Why is my client server program only returning empty lines when it should return date and time?

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Java

bytes

client-server

I can successfully connect to the server using this CMD command: java TCPAsk time.nist.gov 13

My code is supposed to print the date and time but nothing is being returned, all I get is a few lines of empty space. I cant attach an image unfortunately but it says this:
time.nist.gov says:


Can someone help me figure out what is wrong with my TCPClient which I have written myself? Please note that no wrapper classes such as bufferedreader/dataoutputstream etc. is allowed and TCPClient must return bytes. TCPAsk cannot be changed.

What I have tried:

TCPClient:

<pre lang="Java"><pre>package tcpclient;

import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;

public class TCPClient
{

    public TCPClient()
    {}

    public byte[] askServer(String hostname, int port, byte[] toServerBytes) throws IOException
    {
            Socket clientSocket = new Socket(hostname, port);

            OutputStream outToServer = clientSocket.getOutputStream();
            outToServer.write(toServerBytes);

            InputStream inFromServer = clientSocket.getInputStream();
            ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();

            int bufferSize = 1024;
            byte[] bufferArray = new byte[bufferSize];

            int result;
            int responseLength = 0;

            try
            {
                while (responseLength == inFromServer.read())
                {
                    if (responseLength <= bufferSize && responseLength != -1) {
                        result = inFromServer.read(bufferArray, 0, responseLength);
                        baos.flush();
                        baos.write(result);
                    } else
                    {
                        result = inFromServer.read(bufferArray, 0, bufferSize);
                        baos.flush();
                        baos.write(result);
                        if (inFromServer.available() == 0) {
                            byte bytesLeft = (byte) inFromServer.read();
                            if (bytesLeft != -1) {
                                baos.write(bytesLeft);
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    break;
                }
            }
        catch (IOException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        inFromServer.close();
        clientSocket.close();
        return baos.toByteArray();
    }
}

TCPAsk:

import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;
import tcpclient.TCPClient;
 
public class TCPAsk {
    /*
     * Usage: explain how to use the program, then exit with failure status
     */
    private static void usage() {
        System.err.println("Usage: TCPAsk host port <data to server>");
        System.exit(1);
    }
 
    /*
     * Main program. Parse arguments on command line and call TCPClient
     */
    public static void main( String[] args) {
        String hostname = null;
        int port = 0;
        byte[] userInputBytes = new byte[0];
 
        try {
            // Get mandatory command line arguments: hostname and port number
            int argindex = 0;
            hostname = args[argindex++];
            port = Integer.parseInt(args[argindex++]);
 
            // Remaining arguments, if any, are string to send to server
            if (argindex < args.length) {
                // Collect remaining arguments into a string with single space as separator
                StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
                boolean first = true;
                while (argindex < args.length) {
                    if (first)
                        first = false;
                    else
                        builder.append(" ");
                    builder.append(args[argindex++]);
                }
                builder.append("\n");
                userInputBytes = builder.toString().getBytes();
            }
        } catch (ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException | NumberFormatException ex) {
            // Exceeded array while parsing command line, or could
            // not convert port number argument to integer -- tell user
            // how to use the program
            usage();
        }
 
        try {
            TCPClient tcpClient = new tcpclient.TCPClient();
            byte[] serverBytes  = tcpClient.askServer(hostname, port, userInputBytes);
            String serverOutput = new String(serverBytes);
            System.out.printf("%s:%d says:\n%s", hostname, port, serverOutput);
        } catch(IOException ex) {
            System.err.println(ex);
            System.exit(1);
        }
    }
}