marcovk22 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks!

I'm pretty new to working with sockets in perl, and this is my first post so be gentle :-D
Looked around for days for a proper solution for my IRC/DCC problem but couldn't find one.

The connection to the server uses a socket with a neverending while loop: 

 
sub connection {
  # Make The Initial Server Connection! #
  $con = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr=>"$server",
                             PeerPort=>"$port",
                             Proto=>'tcp',
                             Timeout=>'30') || print "Error! $!\n";

while($answer = <$con>) {

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All works fine untill i want to make a DCC connection using another socket: 

$dcc = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr=>"$2",
                               PeerPort=>"$3",
                               Proto=>'tcp',
                               Timeout=>'30') || print "Error! $!\n";
  print $dcc "Connection Established!\n";
  while ($talk = <$dcc>) {

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The first loop is being blocked?
I only receive input/output from the second loop untill this one is closed again, then the first loop continues....
How can i get a continuous flow from both?
I've read some bits about IO::Socket::Select, and have also been playing with multiple threads, but i prefer the first option... Any help is very appreciated!

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Reading from multiple sockets
by Fletch (Bishop) on Oct 21, 2008 at 13:45 UTC

    There's always POE::Component::IRC which handles all the nasty select and network mucking about for you allowing you to concentrate on what you want to do, not the underlying transport.

    The cake is a lie.
    The cake is a lie.
    The cake is a lie.

[reply]
Re: Reading from multiple sockets
by zentara (Cardinal) on Oct 21, 2008 at 12:19 UTC
    Search google or groups.google.com for "perl select socket". Adding your connections to the select array is the proper way to go, but you can work out a hack by putting a timeout on the can_read($timeout). See How to Multiplex a Client using IO::Select and BrowerUk's sample code where he has multiple timeouts on reading sockets. The timeouts would let your multiple socket reads act non-blocking.
    I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are
[reply]
      Thanks for all hints so far...

      I've got the following to work now using IO::Select Properly send & receive to and from server.
      I can esablish a DCC connection over additional socket, but then I only get the data from the DCC socket,
      and no-longer the data from the server socket, untill the DCC socket is closed..... 

      $con = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr=>"$server",
                             PeerPort=>"$port",
                             Proto=>'tcp',
                             Timeout=>'30') || print "Error! $!\n";
$select = IO::Select->new($con);

while(@ready = $select->can_write) {
  for $socket (@ready) {
  #The DCC Connection
    if($socket == $dcc) {
      $talk = <$dcc>;
      print $talk;
  #The Server Connection
    } elsif ($socket == $con)  {
      $answer = <$con>;
      print $answer;    # echo everything that comes from the server t
+o screen
      #lots of other stuff here
      if ($answer =~ /:(.*)\!.* PRIVMSG $me :\001DCC CHAT chat (\d+) (
+\d+)\001\r\n/) {
        print "Received dcc from $1 with $2 and $3\n";
        $dcc = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr=>"$2",
                                     PeerPort=>"$3",
                                     Proto=>'tcp',
                                     Timeout=>'30') || print "Error! $
+!\n";
        print $dcc "Please Enter Your Password!\n";
        $select = IO::Select->new($dcc);
      }
    } else {
      print "more stuff to come here"
    }
  }
}

      [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
        Never mind... I think i fixed it....
        Dunno if its the proper way but hey it works!!!!!!!!! 
        $con = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr=>"$server",
                             PeerPort=>"$port",
                             Proto=>'tcp',
                             Timeout=>'30') || print "Error! $!\n";
$select = IO::Select->new();
$select->add($con);
while(@ready = $select->can_write) {
  for $socket (@ready) {
    #The DCC Connection
    if($socket == $dcc) {
      $talk = <$dcc>;
      print $talk;
      #The Server Connection
    } elsif ($socket == $con)  {
      $answer = <$con>;
      print $answer;
      # Stufff
      if ($answer =~ /:(.*)\!.* PRIVMSG $me :\001DCC CHAT chat (\d+) (
+\d+)\001\r\n/) {
        print "Received dcc from $1 with $2 and $3\n";
        $dcc = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr=>"$2",
                                     PeerPort=>"$3",
                                     Proto=>'tcp',
                                     Timeout=>'30') ||   print "Error!
+ $!\n";
        print $dcc "Please Enter Your Password!\n";
        $select->add($dcc);
      }
    } else {
      print "Dunno?\n";
      exit 1;
    }
  }
}

        [download]
[reply]
[d/l]

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