Multi Client Socket / Chat Room

[VBbbq]

I'm trying to understand and work through multiple TCP clients using Visual Basic.

The below code uses a Module for the Server:

Imports System.Net
Imports System.Net.Sockets
Imports System.Text

Module Module1

    Dim clientsList As New Hashtable

    Sub Main()

        'SETUP SERVER CONNECTION IP / PORT
        Dim Port As Int32 = 8888
        Dim Address As IPAddress = IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1")
        Dim ServerSocket As New TcpListener(Address, Port)

        Dim clientSocket As TcpClient = Nothing
        Dim infiniteCounter As Integer
        Dim counter As Integer

        ServerSocket.Start()
        msg("Chat Server Started ....")
        counter = 0
        infiniteCounter = 0

        For infiniteCounter = 1 To 2
            infiniteCounter = 1
            counter += 1
            clientSocket = ServerSocket.AcceptTcpClient()
            Dim bytesFrom(10024) As Byte
            Dim dataFromClient As String
            Dim networkStream As NetworkStream = clientSocket.GetStream()
            networkStream.Read(bytesFrom, 0, CInt(clientSocket.ReceiveBufferSize))
            dataFromClient = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytesFrom)
            dataFromClient = dataFromClient.Substring(0, dataFromClient.IndexOf("$"))
            clientsList(dataFromClient) = clientSocket
            'CLIENT SIDE MESSAGE (SEEN ON CLIENT)
            broadcast(dataFromClient + " Joined ", dataFromClient, False)
            'SERVER SIDE MESSAGE (SEEN ON SERVER / CMD)
            msg(dataFromClient + " Joined chat room ")
            Dim client As New handleClinet
            client.startClient(clientSocket, dataFromClient, clientsList)
        Next
        clientSocket.Close()
        ServerSocket.Stop()
        msg("exit")
        Console.ReadLine()

    End Sub

    Sub msg(ByVal mesg As String)

        mesg.Trim()
        Console.WriteLine(" >> " + mesg)

    End Sub

    Private Sub broadcast(ByVal msg As String, ByVal uName As String, ByVal flag As Boolean)
        For Each Item In clientsList
            Dim broadcastSocket As TcpClient
            broadcastSocket = CType(Item.Value, TcpClient)
            Dim broadcastStream As NetworkStream = broadcastSocket.GetStream()
            Dim broadcastBytes As [Byte]()
            If flag = True Then
                broadcastBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(uName + " says : " + msg)
            Else
                broadcastBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(msg)
            End If
            broadcastStream.Write(broadcastBytes, 0, broadcastBytes.Length)
            broadcastStream.Flush()
        Next
    End Sub

    Public Class handleClinet
        Dim clientSocket As TcpClient
        Dim clNo As String
        Dim clientsList As Hashtable

        Public Sub startClient(ByVal inClientSocket As TcpClient, ByVal clineNo As String, ByVal cList As Hashtable)

            Me.clientSocket = inClientSocket
            Me.clNo = clineNo
            Me.clientsList = cList
            Dim ctThread As Threading.Thread = New Threading.Thread(AddressOf doChat)
            ctThread.Start()

        End Sub

        Private Sub doChat()
            Dim infiniteCounter As Integer
            Dim requestCount As Integer
            Dim bytesFrom(10024) As Byte
            Dim dataFromClient As String
            Dim sendBytes As [Byte]()
            Dim serverResponse As String
            Dim rCount As String
            Try
                requestCount = 0
                For infiniteCounter = 1 To 2
                    infiniteCounter = 1
                    requestCount = requestCount + 1
                    Dim networkStream As NetworkStream = clientSocket.GetStream()
                    networkStream.Read(bytesFrom, 0, CInt(clientSocket.ReceiveBufferSize))
                    dataFromClient = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytesFrom)
                    dataFromClient = dataFromClient.Substring(0, dataFromClient.IndexOf("$"))
                    msg("From client - " + clNo + " : " + dataFromClient)
                    rCount = Convert.ToString(requestCount)
                    broadcast(dataFromClient, clNo, True)
                Next
            Catch ex As Exception
                MsgBox(ex.ToString)
            End Try
        End Sub
    End Class

End Module

And this code uses Windows Forms for the Client >

Imports System.Net.Sockets
Imports System.Text

Public Class Form1

    Dim clientSocket As New System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient()
    Dim serverStream As NetworkStream
    Dim readData As String
    Dim infiniteCounter As Integer

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim outStream As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(TextBox2.Text + "$")
        serverStream.Write(outStream, 0, outStream.Length)
        serverStream.Flush()
    End Sub

    Private Sub msg()
        If Me.InvokeRequired Then
            Me.Invoke(New MethodInvoker(AddressOf msg))
        Else
            'If readData.Contains(" Joined") Then
            'ListBox1.Items.Add(readData.Replace(" Joined", ""))
            'End If
            TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text + Environment.NewLine + " >> " + readData
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        readData = "Connected to Chat Server ..."
        msg()
        clientSocket.Connect("127.0.0.1", 8888)
        serverStream = clientSocket.GetStream()
        'NICKNAME
        Dim outStream As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(TextBox3.Text + "$")
        serverStream.Write(outStream, 0, outStream.Length)
        serverStream.Flush()
        Dim ctThread As Threading.Thread = New Threading.Thread(AddressOf getMessage)
        ctThread.Start()
    End Sub

    Private Sub getMessage()
        For Me.infiniteCounter = 1 To 2
            infiniteCounter = 1
            serverStream = clientSocket.GetStream()
            Dim buffSize As Integer
            Dim inStream(10024) As Byte
            buffSize = clientSocket.ReceiveBufferSize
            serverStream.Read(inStream, 0, buffSize)
            Dim returndata As String = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(inStream)
            readData = "" + returndata
            msg()
        Next
    End Sub

End Class

These codes work perfectly, as intended; to my knowledge. The question is how to add the ClientList
to a listbox. The purpose of the listbox is to show the currently active connections as clients, just like
a chat room. Using the commented code >

            'If readData.Contains(" Joined") Then
            'ListBox1.Items.Add(readData.Replace(" Joined", ""))
            'End If
            TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text + Environment.NewLine + " >> " + readData

I was able to add the Clients to the listbox as they joined, however this was far from what I wanted
to achieve. How can I go about doing this?

Thank You!

[jmcilhinney]

If you have a list of objects then you can bind it to a ListBox. Assign the list to the DataSource property of the ListBox and you will see the result of the ToString method displayed. If you want the value of a particular property displayed then you can assign the name of the property to the DisplayMember.

If your list might change and you want that change reflected in the ListBox then bind the list to a BindingSource and bind that to the ListBox. The BindingSource has methods to update the control to reflect changes in the list, so you can call the appropriate one each time you make a change. Check out the MSDN documentation for the class to find out what those methods are.

[VBbbq]

Thank You for your response!

I found that adding this code >

            For Each I As System.Collections.DictionaryEntry In ClientList
                Console.WriteLine(I.Key.ToString)
            Next

Will show the currently active TCP connections names. ^_^