Sending Multiple Commands in TCPClient

Question

Hi, I am trying to use

private TcpClient tcpClient;

in a class and every time when I send a command like LIST, RETR, STOR, I used to lock the TCPClient for that particular time of execution of commands and getting response.

Now when I send the other command in between the one is executing, It isn't able to lock that tcpclient instance again.

How should I send the other command when one is executing. For all commands I need to lock the TCPClient, that I can't change.

Answer 1

This is a design problem. You need to design a multithreaded way of accessing the TcpClient without locking it excessivly

May i suggest you use a queue instead of locking the TcpClient ? I reckon your trying to build an FTP client. (i am guessing based on the LIST, RETR and STOR commands).

An example of a simple queue

private TcpClient client;
private Queue<string> commands = new Queue<string>();
private AutoResetEvent resume = new AutoResetEvent(false);

public void Add(string cmd)
{
  lock(commands) { commands.Enqueue(cmd); }
  resume.Set();

}

private void ThreadRun() // this method runs on a different thread
{
   while(!quit.WaitOne(0,true))
   {
      resume.WaitOne();
      string command;
      lock(commands) { command = commands.Dequeue(); }
      Process(command);

   }


}

You should refrain from trying to "lock" objects just to get it thread-safe. A thread-safe application is designed to operate with minimal locking, rather than forcing locks to enforce thread safety.

Answer 2

Use one TcpClient for each thread.