Simple C++ server for Windows using Winsock 2 and threading
Download the repository and run make to generate the libsimpleserver.a library.
Compile by including the include/ and bin/ directories, as well as linking with -lsimpleserver -lws2_32
Servers are run by default on port 27015 (config to be added later). The Server class takes a parameter of type std::function<int(std::string)>; a callback function that is passed received messages.
Here is an example server that prints any message it receives.
#include "server.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main() {
Server S([](std::string s) -> int {
std::cout << s << std::endl;
});
getchar(); // wait for program termination
}Additionally, sendto and broadcast functions are supported, for sending messages to targeted clients or all clients. Here is how you can access them within the callback function; we will build a server that echoes back messages to clients.
#include "server.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main() {
Server S;
S.setCallback([S](std::string s) -> int { // Note here we can capture S to call the broadcast function
S.broadcast(s);
});
getchar();
}Clients support the same style of operations that servers do. Clients create sockets used to interface with a server. A socket can take either one or two parameters; the first is always the IP of the server to connect to, and the (optional) second parameter is the callback when a message is received. This callback can be set later (to capture the socket) by the Socket::setCallback method.
Clients also support the Socket::send method, which sends a string to the server
Using these libraries, we can implement a simple chat room in less than 35 lines of code; most of it boilerplate.
// main.cpp
#include "server.h"
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
int main() {
Server S;
S.setCallback([&](std::string s) -> int {
// when a message is read, format it and send to all clients
auto first_space = s.find(' ');
S.broadcast(s.substr(0, first_space) + ">" + s.substr(first_space, s.length()));
std::cout << s << std::endl;
});
getchar();
return 0;
} // client.cpp
#include "socket.h"
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
std::string ip(argv[1]);
std::string usr(argv[2]);
Socket S(ip);
S.setCallback([usr](std::string s) -> int {
if (s.substr(0, usr.length()) != usr) { // if a message is received from someone else, display it
std::cout << s << std::endl;
}
});
std::string s;
while (getline(std::cin, s)) { // continuously read messages; send to server
S.send(usr + " " + s);
}
return 0;
}