Using NSOutputStream to output the current time to the Server

Question

I'm Using NSOutputStream to Output data from the client (IOS device ) to the server (PC Device). I can send data successfully to the server, I just want to add the Current Time using NSOutputStream.

How can i send the current time using NSOutputStream?

Here's my code

- (IBAction)button1:(id)sender {

    NSString *response  = @" Today's Sunny  \n  ";
    NSData *data = [[NSData alloc] initWithData:[response dataUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding]];
    [outputStream write:[data bytes] maxLength:[data length]];

    NSDate *currentTime = [NSDate date]; 
    NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc]init];
    [formatter setDateFormat:@"hh:mm:ss"];
    _timer.text = [formatter stringFromDate:currentTime];
    //_timer is A label just for testing
    ///I'm trying to use outputStream to output currentTime like this
   /// [outputStream write:[currentTime bytes] maxLength:[CurrentTime length]];
}

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 06 '16 at 20:41

1

You need to convert the formatted time string to data, the way you are already doing with the response, as long as the other side of the stream is just expecting text. It can often be easier to use the -UTF8String method directly instead of using NSData:

[outputStream write:[string UTF8String]
          maxLength:[string lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

In the end, you are sending over raw bytes on an NSStream. NSData is obvious how to do that, but you need to get the exact c-string length if you are using character bytes -- so you can use the UTF8String and strlen() of that, or the lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding method as above.

answered May 06 '16 at 20:41

Carl Lindberg

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Thank you for your help. Honestly I still don't understand how to use your code to output the currentTime similar to what i did in response – Assam AlZookery May 06 '16 at 20:57
The ```[formatter stringFromDate:currentTime]``` call returns an NSString instance, which you can then call UTF8String on, etc. – Carl Lindberg May 06 '16 at 22:21

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 09 '16 at 14:24

Here's the Complete answer

    NSDate *currentTime = [NSDate date];
    NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc]init];
    [formatter setDateFormat:@"hh:mm:ss"];
    NSString *timeString = [formatter stringFromDate:currentTime];
    [outputStream write:[timeString UTF8String]
              maxLength:[timeString lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]

Using NSOutputStream to output the current time to the Server

2 Answers2