can we perform the operation using functions like fgets(), fputs(), feof(),etc. for the fifo file like we use for the normal file?

Question

I have an assignment where I have to transfer the file from a client process to server process using fifo.I have tried to deal with fifo file as the other files we create in the system. It compiled without any error but it didn't execute properly.Can someone please give me an idea about the fifo file structure inside the computer system? What processes and functions are present for it ?Till now, I know how to use create(),read(),write(), open() function for fifo file.Also, I would be grateful if someone could help me to correct my program?

My client and server program are as follows:-

Client Program:-

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<fcntl.h>
#include<sys/stat.h>
#include<sys/types.h>
#include<unistd.h>

int main()
{
int fd;
char *myfifo ="/tmp/myfifo";
char str[80];
FILE *fp;
char filename[20];
printf("\nEnter filename: ");
gets(filename);
mkfifo(myfifo,0666);
fp = fopen(filename,"r");
if(fp == NULL)
{
   printf("\nError opening the file");
   exit(1);
}
fd = open(myfifo, O_WRONLY);
while(fgets(str,80,fp)!=NULL)
{
  write(fd,str,strlen(str)+1);
}
close(fd);
fclose(fp);
return 0;
}

Client Program:-

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<fcntl.h>
#include<sys/stat.h>
#include<sys/types.h>
#include<unistd.h>

int main()
{
    int fd1;
    char *myfifo ="/tmp/myfifo";
    char str1[80], filename[20];

    FILE *fp1, *fp2;
    fd1= open(myfifo, O_RDONLY);
    fp1 = fopen(filename,"r");
    fp2 = fopen(filename,"w");
    while(!feof(fp1))
    {
        read(fd1,str1,strlen(str1)+1);
        fputs(str1,fp2);
    }
     return 0;



   }

Answer 1

Yes, but you have a few small problems in your programs. in the first:

write(fd, str, strlen(str)+1);

is a bit unconventional. This sends the string plus its end-of-string delimiter (\0) into the fd. One doesn't normally do this with strings, strlen(str) is probably what you want.

in the second:

fp1 = fopen(filename,"r");
fp2 = fopen(filename,"w");

filename has not been assigned a value, so both of these opens will almost certainly fail. When they do, they return a NULL pointer, so the first attempt to use them:

while(!feof(fp1))

will likely cause a segment violation. Also, you don't use fp1 anyways, so if feof(fp1) returned 1, it would always return 1. You want to base this loop on when the fifo is exhausted, which means there is no data in it, and nobody has it open for write. So changing this program around a bit yields:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<fcntl.h>
#include<sys/stat.h>
#include<sys/types.h>
#include<unistd.h>

int main()
{
    int fd1;
    char *myfifo ="/tmp/myfifo";
    char str1[80];
    ssize_t n;
    fd1= open(myfifo, O_RDONLY);
    while ((n=read(fd1,str1,sizeof str1)) > 0)
    {
        fwrite(str1, 1, n, stdout);
    }
    return 0;
}

While this set of changes works, it doesn't address your other question, about using stdio functions with pipes. The answer is yes, and here is another functional rewrite of your second program:

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
    char *myfifo ="/tmp/myfifo";
    FILE *fp;
    int c;
    if ((fp = fopen(myfifo, "r")) != NULL) {
    while ((c = getc(fp)) != EOF) {
        putchar(c);
    }
    fclose(fp);
    }
    return 0;
}

Also, in the first, the critical bit with stdio:

...
FILE *fi = fopen(myfifo, "a");
while(fgets(str,80,fp)!=NULL)
{
  fputs(str, fi);
}
fclose(fi);
...

as in the second, the loop could have been implemented with getc, putc. A general refinement might be functions like these:

ssize_t FCopy(FILE *in, FILE *out) {
    int c;
    ssize_t len = 0;
    while ((c = getc(in)) != EOF) {
        len++;
        if (putc(c, out) != c) {
            return -len;
        }
    }
    return len;
}
ssize_t FileAppend(char *from, char *to) {
    FILE *in, *out;
    ssize_t n = 0;
    if ((in = fopen(from, "rb")) != NULL) {
        if ((out = fopen(to, "ab")) != NULL) {
            n = FCopy(in, out);
            fclose(out);
        } else {
            n = -1;
        }
        fclose(in);
    } else {
        n = -1;
    }
    return n;
}

so your main would look more like:

...
   char filename[80];
   printf("Enter a file to store the data in: ");
   if (fgets(filename, sizeof filename, stdin)) {
       filename[strlen(filename)-1] = '\0';
       if (FileAppend(myfifo, filename) < 0) {
           printf("Error: could not save data to %s\n", filename);
       }
   }
....