TCP Server Project

This project is a simple TCP server written in C, using socket programming concepts. It listens on a specified port, accepts client connections, and prints messages received from clients to the console. The code is organized into multiple files with CMake as the build system.

Project Structure

project/
├── CMakeLists.txt             # Build configuration
├── include/
│   ├── server.h               # Main server header file
│   ├── html_serve.h           # Header for serve_html function
│   ├── request_handler.h      # Header for handle_client function
│   └── socket_utils.h         # Header for socket utility functions
├── src/
│   ├── server.c               # Main server program
│   ├── html_serve.c           # serve_html function
│   ├── request_handler.c      # handle_client function
│   └── socket_utils.c         # Utility functions for socket operations
└── README.md                  # Project documentation

Files

• server.c: Contains the main server loop, which listens for and accepts client connections.
• html_serve.c: Handles HTML file reading and serves HTML content to clients. Contains the serve_html function.
• request_handler.c: Manages client requests by processing incoming HTTP requests and serving appropriate responses. Contains the handle_client function.
• socket_utils.c: Includes utility functions for socket initialization and client data handling. Contains the initialize_server and read_client_data functions.
• server.h: Declares main server-related constants and functions.
• html_serve.h: Declares the function used to read and serve HTML files.
• request_handler.h: Declares the function to handle client requests.
• socket_utils.h: Declares utility functions for initializing sockets and reading client data.

Prerequisites

• CMake (version 3.10 or higher)
• GCC or another compatible C compiler
• Linux or WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) recommended for running this server

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the Repository

git clone <repository_url>
cd project

2. Build the Project

1. Create a build directory and navigate into it:

   mkdir build && cd build

2. Generate the makefiles with CMake:

   cmake ..

3. Compile the project using make:

   make

This will create an executable file named server inside a bin directory under the build folder.

3. Run the Server

After building, you can start the server as follows:

./bin/server

The server will listen on port 8080 (default setting) and print messages received from clients.

Project Details

The server is set up to:

1. Create and bind a socket to PORT 8080.
2. Listen for incoming connections.
3. Accept connections and print any data received from clients to the console.

Here are the updated function descriptions, including the new functions:

Function Descriptions

• initialize_server(struct sockaddr_in* address): Sets up and binds the server socket to the specified address and port, prepares the socket to listen for incoming connections, and returns the file descriptor for the server socket.

• read_client_data(int socket, char* buffer): Continuously reads data from the connected client, displays it on the server console, and clears the buffer after each read for fresh data.

• serve_html(const char* filename): Opens and reads an HTML file specified by filename, then returns its contents as a dynamically allocated string. If an error occurs, it returns NULL. This function is responsible for preparing HTML content to serve in response to client requests.

• handle_client(int new_socket): Handles incoming client requests. It reads the HTTP request, checks if it's a main page request (ignoring favicon requests), and sends the appropriate HTTP response. If an HTML file is found, it serves the content; otherwise, it sends a 404 error response and closes the connection with the client.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter errors:

1. Ensure that no other process is using port 8080.
2. Verify that CMake and GCC are correctly installed.
3. Use the command netstat -tuln | grep 8080 to check if the port is occupied.

Acknowledgments

• CMake - Cross-platform build system
• Beej's Guide to Network Programming - A great resource for learning socket programming

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Feel free to reach out for any questions or improvements!