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I have an app with a TCP Listener, and a remote client constantly sending data (once per second).
Using Hercules Setup utility as a server I am able to receive the data, but when I use my own application the data isn't displayed in the textBox.
All I can see in my app is that the length is 266- which is what I expect, but the data is just expressed as 2 rectangle boxes.

What could be the issue here?
public void bgWorkerSocketListener_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        AppendTextBox2("Waiting for a connection... " + Environment.NewLine);

        server = new TcpListener(localAddr, port);

        server.Start();

        // Buffer for reading data
        Byte[] bytes = new Byte[4096];
        String data = null;

        // Enter the listening loop.
        while (true)
        {
            client = server.AcceptTcpClient();
            AppendTextBox2("Connected!" + Environment.NewLine);

            data = null;

            // Get a stream object for reading and writing
            NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();

            int i;

            // Loop to receive all the data sent by the client.
            while ((i = stream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)) != 0)
            {
                // Translate data bytes to a ASCII string.
                data = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytes, 0, i);
                AppendTextBox2("Length: " + data.Length + " Received: " + data);
            }
        }
    }
    catch (SocketException ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("SocketException: " + ex);
    }
}
AppendTextBox2 is just an invoke method for appending my text box from another thread:
public void AppendTextBox2(string value)
{
    if (InvokeRequired)
    {
        this.Invoke(new Action<string>(AppendTextBox2), new object[] { value });
        return;
    }
    tBoxTcpIpStatus.Text += value;
    //move the caret to the end of the text
    tBoxTcpIpStatus.SelectionStart = tBoxTcpIpStatus.TextLength;
    tBoxTcpIpStatus.ScrollToCaret();
}


What I have tried:

Any idea what could be happening here?
It's not my append method, I already tried to remove it, without success.
Posted
Updated 24-Feb-21 6:06am
v2
Comments
Richard MacCutchan 24-Feb-21 12:00pm    
The data is most likely not ASCCII. Talk to the people who are sending it. Alternatively use your debugger to examine what you are receiving.

1 solution

Start by finding out exactly what you are receiving: instead of using GetString to convert the bytes, convert them to a hex string (BitConverter.ToString Method (System) | Microsoft Docs[^] will do it) and add that to your text box.
You can then use an ASCII table to work out exactly what the client is sending you: ASCII - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[^]

Until you have actual info on what you are getting, you can't even begin to work out what the problem might be!

But as a suggestion, instead of using Invoke, us the BackgroundWorker's Progress reporting mechanism to display your data - you can pass any object you like via the UserState property of the ProgressChangedEventArgs in the ProgressChanged event handler.
 
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Comments
Member 14827175 24-Feb-21 13:56pm    
Thank you so much, that was very helpful. I'll look into Progress reporting, it looks interesting.

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