I have problems using Sockets on Android. I'm new to this topic so I try to achieve a simple chat, Android phone to another Android phone as a training.
I can use my code to create a ServerSocket and connect to it with another Socket from the same device ( An 'echo' example with only one client on one device works fine) I've done that also using two IP adresses on the same wifi (192.168...) but any tentative to connect a distant client using internet ip address using 3G connection fails with a
java.net.SocketException: recvfrom failed: ETIMEDOUT (Connection timed out)
What I do is, creating the ServerSocket (ServerConnect.java) :
private ServerSocket _mainServer = null;
private void initServer() {
try {
//port I use here is arbitrary: 8081
_mainServer = new ServerSocket(CONNECT_SOCKET_PORT);
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.w("ServerSocket", e.toString());
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
in the same class, in a separate thread I do this to wait for client connections :
while (running) {
GuestConnect ssc = new GuestConnect(_mainServer.accept());
ssc.setListener(this);
ssc.startConnection();
_clientSockets.add(ssc);
performGuestAdded("bra!");
}
it makes the server waiting for multiple client connection, so it can host more than two poeple in the 'chat room'.
The comunication server side is made from the local client callback and dispatch messages to all my guests (I'm still working on this part, its not really done yet but I don't think its relevant to my problem here) :
public void onMessageReceived(TBTGuestConnect sender, String message) {
for(TBTGuestConnect guestConnect : _clientSockets)
if(guestConnect != sender)
guestConnect.sendMessage(message);
}
Clients are store as 'GuestConnect' objects here is how I set them (GuestConnect.java):
public class GuestConnect {
private StringBuilder _currentMessage;
private BufferedReader _is;
private PrintStream _os;
private Socket _clientSocket = null;
private String _hostname;
private boolean _running = false;
public GuestConnect(String hostname) {
_hostname = hostname;
_currentMessage = new StringBuilder();
}
clientSocket initialisation (still GuestConnect.java):
private void initSocket() {
if(_clientSocket==null)
{
// Try to open a server socket on given port
// Here is the fail when I called it from another device
try {
_clientSocket = new Socket(_hostname, ServerConnect.CONNECT_SOCKET_PORT);
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.w("GuestSocket", e.toString());
}
}
// Create a socket object from the ServerSocket to listen and accept
// connections.
// Open input and output streams
try {
_is = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(_clientSocket.getInputStream()));
_os = new PrintStream(_clientSocket.getOutputStream());
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.w("GuestSocket", e.toString());
}
}
again, in the same class there is the comunication part :
initSocket();
_running = true;
performConnectionStarted();
try {
while (_running) {
String received = _is.readLine();
_currentMessage.append(received);
if (received.contains(ServerConnect.CONNECT_SOCKET_MESSAGE_END)) {
String finalMsg = _currentMessage.toString().substring(0, _currentMessage.lastIndexOf(ServerConnect.CONNECT_SOCKET_MESSAGE_END));
performMessageReceived(finalMsg);
_currentMessage.setLength(0);
}
}
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.w("GuestSocket", e.toString());
performError(e);
} finally {
try {
_os.close();
_is.close();
_clientSocket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
performError(e);
}
_clientSocket = null;
}
I can then send a message from this method :
public void sendMessage(String toSend) {
if (_running)
_os.println(toSend+ServerConnect.CONNECT_SOCKET_MESSAGE_END);
else
throw new IllegalStateException("Send message : Connection isn't started !");
}
So the question is, what should I do to make this works using global internet ip addresses ?
And more generally, what it the technical difference between same wifi local ip address and internet ip adress ?
