Simple-CPP-Networking

Simple to use C++ Header-Only Library for TCP Connections. The library aims to provide an easy-to-use C++-style wrapper over the Linux socket interface.

Server Example

void handler([[maybe_unused]] int client_socket, simple_networking::ByteArray message) {
  std::cout << "Received '" << message.ToString() << "'" << std::endl;
}

[...]

simple_networking::TCPServer tcp_server;
tcp_server.Bind("0.0.0.0", 31337);
tcp_server.Listen(&handler, false);

std::cout << "Press key to stop server" << std::endl;
getchar();

tcp_server.StopListening();

Client Example

simple_networking::TCPClient tcp_client;
tcp_client.Connect("127.0.0.1", 31337);
tcp_client.SendMessage("hello server! (1)");
tcp_client.SendMessage("hello server! (2)");
tcp_client.SendMessage("hello server! (3)");
tcp_client.Disconnect();

Dependencies

• C++17
• PThread

How To

Just include the header (#include "simple_networking.h") and link your program against PThread.

Linking PThread with G++

g++ src.c -pthread

Linking PThread with CMake

find_package(Threads REQUIRED)

target_link_libraries(MY_TARGET PRIVATE Threads::Threads)

(in version 3.1.0+)

Usage

The API is not designed to support connections to arbitrary TCP endpoints but instead enables communication between client/server pairs of this library. One server instance can handle multiple client instances.

Server API

Function	Description
simple_networking:TCPServer()	Constructor creating a TCPServer object.
simple_networking:TCPServer(bool verbose)	Constructor creating a TCPServer object. Allowing to enable verbose mode.
void TCPServer.Bind(const std::string& ip_address, size_t port)	Binds server on a given IP and port.
void TCPServer.Listen(void (handler_func)(int client_socket, simple_networking::ByteArray message)), bool blocking	Starts listening. Expects a callback function which is executed upon receiving a message. If blocking is true, a thread will be spawned handling the listener, else the Listen() will never return.
void TCPServer.StopListening()	Stops listening.
int TCPServer.DisconnectFromClient(int client_socket)	Stops the connection with the client. Returns 0 on success.
int TCPServer.ReadNBytesFromSocket(int socket, size_t bytes_to_read, int* errnum, simple_networking::ByteArray* message_buffer)	Reads bytes_to_read bytes from a given socket to message_buffer. Errors are stored in errnum. Returns number of bytes, 0 on client disconnect, or negative numbers on error.

Client API

Function	Description
simple_networking:TCPClient()	Constructor creating a TCPClient object.
simple_networking:TCPClient(bool verbose)	Constructor creating a TCPClient object. Allowing to enable verbose mode.
int TCPClient.Connect(const std::string& ip_address, size_t port)	Connects to the given IP and port. Returns 0 on success.
void TCPClient.Disconnect()	Gracefully terminates the connection to the server.
int SendMessage(simple_networking::ByteArray message)	Sends message to the server. Returns 0 on success.
int SendMessage(const std::string& message)	Sends message to the server. Returns 0 on success.

Future Features

• timeout for clients
• more efficient handling of shortreads/-writes