linux C/C++ pipes programming

[AlexPaes]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post in these forums so welcome everybody.

I don't know if what i want is by any means possible. Here's the whole deal. I am writting a plugin for another program, and for that plugin to work correctly i needed to be able to receive some data from another app. So basically what i wanted to achieve is to call some other app from my plugin and then get data back into my process.

Do you think this is possible? is the only/best way to use temp files?

Thanks in advance for all your time and help.

Cheers,

Alex Paes

[raghuvamshi]

Do you think this is possible? is the only/best way to use temp files?

nope, you can use the BSD Sockets and communicate via TCP. TCP/IP requests made on the loopback interface (local machine) are as fast, if not faster than writing to a file.

Welcome aboard...

[AlexPaes]

Thanks for such a fast reply,

I neved did that kind of stuff, maybe you can point me some nice places where i can look for more information on how i can implement that?

Thanks,

Alex Paes

[raghuvamshi]

http://www.google.com/search?q=bsd+s...en-US:official

[AlexPaes]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your help, i have gathered quite some material. Now, on to study...

cheers,

AlexPaes

[BigEvil]

Hold on!

Before you use TCP/IP, you might want to look into some system calls for setting up a pipe.

Check out the following system calls:
int pipe(int fifo[2]);
dup();
dup2();
fcntl();


The shell uses some of these for redirecting input/output to a process, and you can use the same...

I don't know which will be easier (these or TCP/IP)

Try to find more info in the UNIX man pages - man system_call or K->Help->Unix Manual Pages->System Calls.

If you just want to get the data from the other program, and all at once, temp files may be the easier solution...

[AlexPaes]

Hi,

Actually i don't want to pass info all at once and i need to pass the data from one program to another as it becomes available. So i think pipes are not the way to do it, i believe the best way is actually through sockets.

I just need to get them running

Btw, is the listen() just a single call or will it keep listening for any period of time? I mean in order to catch incoming connections i believe i will need to get that listen in some while or for cycle, is this right?

Thanks to all for the help,

Alex Paes