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iOS and OS X Network Programming Cookbook
iOS and OS X Network Programming Cookbook

iOS and OS X Network Programming Cookbook: If you want to develop network applications for iOS and OS X, this is one of the few books written specifically for those systems. With over 50 recipes and in-depth explanations, it's an essential guide.

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iOS and OS X Network Programming Cookbook

Chapter 2. Apple Low-level Networking

In this chapter, we will cover:

  • Retrieving network address information

  • Performing network address resolution

  • Creating an echo server

  • Creating an echo client

  • Creating a server to receive data

  • Creating a client to send data

  • Checking the network status

Introduction


The primary API behind Apple's low-level networking is the CFNetwork API.

The simplest way to describe CFNetworking is to say that it is an Apple-specific extension to the BSD socket API. The CFNetworking stack is based on and relies on the BSD socket API that was discussed in Chapter 1, BSD Socket Library. It is recommended that the reader understands the concepts discussed in Chapter 1, BSD Socket Library, prior to going through this chapter. While this chapter will focus primarily on CFNetworking for most of the recipes, we will also use NSHost and the system configuration framework for retrieving network address information and checking the network status recipes. The biggest advantage that BSD sockets have over CFNetwork is the compatibility with other forms of Unix. This is a pretty big advantage when you think of all the BSD socket code on the Internet that you can use. However, if your application is Apple-specific, it is recommended that you use CFNetwork wherever you...

Retrieving network address information


Most applications that communicate over a network will eventually need to know the information from the available network interfaces of the device they are running on. This recipe will show you how to retrieve the network addresses for all the active network interfaces on the device.

This recipe will use the NSHost class to retrieve a list of addresses on your local device. While NSHost is available on iOS, it is a private (undocumented) class. It is also noted on a number of forum posts that Apple has rejected iOS apps for using NSHost. If you need to retrieve network address information within an iOS application, it is recommended that you use the Retrieving network address information recipe from Chapter 1, BSD Socket Library, in this book, and not the NSHost class described in this recipe.

Getting ready

This recipe is compatible with both iOS and OS X, but it is recommended that you do not use NSHost on the iOS platform. No extra frameworks or libraries...

Performing a network address resolution


Most applications that use the Internet to communicate will eventually need to convert a hostname to an IP address or an IP address to a hostname. This recipe will encapsulate the network address resolution functionality into a standalone Objective-C class. You will notice in this recipe that most of the CFNetworking API calls are made up of C functions, and use a structure similar to the addrinfo structure that the BSD API uses.

Getting ready

This recipe is compatible with both iOS and OS X. No extra frameworks or libraries are required.

How to do it…

Let's get started!

Creating the CFNetworkUtilities header file

The following is the code snippet for creating the CFNetworkUtilities header file:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

typedef NS_ENUM(NSUInteger, CFNetworkingSelf.errorCode) {
  NOERROR,
  HOSTRESOLUTIONERROR,
  ADDRESSRESOLUTIONERROR
};
@interface CFNetworkUtilities : NSObject

@property int (nonatomic) self.errorCode;

-(NSArray *)addressesForHostname...

Creating an echo server


In this recipe, we will be creating an echo server that will listen on a specified port. Once a connection is established, the server will echo any text received back by the client.

There are several ways to create a CFSocket. For this recipe, we will create a BSD socket and then use the CFSocketCreateWithNative() method to create the CFSocket from the native BSD socket.

To create a BSD socket, you must first create a socket using the socket() function. This function returns an integer descriptor that can be used to identify the socket for all future function calls. Once we have the socket descriptor, we need to bind the network interfaces and port to the socket. We create a sockaddr structure with the IP address version, IP address, and the port number to bind the socket. We will then call the bind() function to bind the sockaddr structure and the socket together. Finally, we will need to listen on the socket for new connections. This can be done with the listen()...

Creating an echo client


In the Creating an echo server recipe of this chapter, we created an echo server using CFNetworking and tested it with the telnet command. In this recipe, we will create an echo client that can be used to test the echo server. Also note that the echo client and server applications created in Chapter 1, BSD Socket Library, can be used interchangeably with the echo client and server applications created in this chapter.

Getting ready

This recipe is compatible with both iOS and OS X. No extra frameworks or libraries are required.

How to do it...

Let's begin!

Creating the CFSocketClient header file

The following is the code snippet for creating the CFSocketClient header file:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

typedef NS_ENUM(NSUInteger, CFNetworkServerErrorCode) {
  NOERROR,
  SOCKETERROR,
  CONNECTERROR,
  READERROR,
  WRITEERROR
};

#define MAXLINE 4096

@interface CFSocketClient : NSObject  

@property (nonatomic) int errorCode;
@property (nonatomic) CFSocketRef sockfd...

Creating a server to receive data


In the Creating an echo server recipe of this chapter, we created an echo server using Apple's CFNetwork API. This server accepted incoming text and echoed it back to the client. That recipe demonstrated how to send and receive text through a socket connection.

This following recipe will demonstrate how to send and receive datafiles such as images through a socket connection. Sending and receiving data over a socket connection with CFNetworking is not that different from sending and receiving text. You basically go through all the same steps to set up the socket, but you finally receive CFData rather than a character array.

We will be updating the CFSocketServer class from the Creating an echo server recipe of this chapter, to handle both our echo and data servers depending on the flag you set.

Getting ready

This recipe is compatible with both iOS and OS X. No extra frameworks or libraries are required.

How to do it…

Let's get started!

Updating the CFSocketServer...

Creating a client to send data


In the Creating a data server recipe from Chapter 1, BSD Socket Library, we created a server that can receive incoming data. In this recipe, we will create a client application that will send images to that server.

Also note that the data client and server applications created in Chapter 1, BSD Socket Library, can be used interchangeably with the data client and server applications created in this chapter.

We will be expanding the CFSocketClient class that we wrote in the Creating a data client recipe from Chapter 1, BSD Socket Library, to handle both the echo client and the data client.

Getting ready

This recipe is compatible with both iOS and OS X. No extra frameworks or libraries are required.

How to do it...

Let's get started!

Updating the CFSocketClient header file

In the header file, we add the sendDataToSocket:withData: method:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

typedef NS_ENUM(NSUInteger, CFNetworkClientErrorCode) {
  NOERRROR,
  SOCKETERROR,
  CONNECTERROR...

Checking the network status


Any time you create an iOS application that communicates to other devices over the Internet, you will eventually need to verify that you have a connection prior to making your network calls. This can be done pretty easily by verifying that the address we are trying to connect is reachable, but only lets you know if you have a network connection or not.

When you write applications that communicate with mobile devices over the Internet, one of the things you need to keep in mind is that your users probably have a data plan that limits the amount of data they can send in a month. If they exceed that limit, they may have to pay an extra fee. If your application sends large amounts of data, it would be good to know what type of network connection the user currently has; if it is a mobile connection (as opposed to a Wi-Fi connection), warn the user prior to sending the data.

This recipe will check the type of network connection our device has. For this project, we will...

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Table of Contents

8 Chapters
BSD Socket Library Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Apple Low-level Networking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Libnet Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Libpcap Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Apple High-level Networking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Bonjour Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
AFNetworking 2.0 Library Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
MKNetworkKit Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

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Amazon Customer Jun 21, 2016
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lots of help
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RV Jul 30, 2014
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I just read a new book for iOS and OS X programming i.e "iOS and OS X network programming cookbook".I have always liked cookbooks and this one is not an exception. Author has covered all the topics with practical examples. I have gone through few iOS books and this one is best so far.All in all, this is a cookbook I'm happy to have added to my collection.
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Amazon Customer May 02, 2014
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The book certainly is a good refresher on networking basics tcp/ip udp, posix and how it fits in with osx and ios. There is loads plenty of nice beginner stuff like building echo servers and constructing ping packets so readers with no networking knowledge at all can be broken in gently.There is a comprehensive chapter on Libnet that starts with a refresher on network layers and steadily builds in complexity, again making it suitable for all skill levels. It's hard to exaggerate the thrill of sending yourself messages even if it is just across the living room. It is just so much fun being Vint Cerf just for an hour or two.Perhaps the book could have had even more in it. I loved working through the tutorials, especially as I had never done anything remotely network orientated on Mac before. But the book weighs in over 270 pages so it would be unfair to criticise really.Overall the information was extremely compelling and definitely a candidate for cookbook 2 . I would read it for sure.
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Eric Jenkinson Apr 09, 2014
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The author starts with the BSD socket library to build up to Apple's CFNetworking and continues on to Apple's high level networking API such NSXMLParser, NSURL and NSData.The book covers open source libraries as well such as AFNetworking, MKNetworkKit,libnet and Libpcap, thus providing the reader with a full arsenal of networkingknowledge for Mac OS X and iOS.The recipes included were well written and extensive. My favorites are the Peer to Peer Bluetooth and Bonjour recipes. You can choose to read the book by picking a section that is of interest or simply start at the beginning and go cover to cover. While the book is a "cookbook" there is continuity between the chapters unlike many other cookbooks on the market.
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rodrigobirriel Apr 07, 2014
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This book is great, very useful. It talks about everything about networking from the low level (function in C) to top level with popular framework as AFNetworking. Specially great for clarifying concepts. The example code is very useful to bring ideas to the land.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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