Counting connecting clients.

Question

Hi !
Can anyone show me a code to assign a number to different clients connecting to a java server ? I created a server/client pair and want to track the number of clients connecting to the server. A basic code would do.
Thanks,
TrueFaith

Answer 1

And my solution still applies.
Every time a connection occurs you have, from the socket standpoint, a new client.
Now perhaps you want to track connections via something else besides just connections. For example user name. Or IP address. Or some other criteria.
Then the actual tracking method depends on the criteria. For example if you want to track via IP address, then you could use the IP address itself. Either as is, or convert it to a real number.
On the other hand if you want to use some other criteria then the criteria (or a way to determine that) must come in the data that the socket receives. And it means you must store some sort of information somewhere. One way to do this is to create a table in a table base and use a 'key' field as the number. For each 'new' client a new entry is made. For 'old' clients they are looked up and the existing key is used. A database isn't a requirement but if you already have one it is convenient. This can be an in memory store if the information does not need be maintained if the server bounces (and the possible data set is small enough.)
The above would also apply even if you wanted to use the IP address but you wanted to display a smaller number. (Keeping in mind of course that tracking via IP generally only works for 'real' internet addresses or fixed intranet addresses.)