Problem with socket - Client in C and Server in Java

Question

Hi,
I am building a Java based TCP server socket class in Windows machine. The client is written in C running in Linux.
The client sends data in specified C struct: Eg.
{noformat}struct person {
    int   age;
    float weight;
    int height;
  } I am having problem reading it in Java Server. I am using DataInputStream to read byte and trying to decode it in age, float etc. the problem is I can read first two but I cannot properly decode the 'height'.
My question is it possible to directly cast the input stream in corresponding Java object? I guess not but would like to know your ideas.
Is it a good idea to send the struct instead of string?
regards,
rnv

Answer 1

You are perpetrating mistake #1 here. Don't try to send C structs over the wire. The format is dependent on the hardware, the operating system, the compiler, the compiler version, compiler bugs, the #pragmas, and the compiler options in effect. Too many variables. What you should be doing is writing the primitive types to the network, in network byte order, and reading them inJava with the appropriate methods of DataInputStream.