Java Networking

Java Networking is a concept of connecting two or more computing devices together so that
we can share resources.

Java socket programming provides facility to share data between different computing
devices.

Advantage of Java Networking

1. sharing resources
2. centralize software management

Java Networking Terminology

The widely used java networking terminologies are given below:

1. IP Address
2. Protocol
3. Port Number
4. MAC Address
5. Connection-oriented and connection-less protocol
6. Socket

1) IP Address

IP address is a unique number assigned to a node of a network e.g. 192.168.0.1 . It is

composed of octets that range from 0 to 255.

It is a logical address that can be changed.

2) Protocol

A protocol is a set of rules basically that is followed for communication. For example:

 TCP
 FTP
 Telnet
 SMTP
 POP etc.
3) Port Number

The port number is used to uniquely identify different applications. It acts as a

communication endpoint between applications.

The port number is associated with the IP address for communication between two
applications.

4) MAC Address

MAC (Media Access Control) Address is a unique identifier of NIC (Network Interface
Controller). A network node can have multiple NIC but each with unique MAC.

5) Connection-oriented and connection-less protocol

In connection-oriented protocol, acknowledgement is sent by the receiver. So it is reliable

but slow. The example of connection-oriented protocol is TCP.

But, in connection-less protocol, acknowledgement is not sent by the receiver. So it is not

reliable but fast. The example of connection-less protocol is UDP.

6) Socket

A socket is an endpoint between two way communication.

Java Socket Programming

Java Socket programming is used for communication between the applications running on
different JRE.

Java Socket programming can be connection-oriented or connection-less.

Socket and ServerSocket classes are used for connection-oriented socket programming and
DatagramSocket and DatagramPacket classes are used for connection-less socket
programming.

The client in socket programming must know two information:

 1. IP Address of Server, and
2. Port number.

Socket class
A socket is simply an endpoint for communications between the machines. The Socket class
can be used to create a socket.

Important methods

ethod Description

1) public InputStream getInputStream() returns the InputStream attached with this socket.

2) public OutputStream getOutputStream() returns the OutputStream attached with this socket.

3) public synchronized void close() closes this socket

ServerSocket class
The ServerSocket class can be used to create a server socket. This object is used to
establish communication with the clients.

Important methods

ethod Description

1) public Socket accept() returns the socket and establish a connection between server and client.

2) public synchronized void close() closes the server socket.

Example of Java Socket Programming

Let's see a simple of java socket programming in which client sends a text and server
receives it.
 File: MyServer.java

1. import java.io.*;
2. import java.net.*;
3. public class MyServer {
4. public static void main(String[] args){
5. try{
6. ServerSocket ss=new ServerSocket(6666);
7. Socket s=ss.accept();//establishes connection
8. DataInputStream dis=new DataInputStream(s.getInputStream());
9. String str=(String)dis.readUTF();
10. System.out.println("message= "+str);
11. ss.close();
12. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
13. }
14. }

File: MyClient.java

1. import java.io.*;
2. import java.net.*;
3. public class MyClient {
4. public static void main(String[] args) {
5. try{
6. Socket s=new Socket("localhost",6666);
7. DataOutputStream dout=new DataOutputStream(s.getOutputStream());
8. dout.writeUTF("Hello Server");
9. dout.flush();
10. dout.close();
11. s.close();
12. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
13. }
14. }

To execute this program open two command prompts and execute each program at each
command prompt as displayed in the below figure.

After running the client application, a message will be displayed on the server console.
 Example of Java Socket Programming
(Read-Write both side)
In this example, client will write first to the server then server will receive and print the
text. Then server will write to the client and client will receive and print the text. The step
goes on.

File: MyServer.java

1. import java.net.*;
2. import java.io.*;
3. class MyServer{
4. public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{
5. ServerSocket ss=new ServerSocket(3333);
6. Socket s=ss.accept();
7. DataInputStream din=new DataInputStream(s.getInputStream());
8. DataOutputStream dout=new DataOutputStream(s.getOutputStream());
9. BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
10.
11. String str="",str2="";
12. while(!str.equals("stop")){
13. str=din.readUTF();
14. System.out.println("client says: "+str);
15. str2=br.readLine();
16. dout.writeUTF(str2);
17. dout.flush();
18. }
19. din.close();
20. s.close();
21. ss.close();
22. }}

File: MyClient.java

1. import java.net.*;
2. import java.io.*;
3. class MyClient{
4. public static void main(String args[])throws Exception{
5. Socket s=new Socket("localhost",3333);
6. DataInputStream din=new DataInputStream(s.getInputStream());
7. DataOutputStream dout=new DataOutputStream(s.getOutputStream());
8. BufferedReader br=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
9.
10. String str="",str2="";
11. while(!str.equals("stop")){
12. str=br.readLine();
13. dout.writeUTF(str);
14. dout.flush();
15. str2=din.readUTF();
16. System.out.println("Server says: "+str2);
17. }
18.
19. dout.close();
20. s.close();
21. }}

Java URL
The Java URL class represents an URL. URL is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. It
points to a resource on the World Wide Web. For example:

A URL contains many information:

1. Protocol: In this case, http is the protocol.

2. Server name or IP Address: In this case, www.javatpoint.com is the server name.
3. Port Number: It is an optional attribute. If we write
http//ww.javatpoint.com:80/sonoojaiswal/ , 80 is the port number. If port number is
not mentioned in the URL, it returns -1.
4. File Name or directory name: In this case, index.jsp is the file name.

Commonly used methods of Java URL class

The java.net.URL class provides many methods. The important methods of URL class are given
below.

Method Description

public String getProtocol() it returns the protocol of the URL.

public String getHost() it returns the host name of the URL.

public String getPort() it returns the Port Number of the URL.

public String getFile() it returns the file name of the URL.

 public URLConnection openConnection() it returns the instance of URLConnection i.e. associated w

Example of Java URL class

1. //URLDemo.java
2. import java.io.*;
3. import java.net.*;
4. public class URLDemo{
5. public static void main(String[] args){
6. try{
7. URL url=new URL("http://www.himsonepat.org/him");
8.
9. System.out.println("Protocol: "+url.getProtocol());
10. System.out.println("Host Name: "+url.getHost());
11. System.out.println("Port Number: "+url.getPort());
12. System.out.println("File Name: "+url.getFile());
13.
14. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
15. }
16. }

Java URLConnection class

The Java URLConnection class represents a communication link between the URL and the
application. This class can be used to read and write data to the specified resource referred
by the URL.

How to get the object of URLConnection class

The openConnection() method of URL class returns the object of URLConnection class.
Syntax:

1. public URLConnection openConnection()throws IOException{}

 Displaying source code of a webpage by
URLConnecton class
The URLConnection class provides many methods, we can display all the data of a webpage
by using the getInputStream() method. The getInputStream() method returns all the data
of the specified URL in the stream that can be read and displayed.

Example of Java URLConnecton class

1. import java.io.*;
2. import java.net.*;
3. public class URLConnectionExample {
4. public static void main(String[] args){
5. try{
6. URL url=new URL("http://www.himsonepat.org/him");
7. URLConnection urlcon=url.openConnection();
8. InputStream stream=urlcon.getInputStream();
9. int i;
10. while((i=stream.read())!=-1){
11. System.out.print((char)i);
12. }
13. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
14. }
15. }

Java HttpURLConnection class

The Java HttpURLConnection class is http specific URLConnection. It works for HTTP
protocol only.

By the help of HttpURLConnection class, you can information of any HTTP URL such as
header information, status code, response code etc.

The java.net.HttpURLConnection is subclass of URLConnection class.

How to get the object of HttpURLConnection class

The openConnection() method of URL class returns the object of URLConnection class.
Syntax:

1. public URLConnection openConnection()throws IOException{}

 You can typecast it to HttpURLConnection type as given below.

1. URL url=new URL("http://www.javatpoint.com/java-tutorial");

2. HttpURLConnection huc=(HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();

Java HttpURLConnecton Example

1. import java.io.*;
2. import java.net.*;
3. public class HttpURLConnectionDemo{
4. public static void main(String[] args){
5. try{
6. URL url=new URL("http://www.javatpoint.com/java-tutorial");
7. HttpURLConnection huc=(HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
8. for(int i=1;i<=8;i++){
9. System.out.println(huc.getHeaderFieldKey(i)+" = "+huc.getHeaderField(i));
10. }
11. huc.disconnect();
12. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
13. }
14. }

Java InetAddress class

Java InetAddress class represents an IP address. The java.net.InetAddress class provides
methods to get the IP of any host name for example www.javatpoint.com,
www.google.com, www.facebook.com etc.

Commonly used methods of InetAddress class

Method Description

public static InetAddress getByName(String host) throws it returns the instance of InetAddress c
UnknownHostException LocalHost IP and name.

public static InetAddress getLocalHost() throws it returns the instance of InetAdddress

UnknownHostException host name and address.

public String getHostName() it returns the host name of the IP addr

 public String getHostAddress() it returns the IP address in string form

Example of Java InetAddress class

Let's see a simple example of InetAddress class to get ip address of www.javatpoint.com
website.

1. import java.io.*;
2. import java.net.*;
3. public class InetDemo{
4. public static void main(String[] args){
5. try{
6. InetAddress ip=InetAddress.getByName("www.javatpoint.com");
7.
8. System.out.println("Host Name: "+ip.getHostName());
9. System.out.println("IP Address: "+ip.getHostAddress());
10. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
11. }
12. }

Java DatagramSocket and

DatagramPacket
Java DatagramSocket and DatagramPacket classes are used for connection-less socket
programming.

Java DatagramSocket class

Java DatagramSocket class represents a connection-less socket for sending and receiving
datagram packets.

A datagram is basically an information but there is no guarantee of its content, arrival or

arrival time.
 Commonly used Constructors of DatagramSocket
class
 DatagramSocket() throws SocketEeption: it creates a datagram socket and
binds it with the available Port Number on the localhost machine.
 DatagramSocket(int port) throws SocketEeption: it creates a datagram socket
and binds it with the given Port Number.
 DatagramSocket(int port, InetAddress address) throws SocketEeption: it
creates a datagram socket and binds it with the specified port number and host
address.

Java DatagramPacket class

Java DatagramPacket is a message that can be sent or received. If you send multiple
packet, it may arrive in any order. Additionally, packet delivery is not guaranteed.

Commonly used Constructors of DatagramPacket

class
 DatagramPacket(byte[] barr, int length): it creates a datagram packet. This
constructor is used to receive the packets.
 DatagramPacket(byte[] barr, int length, InetAddress address, int port): it
creates a datagram packet. This constructor is used to send the packets.

Example of Sending DatagramPacket by

DatagramSocket
1. //DSender.java
2. import java.net.*;
3. public class DSender{
4. public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
5. DatagramSocket ds = new DatagramSocket();
6. String str = "Welcome java";
7. InetAddress ip = InetAddress.getByName("127.0.0.1");
8.
9. DatagramPacket dp = new DatagramPacket(str.getBytes(), str.length(), ip, 3000)
;
10. ds.send(dp);
11. ds.close();
12. }
13. }
 Example of Receiving DatagramPacket by
DatagramSocket
1. //DReceiver.java
2. import java.net.*;
3. public class DReceiver{
4. public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
5. DatagramSocket ds = new DatagramSocket(3000);
6. byte[] buf = new byte[1024];
7. DatagramPacket dp = new DatagramPacket(buf, 1024);
8. ds.receive(dp);
9. String str = new String(dp.getData(), 0, dp.getLength());
10. System.out.println(str);
11. ds.close();
12. }
13. }