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Xbase++

ReceiveSb Returns Only the Immediately Available Data

See more Socket/SSL/TLS Examples

Demonstrates that Socket.ReceiveSb returns only the data 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 ReceiveSb 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 ReceiveSb returns whatever bytes are 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 ReceiveSb against a public server; for actual HTTP work, use the Chilkat Http, Rest, or HttpCurl classes.

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Xbase++
LOCAL nSuccess
LOCAL oSocket
LOCAL nBTls
LOCAL nMaxWaitMs
LOCAL cHttpReq
LOCAL oSb
LOCAL cContentLength

nSuccess := 0

oSocket := CreateObject("Chilkat.Socket")

//  Connect to chilkatsoft.com over TLS.
nBTls := 1
nMaxWaitMs := 5000
nSuccess := oSocket:Connect("chilkatsoft.com", 443, nBTls, nMaxWaitMs)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSocket:LastErrorText
    oSocket:destroy()
    RETURN
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 ReceiveSb against a public
//  server -- for real HTTP work, use the Chilkat Http, Rest, or HttpCurl classes instead.
cHttpReq := "GET /big_helloWorld.txt HTTP/1.1" + Chr(13) + Chr(10) + "Host: chilkatsoft.com" + Chr(13) + Chr(10) + "Connection: close" + Chr(13) + Chr(10) + Chr(13) + Chr(10)
nSuccess := oSocket:SendString(cHttpReq)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSocket:LastErrorText
    oSocket:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  Call ReceiveSb a single time.  It returns only the bytes that are immediately available --
//  typically just the first network packet -- and does NOT wait for the entire response to arrive.
oSb := CreateObject("Chilkat.StringBuilder")
nSuccess := oSocket:ReceiveSb(oSb)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSocket:LastErrorText
    oSocket:destroy()
    oSb:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  The response begins with HTTP headers.  The Content-Length header gives the total size, in bytes,
//  of the response body.
cContentLength := oSb:GetBetween("Content-Length: ", Chr(13) + Chr(10))
IF (oSb:LastMethodSuccess == 0)
    ? oSb:LastErrorText
    oSocket:destroy()
    oSb:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  Compare what this single ReceiveSb returned against the full size of the expected response.  The
//  received amount is only a small fraction of the total.
? "Characters received so far (headers + partial body): " + Str(oSb:Length)
? "Expected response body size (Content-Length): " + cContentLength + " bytes"

//  A single ReceiveSb 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.

oSocket:destroy()
oSb:destroy()