C UDP Client-Server stuck comunication - c

Question

for one of my university courses I must realize a simple chat program in C that uses UDP Client-Server, this is the description that the teacher sent us:
You should develop a private chat environment to exchange
text messages between hosts. Message encryption is optional but not required.
The project should be composed by 2 main modules:
Server: receives and stores each message in a sort of chat database.
A very naive database would consist in a User struct,
that contains everything (login credentials, chats, ...).
Each Chat structure contains the actual messages.
Client: provides a very simple interface to select a
receiver for our message and then write the content of the message.
Login is required. If a receiver is not subscribed returns an error.
The project should be tested with at least 3 users :)
I managed to implement the authentication phase but then when trying to implement the message exchange phase I got stuck. When I try to send the linked_list of online users from the Server to the Client the execution freezes and not only that but it gives somewhat of random behavior, sometimes gets stuck on the first try sometimes on the second and so on. I also noticed that when I introduced a separated thread in the Client to handle the inbox of messages the situation got worst getting stuck more often then before. I will add the code of the functions responsible of sending and receiving the online users and also the link to my git repo where if you want you can find the complete code.
This is the code in the Server:
void Send_list(ListHead* head, int sockfd,struct sockaddr_in cliaddr, int size){
int written_bytes;
int len = sizeof(cliaddr);
char username[50];
if(head->size == 1){
return;
}
ListItem* aux = head->first;
for(int i=0;i<size;i++){
memset(username,0,sizeof(username));
UserListItem* uitem = (UserListItem*) aux;
strcpy(username,uitem->user.username);
do{
written_bytes = 0;
written_bytes = sendto(sockfd,(const char *)username,strlen(username),0,(const struct sockaddr*)&cliaddr,len);
}while(written_bytes != strlen(username));
printf("\nusername mandato: %s",username);
printf("\n");
if(aux->next){
aux = aux->next;
}
}
}
And this is the code in the Client:
int recv_list(int sockfd,struct sockaddr_in servaddr, ListHead* head,int size, char username[50]){
char onuser[50];
int len = sizeof(servaddr);
int read_bytes;
int idx = 1;
if(size == 1){
return 1;
}
for(int i=0;i<size;i++){
read_bytes = recvfrom(sockfd,(char *)onuser,sizeof(onuser),0,(struct sockaddr*)&servaddr,&len );
onuser[read_bytes] = '\0';
if(List_find_by_username(head,onuser) == 0 || strcmp(onuser,username)){
UserListItem* uitem = malloc(sizeof(UserListItem));
memset(uitem,0,sizeof(UserListItem));
UList_init(uitem,onuser);
uitem->idx = idx++;
ListItem* result = List_insert(head,head->last,(ListItem*)uitem);
assert(result);
}
memset(onuser,0,sizeof(onuser));
}
UserList_print(head);
return 0;
}
And this is the link to my git repo: https://gitlab.com/antonio_ciprani/so-progetto-20_21
I work in an Ubuntu based system.
I really hope that somebody can help me because this is driving me crazy :(

Answer 1

I also noticed that when I introduced a separated thread in the Client to handle the inbox of messages the situation got worst getting stuck more often then before.
Indeed the use of threads in your program does more harm than good. Especially that in the main loop you pthread_create a new reciving thread, which competes with the main thread for the incoming messages, disrupts the course of recv_list. Better don't use threads for your project - you'll avoid a lot of problems.
Let's first write two helper functions:
void store(thread_args_t *targs, Message *msg)
{ // code taken from your function "reciving"
if (!strcmp(targs->user->username, msg->reciver))
{
Inbox *mitem = malloc(sizeof (Inbox));
strcpy(mitem->msg.sender, msg->sender);
strcpy(mitem->msg.reciver, msg->reciver);
strcpy(mitem->msg.data, msg->data);
ListItem *result =
List_insert(targs->inbox, targs->inbox->last, (ListItem *)mitem);
assert(result);
}
}
char *input(thread_args_t *targs)
{ // wait for user input and store incoming messages
fflush(stdout);
fd_set fds, fdr;
FD_ZERO(&fds);
FD_SET(0, &fds); // add STDIN to the fd set
FD_SET(targs->sockfd, &fds); // add socket to the fd set
for (; ; )
{
if (fdr = fds, select(targs->sockfd+1, &fdr, NULL, NULL, NULL) < 0)
perror("select"), exit(1);
if (FD_ISSET(0, &fdr))
{ // this is the user's input
static char data[256];
if (!fgets(data, sizeof data, stdin)) return NULL; // no more user input
data[strlen(data)-1] = '\0';
return data;
}
// if no user input, then there's a message
Message msg;
socklen_t len = sizeof targs->servaddr;
if (recvfrom(targs->sockfd, &msg, sizeof msg, 0,
(struct sockaddr *)targs->servaddr, &len) < 0)
perror("recvfrom"), exit(1);
store(targs, &msg);
}
}
Now you can replace the main loop body in main with this:
int ret, op;
printf("\nPlease choose an option: ");
printf("\n1.Send a message!");
printf("\n2.Incoming messages!");
printf("\n3.Logout!");
printf("\nYour choice:\t");
char *str = input(&targs);
sscanf(str, "%d", &ret);
printf("\nqua bro?\n");
if (ret == 1)
{
printf("\nqua loz?\n");
int res, read_bytes, size, id;
op = 3;
socklen_t len = sizeof servaddr;
sendto(sockfd, &op, sizeof op, MSG_CONFIRM,
(struct sockaddr *)&servaddr, len);
printf("\nqua shiiis?\n");
// We cannot preclude that a message arrives here,
// therefore we must handle that case.
Message msg;
while ((read_bytes = recvfrom(sockfd, &msg, sizeof msg, 0,
(struct sockaddr *)&servaddr,
&len)) == sizeof msg)
store(&targs, &msg);
if (read_bytes == -1) perror("recvfrom"), exit(1);
size = *(int *)&msg;
printf("\nqua ci siamo?\n");
res = recv_list(sockfd, servaddr, &on_list, size, user.username);
printf("\nqua?\n");
if (res == 0)
{
printf("\nChoose whom you want to send a message to");
printf("\nYour choice:\t");
str = input(&targs);
sscanf(str, "%d", &id);
printf("\nWrite the message you want to send:\n");
str = input(&targs);
Init_msg(&msg, str, id, &on_list, user.username);
int written_bytes = sendto(sockfd, &msg, sizeof msg, MSG_CONFIRM,
(struct sockaddr *)&servaddr, len);
if (written_bytes == -1) perror("sendto"), exit(1);
// With your present server, a message cannot arrive here, but you
// possibly will want to change that, so let's handle it already.
while ((read_bytes = recvfrom(sockfd, &msg, sizeof msg, 0,
(struct sockaddr *)&servaddr,
&len)) == sizeof msg)
store(&targs, &msg);
if (read_bytes == -1) perror("recvfrom"), exit(1);
int sent = *(int *)&msg;
if (sent == 0) printf("\nMessage sent!");
else
if (sent == 1) printf("\nUser is offline :(");
}
else
if (res == 1) printf("\nNo online user :(");
}
else
if (ret == 2) Print_msg(&inbox);
The next thing you possibly want to improve is modifying the server function Forward_message so that it allows for incoming commands from another client while waiting for a message.