WinSock Asynchronous Input/Output

WinSock Asynchronous
Input/Output
ECE 4564: Network Application Design

Scott F. Midkiff
Bradley Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Topics
! Need for specialized WinSock calls
! Blocking and message-driven architecture
! Asynchronous calls
" Message-based
" Event-based
" Asynchronous TCP ECHO server example
" Database calls

! WinSock version checking

ECE 4564: Network Application Design (10/6/2002) WinSock Asynchronous I/O - 2

© 1998-2002, Scott F. Midkiff

WinSock ≠ BSD UNIX Sockets
! WinSock 1.1 and 2.2 “core” calls are based
on BSD UNIX Sockets model
" Builds on existing knowledge base -- BSD UNIX
Sockets widely used by network programmers
" Simplifies porting of applications from UNIX to
Microsoft Windows
! Usual socket calls may not be the best to
use in Windows, especially for windowed
applications
" Blocking can cause problems for
message-driven operating system
" May not take full advantage of Windows
advanced I/O features

Message-Driven Architecture (1)
! Microsoft Windows is message-driven
" System indicates “events” by providing a
message to a program
" The program responds to the message
" The response may lead to new messages being
sent at a later time or new messages may occur
because of user actions
! Messages indicate different system events
" User interface action
" I/O completion
" System call completion
" Error conditions



Message-Driven Architecture (2)
! Windows programs must check messages
and will be unresponsive if messages are
not checked
" Not an issue for console applications
! Multitasking scheme determines how
processes share the processor -- and when
messages are checked
" 16-bit Windows (3.1 and 3.11) uses cooperative
multitasking
" 32-bit Windows (95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP)
uses preemptive multitasking


Cooperative Multitasking

! Processes must check
for messages to keep
system “alive” Message
! Blocked calls block the Queue
entire system

Dispatch

Process Process ... Process

GetMessage()
PeekMessage()


Preemptive Multitasking (1)

... Message
Queues

Dispatch Dispatch

Thread Thread

GetMessage() GetMessage()
PeekMessage() PeekMessage()


Preemptive Multitasking (2)
! Each thread has a message queue
! Operating system preempts threads so that
a single blocked thread will not block other
threads
! Blocking can make an application
unresponsive and should be avoided, at
least in user interface threads



Messages and Application Code (1)
! A Windows application defines a procedure
to handle messages for a window
! Example: dialog process or DialogProc()
" hwndDlg identifies where to to send messages
" uMsg, with wParam and lParam, define message

BOOL CALLBACK DialogProc(
HWND hwndDlg, // handle to dialog box
UINT uMsg, // message
WPARAM wParam, // 1st message parameter
LPARAM lParam // 2nd message parameter
);


Messages and Application Code (2)
! Dialog procedure processes messages

switch(uMsg)
{
case WM_INITDIALOG:
// process initialization message
case WM_COMMAND:
// process user interface message
case SM_EVENT:
// process asynchronous WinSock event
…
}



Non-Blocking WinSock Calls
! To prevent blocking in an application
thread, use non-blocking WinSock calls
! Two approaches
" Non-blocking sockets
# ioctlsocket() to make socket non-blocking

# select() to determine readiness of socket

# Largely portable to UNIX

" Asynchronous calls (preferred method)
# Asynchronous call returns immediately

# Completion is indicated to application (three

notification methods)
# Windows-specific (WSA prefix for function

names)


Notification Methods (1)
! Three notification methods
$ Message-driven
% Event-driven
& Callback routine

! Message-driven notification
" Window handle passed to WSAAsyncSelect() or
other asynchronous call
" Message is sent to indicated window procedure
upon completion
" Requires a windowed application



Notification Methods (2)
! Event-driven notification
" Event handle passed to WSAEventSelect() or
other asynchronous call
" Event is signaled, application must check
" Can be used with any application

! Callback routine
" Pointer to callback procedure is passed to call
such as WSASend() or WSARecv()
" WinSock “calls back” at indicated procedure
when action is completed
" Can be used with any application


WSAAsyncSelect() (1)
! Makes socket non-blocking
" No need to call ioctlsocket()

! Allows application to tell WinSock that
messages should be sent for certain events
" When a connection is established
" When data is ready for receiving from socket
" When data can be sent to socket (following a
situation when data cannot be sent)
" When socket is closed by peer
" When out-of-band data is received
" When socket or socket group quality of service
(QoS) changes



! Note that one message is created for any
event — cannot have different messages
" wParam is the socket descriptor
" lParam contains event code and error code
# WSAGETSELECTEVENT(lParam)

# WSAGETSELECTERROR(lParam)

int WSAAsyncSelect (
SOCKET s, // socket
HWND hWnd, // window for messages
unsigned int wMsg, // message number
long lEvent // types of events
);


! Example call
" Define SM_EVENT as the message to be sent to
window with handle hWnd
" Check for connect, close, read, and write events
on socket sock
#define SM_EVENT WM_USER + 1

cc = WSAAsyncSelect (
sock,
hWnd,
SM_EVENT,
FD_CONNECT| FD_CLOSE | FD_READ | FD_WRITE
);



WSAEventSelect() (1)
! Note that WSAAsyncSelect() requires that
the application have a window to receive
messages
! Windows are not always suitable
" Console applications are simpler to design
" Long-running servers
! WSAEventSelect() allows asynchronous
notifications to be provided to applications,
which may or may not have a window
" Sets an event object instead of posting a
message to a window handle


WSAEventSelect() (2)
! Makes socket non-blocking
! Allows application to specify event types for
which the event will be set
" Same set as for WSAAsyncSelect()
" Event bit mask

int WSAEventSelect (
SOCKET s, // socket
WSAEVENT hEventObject, // event handle
long lNetworkEvents // event bit mask
);



Asynchronous Echo: Overview
! TCP ECHO server with asynchronous event
notification (aechod.cpp)
! Similar in concept to singly-threaded
concurrent TCP ECHO server
(tcpmechod.cpp)
! Two classes of sockets
" Master socket (index = 0)
# Monitor when ready for accept (FD_ACCEPT)

" Sockets for connections to clients (index > 0)
# Monitor when ready for read or write or when

a close occurs (FD_READ | FD_WRITE |
FD_CLOSE)


Asynchronous Echo: Calls (1)
! WSACreateEvent()
" Used to create an event object
" One event object per socket
" Events[NumSock] = WSACreateEvent();

! WSAEventSelect()
" Used to indicate monitored event types
" Master socket:
WSAEventSelect(temp_sock, Events[0],
FD_ACCEPT);
" Per connection socket:
WSAEventSelect(temp_sock, Events[NumSock],
FD_READ | FD_WRITE | FD_CLOSE);



! WaitForMultipleEvents()
" Used to wait for any one event to be signaled
" SigEvent = WSAWaitForMultipleEvents(
NumSocks, Events, FALSE, WSA_INFINITE,
FALSE );

DWORD WSAWaitForMultipleEvents(
DWORD cEvents, // number of events
const WSAEVENT FAR *lphEvents, // array
BOOL fWaitAll, // wait for all events
DWORD dwTimeOUT, // time out value
BOOL fAlertable // make alertable
);


! WSAEnumNetworkEvents()
" Determine triggering event, e.g. FD_READ

int WSAEnumNetworkEvents (
SOCKET s,
WSAEVENT hEventObject,
LPWSANETWORKEVENTS lpNetworkEvents
);

typedef struct _WSANETWORKEVENTS {
long lNetworkEvents;
int iErrorCodes[FD_MAX_EVENTS];
}
WSANETWORKEVENTS, FAR * LPWSANETWORKEVENTS;


! WSACloseEvent()
" Releases event object
" WSACloseEvent(Events[EventNum]);


Asynchronous Echo: Data Structures
! Array of event handles
" WSAEVENT Events[MAXSOCKS];

! Array of socket information structures
struct info {
SOCKET sock;
int state;
char buf[BUFSIZE];
char * bufptr;
int buflen;
};

struct info * Socks[MAXSOCKS];



Asynchronous Echo: Operation

FD_WRITE && block FD_WRITE && block
FD_READ && !block

awaiting
FD_ACCEPT
recv(), send()

accept()
FD_READ && block

send()
recv(), send()
READING WRITING
FD_WRITE && !block
send()
FD_CLOSE
FD_CLOSE
cleanup CLOSING
closed

send()
FD_WRITE && !block
send(), cleanup


Asynchronous Database Functions
! Asynchronous version of getXbyY() calls
" WSAGetHostByAddr()
" WSAGetHostByName()
" WSAGetProtoByNumber()
" WSAGetProtoByName()
" WSAGetServByPort()
" WSAGetServByName()

! Most important are WSAGetHostByAddr()
and WSAGetHostByName() because of long
potential delays
! Special call to cancel outstanding request
" WSACancelAsyncRequest()


WSAAsyncGetHostByName()
! Identify window and message as in
WSAAsyncSelect()
! Provide host name and return buffer
" Buffer must be large enough for all information
since no information is stored by WinSock

HANDLE WSAAsyncGetHostByName (
HWND hWnd, // window for msg
unsigned int wMsg, // message id
const char FAR * name, // host name
char FAR * buf, // return info
int buflen // buffer length
);


WinSock Version Checking (1)
! WSAStartup()
" Version requested is an input parameter
" Returned LPWSADATA structure indicates
# Version that WinSock expects application to

use
# Highest version supported by this WinSock

! For example, if version 1.1 is requested from
WinSock 2.2
" Version requested is 1.1
" Version expected (wVersion) is 1.1
" Highest version supported (wHighVersion) is 2.2



Results from WSAStartup()
Version Version
Running Requested wVersion wHighVersion
1.1 1.0 WSAVERNOTSUPPORTED*

1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1
1.1 2.0 1.1 1.1
2.0 1.1 1.1 2.0
2.0 2.2 2.0 2.0
2.2 2.0 2.0 2.2
2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2
* Error return from WSAStartup()

! A robust application should ensure that
requested version is supported

if(WSAStartup(wVersionReq, &wsaData)!= 0){
// Check for error return
}
else if (wsaData.wVersion != wVersionReq) {
// Version not supported
}
else {
// Version is supported
}



You should now be able to …
! Indicate the benefit of non-blocking calls in
a message-driven operating system such as
Microsoft Windows
! Describe basic mechanisms for notification
including messages and events
! Analyze and design simple programs using
asynchronous sockets with event-based
notification
! Describe the asynchronous database calls
! Analyze and design code that verifies
WinSock versions


WinSock Asynchronous Input/Output

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