Two-way chatroom?

Question

Hi, I'm relatively new to Java, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. What I am TRYING to do is use sockets to make essentially a two-way chat where each person can send and receive messages at the same time. Below is the code which has gotten me the closest, but what it does is it waits for the person to send the message before receiving any new ones.
For example:
Person A types "hello" and presses enter.
Person B would see nothing.
Person B types "hi" and presses enter.
NOW Person B sees A's "hello" AND A sees B's "hi."
I guess what must be happening is it's getting stalled on sending a message instead of executing the receiving command at the same time. Any ideas on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.
Here is the client side:
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;
public class myClient
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception     
          BufferedReader inFromUser=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
          System.out.print("IP: ");
          String server=inFromUser.readLine();
          Socket socket=new Socket(server,9999);
          DataOutputStream outToServer=new DataOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
          BufferedReader inFromServer=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()));     
          while(true)
                    receive(socket, outToServer, inFromUser, inFromServer);
                    send(socket, outToServer, inFromUser, inFromServer);
     public static void send(Socket socket, DataOutputStream outToServer, BufferedReader inFromUser, BufferedReader inFromServer) throws Exception
          System.out.print("You: ");
          String outGoingMessage;
          if((outGoingMessage=inFromUser.readLine())!=null)
               outToServer.writeBytes(outGoingMessage+'\n'+'\n');
     public static void receive(Socket socket, DataOutputStream outToServer, BufferedReader inFromUser, BufferedReader inFromServer) throws Exception
          String incomingMessage;
          if((incomingMessage=inFromServer.readLine())!=null)
               System.out.println("Server: "+incomingMessage);
And the server:
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;
public class myServer
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception     
               String line;          
               BufferedReader in;          
               PrintStream out;
               InetAddress ip=InetAddress.getLocalHost();
               System.out.println("Your IP is: "+ip.getHostAddress());
               ServerSocket welcomeSocket=new ServerSocket(9999);
               Socket connectionSocket=welcomeSocket.accept();
               DataOutputStream outToServer=new DataOutputStream(connectionSocket.getOutputStream());
               BufferedReader inFromUser=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
               BufferedReader inFromServer=new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(connectionSocket.getInputStream()));
               while(true)               
                    send(connectionSocket, outToServer, inFromUser, inFromServer);
                    receive(connectionSocket, outToServer, inFromUser, inFromServer);
     public static void send(Socket socket, DataOutputStream outToServer, BufferedReader inFromUser, BufferedReader inFromServer) throws Exception
          String outGoingMessage;
          System.out.print("You: ");
          if((outGoingMessage=inFromUser.readLine())!=null)
               outToServer.writeBytes(outGoingMessage+'\n'+'\n');
     public static void receive(Socket socket, DataOutputStream outToServer, BufferedReader inFromUser, BufferedReader inFromServer) throws Exception
          String incomingMessage;
          if((incomingMessage=inFromServer.readLine())!=null)
               System.out.println("Client: "+incomingMessage);
Thanks so much for any help!

Answer 1

Client.java
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel;
public class Client extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
     private JLabel lblName;
     private JLabel lblMsg;
     private JTextField txtName;
     private JTextField txtMsg;
     private Button btnSetName;
     private Button btnSendMsg;
     private Button btnClear;
     private JTextArea display;
     private JPanel displayPanel;
     //declare all GUI components
     private DataInputStream in;
     private DataOutputStream out;
     //declare DataInputStream and DataOutputStream
     private boolean connect=false;
     private String name="";
     //declare all variables needed
     public Client() {
          super("Client");
          lblName          =new JLabel("Enter your name:");
          lblMsg           =new JLabel("Enter message");
          txtName =new JTextField(10);
          txtMsg =new JTextField(30);
          btnSetName =new Button("Set Name");
          btnSendMsg =new Button("Send msg");
          btnClear =new Button("Clear");
          txtName.setEnabled(false);
          btnSetName.setEnabled(false);
          txtMsg.setEnabled(false);
          btnSendMsg.setEnabled(false);
          displayPanel =new JPanel();
          displayPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
          display=new JTextArea();
          displayPanel.add(lblName);
          displayPanel.add(txtName);
          displayPanel.add(btnSetName);
          displayPanel.add(lblMsg);
          displayPanel.add(txtMsg);
          displayPanel.add(btnSendMsg);
          displayPanel.add(btnClear);
          Container c=getContentPane();
          c.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
          c.add(display);
          c.add(displayPanel,BorderLayout.NORTH);
          btnSetName.addActionListener(this);
          btnSendMsg.addActionListener(this);
          btnClear .addActionListener(this);
     }//constructor
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          try {
               UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel");
          catch (Exception e) {
          Client app=new Client();
          app.setSize(900,300);
          app.show();
          app.runClient(args);
     }//end of main
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
          if(e.getSource()==btnSetName) {
               name=txtName.getText();
               txtName.setEnabled(false);
               btnSetName.setEnabled(false);
               try {
                    out.writeUTF(name+ " has logged in");
                    super.setTitle("mIRC: "+name+ " has logged in");
                    txtMsg.setEnabled(true);
                    btnSendMsg.setEnabled(true);
               catch(IOException io) {
                    System.out.println(io);
          }//end of e.getSource() for btnSetName
          else if(e.getSource()==btnSendMsg) {
               String input=txtMsg.getText();
               try {
                    out.writeUTF(name+" : "+input);
               catch(IOException io) {
                    System.out.println(io);
          }//end of e.getSource() for btnSendMsg
          else if(e.getSource()==btnClear) {
               display.setText("");
          }//end of e.getSource() for btnClear
          repaint();
     }//end of actionPerformed
     public void runClient(String[] args) {
          try {
               Socket client=new Socket(InetAddress.getByName("127.0.0.1"),7000);
               int destPort=client.getPort();          
               display.append("Connection established on port no: " destPort "\n");
               in=new DataInputStream(client.getInputStream());
               out=new DataOutputStream(client.getOutputStream());
               txtName.setEnabled(true);
               btnSetName.setEnabled(true);
               while(true) {
                    String s=in.readUTF();
                    display.append("" s "\n");
          catch(ConnectException e) {
               JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,"Connect Exception occurred");
               e.printStackTrace();
               System.out.println(e);
               System.exit(0);
          catch(IOException e) {
               JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,"IO Exception occured");
               e.printStackTrace();
               System.out.println(e);
     }//run socket for client
}//end of class
Server.java
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.util.*;
public class Server {
     private static DataInputStream in;
     private static DataOutputStream out;
     private static Vector vDataOut=new Vector();
     public Server() {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          Server app=new Server();
          app.runServer();
     public static void runServer() {
          try {
               System.out.println("Server has started");
               ServerSocket s=new ServerSocket(7000);
               int localPort = s.getLocalPort();
               System.out.println("Server is listening on port " +localPort);
               while(true) {
                    Socket server=s.accept();
                    String destIP=server.getInetAddress().toString();
                    String destName=server.getInetAddress().getHostName();
                    int destPort=server.getPort();
                    System.out.println("Accepted connection from " destName ", IP add: "+destIP+ " on port " + destPort);
                    in=new DataInputStream(server.getInputStream());
                    out=new DataOutputStream(server.getOutputStream());
                    vDataOut.addElement(out);
                    Session session=new Session(in,vDataOut);
                    session.start();
          catch(IOException e) {
               System.out.println(e);
}//end of class
class Session extends Thread {
     DataInputStream in;
     Vector vDataOut;
     public Session(DataInputStream input,Vector v) {
          super();
          in=input;
          vDataOut=v;
     }//constructor
     public void run() {
          while(true) {
               try {
                    String s=in.readUTF();
                    Enumeration e=vDataOut.elements();
                    System.out.println(s);               
                    while(e.hasMoreElements()) {
                         DataOutputStream o=(DataOutputStream) (e.nextElement());
                         o.writeUTF(s);
               catch(IOException e) {
     }//end of run
}//end of Session class