Python Socket Multiple Clients

Question

So I am working on an iPhone app that requires a socket to handle multiple clients for online gaming. I have tried Twisted, and with much effort, I have failed to get a bunch of info to be sent at once, which is why I am now going to attempt socket.

My question is, using the code below, how would you be able to have multiple clients connected? I've tried lists, but I just can't figure out the format for that. How can this be accomplished where multiple clients are connected at once and I am able to send a message to a specific client?

Thank you!

#!/usr/bin/python           # This is server.py file

import socket               # Import socket module
s = socket.socket()         # Create a socket object
host = socket.gethostname() # Get local machine name
port = 50000                # Reserve a port for your service.

print 'Server started!'
print 'Waiting for clients...'

s.bind((host, port))        # Bind to the port
s.listen(5)                 # Now wait for client connection.
c, addr = s.accept()     # Establish connection with client.
print 'Got connection from', addr
while True:
   msg = c.recv(1024)
   print addr, ' >> ', msg
   msg = raw_input('SERVER >> ')
   c.send(msg);
   #c.close()                # Close the connection

Answer 1

Based on your question:

My question is, using the code below, how would you be able to have multiple clients connected? I've tried lists, but I just can't figure out the format for that. How can this be accomplished where multiple clients are connected at once and I am able to send a message to a specific client?

Using the code you gave, you can do this:

#!/usr/bin/python           # This is server.py file                                                                                                                                                                           


import socket               # Import socket module
import thread

def on_new_client(clientsocket,addr):
    while True:
        msg = clientsocket.recv(1024)
        #do some checks and if msg == someWeirdSignal: break:
        print addr, ' >> ', msg
        msg = raw_input('SERVER >> ')
        #Maybe some code to compute the last digit of PI, play game or anything else can go here and when you are done.
        clientsocket.send(msg)
    clientsocket.close()

s = socket.socket()         # Create a socket object
host = socket.gethostname() # Get local machine name
port = 50000                # Reserve a port for your service.

print 'Server started!'
print 'Waiting for clients...'

s.bind((host, port))        # Bind to the port
s.listen(5)                 # Now wait for client connection.

print 'Got connection from', addr
while True:
   c, addr = s.accept()     # Establish connection with client.
   thread.start_new_thread(on_new_client,(c,addr))
   #Note it's (addr,) not (addr) because second parameter is a tuple
   #Edit: (c,addr)
   #that's how you pass arguments to functions when creating new threads using thread module.
s.close()

As Eli Bendersky mentioned, you can use processes instead of threads, you can also check python threading module or other async sockets framework. Note: checks are left for you to implement how you want and this is just a basic framework.