TCP Client-Server Connection Example | Unity | C# | Bidirectional communication sample: Client can connect to server; Client can send and receive messages: Server accepts clients; Server reads client messages; Server sends messages to client

TCPTestClient.cs

// This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 
// To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ 
// or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
using UnityEngine;

public class TCPTestClient : MonoBehaviour {  	
	#region private members 	
	private TcpClient socketConnection; 	
	private Thread clientReceiveThread; 	
	#endregion  	
	// Use this for initialization 	
	void Start () {
		ConnectToTcpServer();     
	}  	
	// Update is called once per frame
	void Update () {         
		if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space)) {             
			SendMessage();         
		}     
	}  	
	/// <summary> 	
	/// Setup socket connection. 	
	/// </summary> 	
	private void ConnectToTcpServer () { 		
		try {  			
			clientReceiveThread = new Thread (new ThreadStart(ListenForData)); 			
			clientReceiveThread.IsBackground = true; 			
			clientReceiveThread.Start();  		
		} 		
		catch (Exception e) { 			
			Debug.Log("On client connect exception " + e); 		
		} 	
	}  	
	/// <summary> 	
	/// Runs in background clientReceiveThread; Listens for incomming data. 	
	/// </summary>     
	private void ListenForData() { 		
		try { 			
			socketConnection = new TcpClient("localhost", 8052);  			
			Byte[] bytes = new Byte[1024];             
			while (true) { 				
				// Get a stream object for reading 				
				using (NetworkStream stream = socketConnection.GetStream()) { 					
					int length; 					
					// Read incomming stream into byte arrary. 					
					while ((length = stream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)) != 0) { 						
						var incommingData = new byte[length]; 						
						Array.Copy(bytes, 0, incommingData, 0, length); 						
						// Convert byte array to string message. 						
						string serverMessage = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(incommingData); 						
						Debug.Log("server message received as: " + serverMessage); 					
					} 				
				} 			
			}         
		}         
		catch (SocketException socketException) {             
			Debug.Log("Socket exception: " + socketException);         
		}     
	}  	
	/// <summary> 	
	/// Send message to server using socket connection. 	
	/// </summary> 	
	private void SendMessage() {         
		if (socketConnection == null) {             
			return;         
		}  		
		try { 			
			// Get a stream object for writing. 			
			NetworkStream stream = socketConnection.GetStream(); 			
			if (stream.CanWrite) {                 
				string clientMessage = "This is a message from one of your clients."; 				
				// Convert string message to byte array.                 
				byte[] clientMessageAsByteArray = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(clientMessage); 				
				// Write byte array to socketConnection stream.                 
				stream.Write(clientMessageAsByteArray, 0, clientMessageAsByteArray.Length);                 
				Debug.Log("Client sent his message - should be received by server");             
			}         
		} 		
		catch (SocketException socketException) {             
			Debug.Log("Socket exception: " + socketException);         
		}     
	} 
}

TCPTestServer.cs

// This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 
// To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ 
// or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.
using System;
using System.Collections; 
using System.Collections.Generic; 
using System.Net; 
using System.Net.Sockets; 
using System.Text; 
using System.Threading; 
using UnityEngine;  

public class TCPTestServer : MonoBehaviour {  	
	#region private members 	
	/// <summary> 	
	/// TCPListener to listen for incomming TCP connection 	
	/// requests. 	
	/// </summary> 	
	private TcpListener tcpListener; 
	/// <summary> 
	/// Background thread for TcpServer workload. 	
	/// </summary> 	
	private Thread tcpListenerThread;  	
	/// <summary> 	
	/// Create handle to connected tcp client. 	
	/// </summary> 	
	private TcpClient connectedTcpClient; 	
	#endregion 	
		
	// Use this for initialization
	void Start () { 		
		// Start TcpServer background thread 		
		tcpListenerThread = new Thread (new ThreadStart(ListenForIncommingRequests)); 		
		tcpListenerThread.IsBackground = true; 		
		tcpListenerThread.Start(); 	
	}  	
	
	// Update is called once per frame
	void Update () { 		
		if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space)) {             
			SendMessage();         
		} 	
	}  	
	
	/// <summary> 	
	/// Runs in background TcpServerThread; Handles incomming TcpClient requests 	
	/// </summary> 	
	private void ListenForIncommingRequests () { 		
		try { 			
			// Create listener on localhost port 8052. 			
			tcpListener = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1"), 8052); 			
			tcpListener.Start();              
			Debug.Log("Server is listening");              
			Byte[] bytes = new Byte[1024];  			
			while (true) { 				
				using (connectedTcpClient = tcpListener.AcceptTcpClient()) { 					
					// Get a stream object for reading 					
					using (NetworkStream stream = connectedTcpClient.GetStream()) { 						
						int length; 						
						// Read incomming stream into byte arrary. 						
						while ((length = stream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)) != 0) { 							
							var incommingData = new byte[length]; 							
							Array.Copy(bytes, 0, incommingData, 0, length);  							
							// Convert byte array to string message. 							
							string clientMessage = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(incommingData); 							
							Debug.Log("client message received as: " + clientMessage); 						
						} 					
					} 				
				} 			
			} 		
		} 		
		catch (SocketException socketException) { 			
			Debug.Log("SocketException " + socketException.ToString()); 		
		}     
	}  	
	/// <summary> 	
	/// Send message to client using socket connection. 	
	/// </summary> 	
	private void SendMessage() { 		
		if (connectedTcpClient == null) {             
			return;         
		}  		
		
		try { 			
			// Get a stream object for writing. 			
			NetworkStream stream = connectedTcpClient.GetStream(); 			
			if (stream.CanWrite) {                 
				string serverMessage = "This is a message from your server."; 			
				// Convert string message to byte array.                 
				byte[] serverMessageAsByteArray = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(serverMessage); 				
				// Write byte array to socketConnection stream.               
				stream.Write(serverMessageAsByteArray, 0, serverMessageAsByteArray.Length);               
				Debug.Log("Server sent his message - should be received by client");           
			}       
		} 		
		catch (SocketException socketException) {             
			Debug.Log("Socket exception: " + socketException);         
		} 	
	} 
}

Hi,all.
How can i kill thread for listenting, when player wants to quit?

https://stackoverflow.com/a/1980528/575643

Hi,all.
How can i kill thread for listenting, when player wants to quit?

https://stackoverflow.com/a/1980528/575643

I think that will close the connection, but would not kill the thread.

Thats awesome! thanks!

I probe this with my arduino+esp8266. This working!!!!, Thanks a lot.

កាក

Hi,
above was the question how to kill the thread.
The comment that only the connection is closed is right.
The thread still is alive.
In a unity build it is not the problem because when closing the exe the thread is destroyed.
But allways restarting Unity Editor is very ugly.
So who to kick the thread? Abort() does not work in this case ... Thread is still alive ...
Anybody any idea?

Thanks,
regards, Matthias

Hi,
client script really helped me, but i don't know what about one thing. I use this to connect and communicate with server on RaspberryPi. It works great, but after i stop Unity and then close socket on Raspberry I get this in my console:

InvalidOperationException: The operation is not allowed on non-connected sockets.
System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient.GetStream () (at <14e3453b740b4bd690e8d4e5a013a715>:0)
tcpv3.ListenForData () (at Assets/Scenes/tcpv3.cs:56)
System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context (System.Object state) (at :0)
System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal (System.Threading.ExecutionContext executionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback callback, System.Object state, System.Boolean preserveSyncCtx) (at :0)
System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run (System.Threading.ExecutionContext executionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback callback, System.Object state, System.Boolean preserveSyncCtx) (at :0)
System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run (System.Threading.ExecutionContext executionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback callback, System.Object state) (at :0)
System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart () (at :0)
UnityEngine.<>c:b__0_0(Object, UnhandledExceptionEventArgs)

What does it mean? Is this something with closing thread? I am pretty new to Unity and I don't know what should I do.

Before close socket,you try close connections.
client.Close();

Excelent man
thank you for this codes, they help me a lot...

The Best !!!

@danielbierwirth Any way you could add an open-source license to this code so that I may integrate it (with attribution) into an open source project I'm contributing to? It's a win-win; I do less work and your page gains visibility. If so, I would recommend CC BY-SA 4.0, which allows for modification and redistribution, with proper attribution.

To do so, simply add the following text as a comment or separate file:
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

Thanks for your time and awesome code!

I couldn't make the server work on Unity 2020.3. I tested several clients and but I couldn't connect (timeout). Then I changed IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1") to IPAddress.Any when creating the TcpListener and now everything works flawless.

How to use in the case where I'm sending object
I know that I should serialize it but while deserializing it I have a problem in the fonction of deserialization
Show this error :
FromJsonOverwite can only be called from the main thread.
What should I do!?

Thanks for the code. I used the C# example for the client in Unity and wrote a server in Python. However I have problems with the rate at which I can send messages from the server to the client. I get BrokenPipeErrors when the rate is too fast. Maybe something about the ListenForData function in the client can be improved

The tcp port connection is not being freed since the client and server are running a background thread that only gets finished after closing or reloading the Editor (not totally sure about the last one), not after exiting play mode. So in order to reset the connection properly, call Close() on the server and the client, and make sure the threads can finish, adding a different condition inside the while(true) loops

Is while true loop necessary? I found that disposable getstream usage closes that socket, so next iteration of while loop throws exception dur to closed socket.