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Receive a 4-byte Length Prefix from a Socket

See more Socket/SSL/TLS Examples

Demonstrates Socket.ReceiveCount, which reads a four-byte length prefix as a signed 32-bit integer. A return value of -1 indicates failure.

Background. Reading the length prefix first tells the application exactly how many bytes to read for the message body, which is a reliable way to know when a full message has arrived.

Chilkat PowerShell Downloads

PowerShell
Add-Type -Path "C:\chilkat\ChilkatDotNet47-x64\ChilkatDotNet47.dll"

$success = $false

$socket = New-Object Chilkat.Socket

#  Connect to the server using TLS.
$bTls = $true
$maxWaitMs = 5000
$success = $socket.Connect("example.com",5000,$bTls,$maxWaitMs)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($socket.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

#  Read a four-byte length prefix as a signed 32-bit integer (network byte order by default).  A
#  return value of -1 indicates failure.
$messageLength = $socket.ReceiveCount()
if ($messageLength -lt 0) {
    $($socket.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$("The peer will send " + $messageLength + " bytes.")