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socket-stream

Class
Summary

The socket stream class.

Package

comm

Superclasses

buffered-stream

Initargs

:socket

A socket handle.

:direction

One of :input, :output, or :io.

:element-type

One of base-char, (signed-byte 8) and (unsigned-byte 8).

:read-timeout

A positive number or nil.

:write-timeout

A positive number or nil.

:ssl-ctx

A keyword, t or nil, or a foreign pointer of type ssl-ctx-pointer or ssl-pointer.

:ssl-side

One of the keywords :client, :server or :both. The default value is :server.

:ctx-configure-callback

A function designator or nil.

:ssl-configure-callback

A function designator or nil.

Accessors

socket-stream-socket
stream:stream-read-timeout
stream:stream-write-timeout

Description

The class socket-stream implements a buffered stream connected to a socket. The socket handle, specified by :socket, and the direction, specified by :direction, must be passed for a meaningful stream to be constructed. Common Lisp input functions such as read-char will see end-of-file if the other end of the socket is closed.

The :element-type initarg determines the expected element type of the stream traffic. However, stream input and output functions for character and binary data generally work in the obvious way on a socket-stream with any of the allowed values of element-type. For example, read-sequence can be called with a string buffer and a binary socket-stream: the character data is constructed from the input as if by code-char. Similarly write-sequence can be called with a string buffer and a binary socket-stream: the output is converted from the character data as if by char-code. Also, 8-bit binary data can be read and written to a base-char socket-stream.

All standard stream I/O functions except for write-byte and read-byte have this flexibility.

The :read-timeout initarg specifies the read timeout in seconds, or is nil, meaning there are no timeouts during reads (this is the default).

The read-timeout property is intended for use when a socket connection might hang during a call to any Common Lisp input function. The read-timeout can be set by make-instance or by open-tcp-stream. It can also be modified by (setf stream:stream-read-timeout). When read-timeout is nil, there is no timeout during reads and the call may hang. When read-timeout is not nil, and there is no input from the socket for more than read-timeout seconds, any reading function returns end-of-file. The read-timeout does not limit the time inside read, but the time between successful extractions of data from the socket. Therefore, if the reading needs several rounds it may take longer than read-timeout.

Using (setf stream:stream-read-timeout) on the stream while it is inside a read function has undefined effects. However, the setf function can be used between calls to read functions. The read-timeout property of a stream can be read by (stream:stream-read-timeout stream)

The :write-timeout initarg specifies the write timeout in seconds, or is nil, meaning that there are no timeouts during writes (this is the default).

The write-timeout property is similar to read-timeout, but for write operations. If flushing the stream buffer takes too long then error is called.

The initargs :ssl-ctx, :ssl-side, :ctx-configure-callback and :ssl-configure-callback can be be supplied to create and configure socket streams with SSL processing.

ssl-ctx, if non-nil, specifies that the stream uses SSL and further specifies the SSL_CTX object to use. The value of ssl-ctx can be a symbol which, together with ssl-side, specifies which protocol to use. The value t or :default means use the default, which is currently the same as :v23. The values :v2, :v3, :v23 and :tls-v1 are mapped to the SSLv2_*, SSLv3_*, SSLv23_* and TLSv1_* methods respectively. With these symbol values of ssl-ctx, LispWorks makes a new SSL_CTX object and uses it and frees it when the stream is closed.

The value of ssl-ctx can also be a foreign pointer of type ssl-ctx-pointer (which corresponds to the C type SSL_CTX*). This is used and is not freed when the stream is closed. Also an SSL object is made and used, and this object is freed when the stream is closed. The foreign pointer may be a result of a call to make-ssl-ctx, but it can also a result of user code, provided that it points to a valid SSL_CTX and has the type ssl-ctx-pointer.

The value of ssl-ctx can also be a foreign pointer of type ssl-pointer (which corresponds to the C type SSL*). This specifies the SSL to use. This maybe a result of a call to ssl-new but can also be the result of user code, provided that it points to a valid SSL object and has the type ssl-pointer. The SSL is used and is not freed when the stream is closed.

When you pass a ssl-ctx-pointer or a ssl-pointer foreign pointer as the ssl-ctx argument, it must have already been set up correctly.

ssl-side specifies which side the socket stream is. The value of ssl-side is used in two cases:

If the value of ssl-ctx is a ssl-pointer, ssl-side is ignored.

ctx-configure-callback specifies a callback, a function which takes a foreign pointer of type ssl-ctx-pointer. This is called immediately after a new SSL_CTX is created. If the value of ssl-ctx is not a symbol, ctx-configure-callback is ignored.

ssl-configure-callback specifies a callback, a function which takes a foreign pointer of type ssl-pointer. This is called immediately after a new SSL is created. If the value of ssl-ctx is a ssl-pointer, ssl-configure-callback is ignored.

Notes
  1. The function wait-for-input-streams and wait-for-input-streams-returning-first are a convenient interface for waiting for input from socket streams. The standard I/O functions (cl:read, cl:read-char and so on) can also wait properly. You can also use process-wait and similar functions with cl:listen in the wait-function, but you will need to use with-noticed-socket-stream.
  2. The socket object in a socket-stream is normally a socket object in the operating system sense. On Unix and Microsoft Windows it is an integer corresponding to a socket as returned from the C functions socket and accept. It can also be a Java socket object, see Socket streams with Java sockets and SSL on Android for details.
  3. (setf socket-steam-socket) can be used to set the socket object in the stream, and can also set it to nil. When there is already a socket in the stream, (setf socket-steam-socket) closes it before setting the slot to the new socket. The function replace-socket-stream-socket can be used to set the socket without closing the old one.
Example

The following makes a bidirectional stream connected to a socket specified by handle.

(make-instance 'comm:socket-stream
               :socket handle
               :direction :io
               :element-type 'base-char)

This example creates a socket stream with a read-timeout:

(make-instance 'comm:socket-stream
               :handle handle
               :direction :input
               :read-timeout 42)

The following form illustrates character I/O in a binary socket-stream:

(with-open-stream (x 
                   (comm:open-tcp-stream 
                    "localhost" 80
                    :element-type '(unsigned-byte 8)))
  (write-sequence (format nil "GET / HTTP/1.0~%~%") x)
  (force-output x)
  (let ((res (make-array 20 :element-type 'base-char)))
    (values (read-sequence res x) res)))

The following form illustrates binary I/O in a base-char socket-stream:

(with-open-stream (x 
                   (comm:open-tcp-stream 
                    "localhost" 80
                    :element-type 'base-char))
  (write-sequence 
   (map '(simple-array (unsigned-byte 8) 1)
        'char-code
        (format nil "GET / HTTP/1.0~%~%"))
   x)
  (force-output x)
  (let ((res (make-array 20 
                         :element-type 
                         '(unsigned-byte 8))))
    (values (read-sequence res x) 
            (map 'string 'code-char res))))
See also

connect-to-tcp-server
open-tcp-stream
start-up-server
stream-read-timeout
wait-for-input-streams
replace-socket-stream-socket
Socket streams with Java sockets and SSL on Android


LispWorks User Guide and Reference Manual - 13 Feb 2015

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