Sample code for 30+ languages & platforms
AutoIt

ReceiveString Returns Only the Immediately Available Data

See more Socket/SSL/TLS Examples

Demonstrates that Socket.ReceiveString returns only the text immediately available and not the entire response. The example connects to chilkatsoft.com over TLS and requests big_helloWorld.txt, a large text file of roughly 74,000 lines. A single ReceiveString call returns just the first portion of the response, and the example reports how many characters were received compared with the total size given by the response Content-Length header.

Background. Because ReceiveString returns whatever text is currently available, one call cannot indicate whether the full response has arrived. Knowing when a response is complete requires either a known expected length (such as a Content-Length header or an application-defined length prefix), receiving in a loop until that many bytes are collected, or receiving until the peer closes the connection. This example sends a minimal HTTP request only to exercise ReceiveString against a public server; for actual HTTP work, use the Chilkat Http, Rest, or HttpCurl classes.

Chilkat AutoIt Downloads

AutoIt
Local $bSuccess = False

$oSocket = ObjCreate("Chilkat.Socket")

;  Connect to chilkatsoft.com over TLS.
Local $bTls = True
Local $iMaxWaitMs = 5000
$bSuccess = $oSocket.Connect("chilkatsoft.com",443,$bTls,$iMaxWaitMs)
If ($bSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oSocket.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

$oSocket.StringCharset = "utf-8"

;  Send an HTTP GET request for big_helloWorld.txt, a large text file of roughly 74,000 lines of
;  "Hello World!".  This uses a minimal HTTP request only to exercise ReceiveString against a public
;  server -- for real HTTP work, use the Chilkat Http, Rest, or HttpCurl classes instead.
Local $sHttpReq = "GET /big_helloWorld.txt HTTP/1.1" & @CRLF & "Host: chilkatsoft.com" & @CRLF & "Connection: close" & @CRLF & @CRLF
$bSuccess = $oSocket.SendString($sHttpReq)
If ($bSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oSocket.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

;  Call ReceiveString a single time.  It returns only the text that is immediately available --
;  typically just the first network packet -- and does NOT wait for the entire response to arrive.
Local $sResponseText = $oSocket.ReceiveString()
If ($oSocket.LastMethodSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oSocket.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

;  Load the received text into a StringBuilder so its length can be measured and the Content-Length
;  header extracted.  The Content-Length header gives the total size, in bytes, of the response body.
$oSb = ObjCreate("Chilkat.StringBuilder")
$oSb.Append($sResponseText)
Local $sContentLength = $oSb.GetBetween("Content-Length: ",@CRLF)
If ($oSb.LastMethodSuccess = False) Then
    ConsoleWrite($oSb.LastErrorText & @CRLF)
    Exit
EndIf

;  Compare what this single ReceiveString returned against the full size of the expected response.
;  The received amount is only a small fraction of the total.
ConsoleWrite("Characters received so far (headers + partial body): " & $oSb.Length & @CRLF)
ConsoleWrite("Expected response body size (Content-Length): " & $sContentLength & " bytes" & @CRLF)

;  A single ReceiveString call returns whatever is currently available, so it cannot indicate whether
;  the full response has arrived.  This makes it difficult to know when a response is complete: the
;  application must either know how many bytes to expect (for example from a Content-Length header or
;  an application-defined length prefix) and keep receiving until that many bytes are collected, or
;  keep receiving until the peer closes the connection.