec = 0;
timeout.tv_usec = 100000; // Check to see if port closed every 100ms
result = select(localPortFD+1, &localReadFDSet, NULL, NULL, &timeout);
if (!self.isOpen) break; // Port closed while select call was waiting
if (result < 0) {
// Handle error
}
if (result == 0 || !FD_ISSET(localPortFD, &localReadFDSet)) continue;
// Data is available
char buf[1024];
long lengthRead = read(localPortFD, buf, sizeof(buf));
NSData *readData = nil;
if (lengthRead>0) readData = [NSData dataWithBytes:buf length:lengthRead];
Note that select() indicates that data is available by returning. So, your program will sit suspended at the select() call while no data is available. The program is not hung, that's how it's supposed to work. If you need to do other things while select() is waiting, you should put the select() call on a different queue/thread from the other work you need to do. ORSSerialPort does this.
Is there a way to flush the internal buffers/queues/etc. of CocoaAsyncSocket (GCDasyncSocket)?
I want to setup the environment that when I call the [... readDataWithTimeout ..] method, I don't want it to read any left over garbage data from a previous connection that might have been buffered and sitting somewhere.
Or sometimes I just want to ignore a stream of data and start over, so want to ensure a clean pipe.
I've also asked this question in the CocoaAsyncSocket Google Group and Robbie Hanson was kind enough to elaborate with his answer.
Make sure you send \n or \r after you write data.
I have write a socket manager class you can check it here: CocoaAsyncSocketManager
Sample code:
func sendMessage(messageString msg: String) {
if let _data = msg.data(using: .utf8), let _carriageReturn = "\r".data(using: .utf8) {
tcpSocket?.write(_data, withTimeout: -1, tag: 0)
tcpSocket?.write(_carriageReturn, withTimeout: -1, tag: 99)
}
}
I am finding the doc for CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToCFHost confusing:
Specifically, its not clear to me how the function can set the readStream pointer to null on error.
as far as I understand, the pointer is passed by value - so the function can only change the objected pointed to by the pointer.
Right now I can't figure out how to detect connection errors.
Relevant doc snippet:
Creates readable and writable streams connected to a given CFHost object.
void CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToCFHost (
CFAllocatorRef alloc,
CFHostRef host,
SInt32 port,
CFReadStreamRef *readStream,
CFWriteStreamRef *writeStream
);
readStream
Upon return, contains a CFReadStream object connected to the host host on port port, or NULL if there is a failure during creation. If you pass NULL, the function will not create a readable stream. Ownership follows the Create Rule.
This is my connecting code, it goes all the way to NSLog(#"Connected") even when the server is down.
NSLog(#"Attempting to (re)connect to %#:%d", m_host, m_port);
while(TRUE)
{
CFHostRef host = CFHostCreateWithName(kCFAllocatorDefault, (CFStringRef)m_host);
if (!host)
{
NSLog(#"Error resolving host %#", m_host);
[NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:5.0];
continue;
}
CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToCFHost(kCFAllocatorDefault, host , m_port, &m_in, &m_out);
CFRelease(host);
if (!m_in)
{
NSLog(#"Error");
}
CFStreamClientContext context = {0, self,nil,nil,nil};
if (CFReadStreamSetClient(m_in, kCFStreamEventHasBytesAvailable | kCFStreamEventErrorOccurred | kCFStreamEventEndEncountered, networkReadEvent, &context))
{
CFReadStreamScheduleWithRunLoop(m_in, CFRunLoopGetCurrent(),kCFRunLoopCommonModes);
}
if (CFWriteStreamSetClient(m_out, kCFStreamEventErrorOccurred | kCFStreamEventEndEncountered, networkWriteEvent, &context))
{
CFWriteStreamScheduleWithRunLoop(m_out, CFRunLoopGetCurrent(),kCFRunLoopCommonModes);
}
BOOL success = CFReadStreamOpen(m_in);
CFErrorRef error = CFReadStreamCopyError(m_in);
if (!success || (error && CFErrorGetCode(error) != 0))
{
NSLog(#"Connect error %s : %d", CFErrorGetDomain(error), CFErrorGetCode(error));
[NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:5.0];
}
else
{
NSLog(#"Connected");
break;
}
}
From the "CFNetwork Programming Guide":
Opening a stream can be a lengthy process, so the CFReadStreamOpen and CFWriteStreamOpen functions avoid blocking by returning TRUE to
indicate that the process of opening the stream has begun. To check
the status of the open, call the functions CFReadStreamGetStatus and
CFWriteStreamGetStatus, which returnkCFStreamStatusOpening if the open
is still in progress, kCFStreamStatusOpen if the open is complete,
orkCFStreamStatusErrorOccurred if the open has completed but failed.
In most cases, it doesn’t matter whether the open is complete because
the CFStream functions that read and write will block until the stream
is open.
Also check out the kCFStreamEventOpenCompleted,
(http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/CoreFoundation/Reference/CFStreamConstants/Reference/reference.html)
: a stream event that reports the successful completion of the opening
process. So to conclude, after calling CFReadStreamOpen (or Write),
which will probably succeed, register to listen to the "OpenCompleted"
event to identify a "real" success.
Surely after you call CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToCFHost() just test readstream to see if it's NULL?
As you're passing in the memory location of the readstream pointer, the function can easily set that to whatever value it chooses (either a reference to a created object, or alternatively NULL).
Edit
I've tried your code, and I agree, it's very confusing. It appears that the CFReadStreamRef is readily created and opened, even for a nonsense host (I literally used "nonsense"). I don't believe this function will return NULL pointers for an unreachable host.
I suppose this makes sense, in as far as until one tries to open the stream, whether it will work or not is unknown.
So, the readStream param is a pointer to the CFReadStreamRef and, as such, can definitely be set to NULL by the function. &foo means "address of foo" and if you have the address you can set the value.
My reading of the documentation for CFStreamCreatePairWithSocketToCFHost is that they will be set to NULL on failure, but that failure is not about connection failure, but other kinds of failure (memory, etc). So not likely you'll get an error there.
Looks to me like the issue is that CFReadStreamOpen can return immediately with true when it can open the stream in the background and so this code is not really opening the stream or testing that it's been opened, merely queuing it for opening). From the documentation for CFReadStreamOpen:
" If the stream can open in the background without blocking, this function always returns true."
So I think you will need to follow the rest of the instructions for CFReadStreamOpen and schedule the stream on a run loop, or perhaps poll (though obviously polling in a tight loop isn't likely to work).
In the documentation for CFReadStreamOpen we see:
Opening a stream causes it to reserve all the system resources it requires. If the stream can open in the background without blocking, this function always returns true.
I suspect that the stream is opening in the background, and thus you are saying "Connected" before it actually opens. You've already scheduled the stream with a runloop, so if you let the run loop run, you'll probably get a callback with the event type set to kCFStreamEventErrorOccurred, and from there you can process the error appropriately.
I have a very weird problem which I cannot seem to figure out. Unfortunately, I'm not even sure how to describe it without describing my entire application. What I am trying to do is:
1) read a byte from the serial port
2) store each char into tagBuffer as they are read
3) run a query using tagBuffer to see what type of tag it is (book or shelf tag)
4) depending on the type of tag, output a series of bytes corresponding to the type of tag
Most of my code is implemented and I can get the right tag code sent back out the serial port. But there are two lines that I've added as debug statements which when I tried to remove them, they cause my program to stop working.
The lines are the two lines at the very bottom:
sprintf(buf,"%s!\n", tagBuffer);
WriteFile(hSerial,buf,strlen(buf), &dwBytesWritten,&ovWrite);
If I try to remove them, "tagBuffer" will only store the last character as oppose being a buffer. Same thing with the next line, WriteFile().
I thought sprintf and WriteFile are I/O functions and would have no effect on variables.
I'm stuck and I need help to fix this.
//keep polling as long as stop character '-' is not read
while(szRxChar != '-')
{
// Check if a read is outstanding
if (HasOverlappedIoCompleted(&ovRead))
{
// Issue a serial port read
if (!ReadFile(hSerial,&szRxChar,1,
&dwBytesRead,&ovRead))
{
DWORD dwErr = GetLastError();
if (dwErr!=ERROR_IO_PENDING)
return dwErr;
}
}
// resets tagBuffer in case tagBuffer is out of sync
time_t t_time = time(0);
char buf[50];
if (HasOverlappedIoCompleted(&ovWrite))
{
i=0;
}
// Wait 5 seconds for serial input
if (!(HasOverlappedIoCompleted(&ovRead)))
{
WaitForSingleObject(hReadEvent,RESET_TIME);
}
// Check if serial input has arrived
if (GetOverlappedResult(hSerial,&ovRead,
&dwBytesRead,FALSE))
{
// Wait for the write
GetOverlappedResult(hSerial,&ovWrite,
&dwBytesWritten,TRUE);
if( strlen(tagBuffer) >= PACKET_LENGTH )
{
i = 0;
}
//load tagBuffer with byte stream
tagBuffer[i] = szRxChar;
i++;
tagBuffer[i] = 0; //char arrays are \0 terminated
//run query with tagBuffer
sprintf(query,"select type from rfid where rfidnum=\"");
strcat(query, tagBuffer);
strcat(query, "\"");
mysql_real_query(&mysql,query,(unsigned int)strlen(query));
//process result and send back to handheld
res = mysql_use_result(&mysql);
while(row = mysql_fetch_row(res))
{
printf("result of query is %s\n",row[0]);
string str = "";
str = string(row[0]);
if( str == "book" )
{
WriteFile(hSerial,BOOK_INDICATOR,strlen(BOOK_INDICATOR),
&dwBytesWritten,&ovWrite);
}
else if ( str == "shelf" )
{
WriteFile(hSerial,SHELF_INDICATOR,strlen(SHELF_INDICATOR),
&dwBytesWritten,&ovWrite);
}
else //this else doesn't work
{
WriteFile(hSerial,NOK,strlen(NOK),
&dwBytesWritten,&ovWrite);
}
}
mysql_free_result(res);
// Display a response to input
//printf("query is %s!\n", query);
//printf("strlen(tagBuffer) is %d!\n", strlen(tagBuffer));
//without these, tagBuffer only holds the last character
sprintf(buf,"%s!\n", tagBuffer);
WriteFile(hSerial,buf,strlen(buf), &dwBytesWritten,&ovWrite);
}
}
With those two lines, my output looks like this:
s sh she shel shelf shelf0 shelf00 BOOKCODE shelf0001
Without them, I figured out that tagBuffer and buf only stores the most recent character at any one time.
Any help at all will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Where are you allocating tagbuffer, how large is it?
It's possible that you are overwriting 'buf' because you are writing past the end of tagbuffer.
It seems unlikely that those two lines would have that effect on a correct program - maybe you haven't allocated sufficient space in buf for the whole length of the string in tagBuffer? This might cause a buffer overrun that is disguising the real problem?
The first thing I'd say is a piece of general advice: bugs aren't always where you think they are. If you've got something going on that doesn't seem to make sense, it often means that your assumptions somewhere else are wrong.
Here, it does seem very unlikely that an sprintf() and a WriteFile() will change the state of the "buf" array variable. However, those two lines of test code do write to "hSerial", while your main loop also reads from "hSerial". That sounds like a recipie for changing the behaviour of your program.
Suggestion: Change your lines of debugging output to store the output somewhere else: to a dialog box, or to a log file, or similar. Debugging output should generally not go to files used in the core logic, as that's too likely to change how the core logic behaves.
In my opinion, the real problem here is that you're trying to read and write the serial port from a single thread, and this is making the code more complex than it needs to be. I suggest that you read the following articles and reconsider your design:
Serial Port I/O from Joseph Newcomer's website.
Serial Communications in Win32 from MSDN.
In a multithreaded implementation, whenever the reader thread reads a message from the serial port you would then post it to your application's main thread. The main thread would then parse the message and query the database, and then queue an appropriate response to the writer thread.
This may sound more complex than your current design, but really it isn't, as Newcomer explains.
I hope this helps!