Java Socket Timouts in a Chat client/server
 

Okay, I have created a chat client/server application in Java. This was a fun project and was my first experience with multithreading and sockets.

The code works great. I have a working chat client/server that allows for multiple users, user listings, formatting type etc.

My question is about timing out. It seems that the client will stay connected indefinitely as long as there is chat going on. If however there is not, the client will be disconnected (I dont know what the timout is).

Anyways, I've thought about just having a timer thread that sends a packet just to keep the connection alive after (x minutues). Is there a simpler way to ensure that the connection wont timeout? If not, how long should i wait between keepalive packets?

Thanks,
Shane

Lol 21 views and no replies. You guys werent much help.

I just created a keepalive class on the client side that sends a 1Byte packet every minute. Works.

Shane

I have not had the problem you stated. If you don't specify the timeout, the socket in the server thread handling a client should block indefinitely, which is how my code works. Maybe I'm not understanding your problem.