C++: Implementing Named Pipes using the Win32 API

Question

I'm trying to implement named pipes in C++, but either my reader isn't reading anything, or my writer isn't writing anything (or both). Here's my reader:

int main()
{
    HANDLE pipe = CreateFile(GetPipeName(), GENERIC_READ, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED, NULL);

    char data[1024];
    DWORD numRead = 1;

    while (numRead >= 0)
    {
        ReadFile(pipe, data, 1024, &numRead, NULL);

        if (numRead > 0)
            cout << data;
    }

    return 0;
}

LPCWSTR GetPipeName()
{
    return L"\\\\.\\pipe\\LogPipe";
}

And here's my writer:

int main()
{
    HANDLE pipe = CreateFile(GetPipeName(), GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED, NULL);

    string message = "Hi";
    WriteFile(pipe, message.c_str(), message.length() + 1, NULL, NULL); 

    return 0;
}

LPCWSTR GetPipeName()
{
    return L"\\\\.\\pipe\\LogPipe";
}

Does that look right? numRead in the reader is always 0, for some reason, and it reads nothing but 1024 -54's (some weird I character).

Solution:

Reader (Server):

while (true)
{
    HANDLE pipe = CreateNamedPipe(GetPipeName(), PIPE_ACCESS_INBOUND | PIPE_ACCESS_OUTBOUND , PIPE_WAIT, 1, 1024, 1024, 120 * 1000, NULL);

    if (pipe == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
    {
        cout << "Error: " << GetLastError();
    }

    char data[1024];
    DWORD numRead;

    ConnectNamedPipe(pipe, NULL);

    ReadFile(pipe, data, 1024, &numRead, NULL);

    if (numRead > 0)
        cout << data << endl;

    CloseHandle(pipe);
}

Writer (client):

HANDLE pipe = CreateFile(GetPipeName(), GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, NULL);

if (pipe == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
{
    cout << "Error: " << GetLastError();
}

string message = "Hi";

cout << message.length();

DWORD numWritten;
WriteFile(pipe, message.c_str(), message.length(), &numWritten, NULL); 

return 0;

The server blocks until it gets a connected client, reads what the client writes, and then sets itself up for a new connection, ad infinitum. Thanks for the help, all!

Answer 1

You must use CreateNamedPipe() to create the server end of a named pipe. Be sure to specify a non-zero buffer size, zero (documented by MSDN as 'use system default buffer size') doesn't work. MSDN has decent samples for a multi-threaded client&server.

Answer 2

A named pipe client can open the named pipe with CreateFile -- but the named pipe server needs to use CreateNamedPipe to create the named pipe. After it's created the named pipe, the server uses ConnectNamedPipe to wait for a client to connect. Only after the client has connected should the server do a blocking read like your call to ReadFile.