Server
Client 1
Client 2
Client 3
To run one server and three clients, I opened three terminals (powershell) for the clients and 1 more terminal for the server. Afterwards, I started the server first by running cargo run --bin server, and then executed each of the clients one-by-one using cargo run --bin client. Then, in each of the clients I typed in a message which shows an output from all 3 clients in each of the clients and the server. When a client, such as Client 1, types a message, like "This is from client 1", and sends it to the server, the server acknowledges receipt of the message and broadcasts it to all other connected clients, including Client 2 and Client 3. Similarly, when Client 2 or Client 3 enters their respective messages, such as "This is from client 2" or "This is from client 3", the server ensures that these messages are distributed to all other clients in the chat. Consequently, all clients, including the one that sent the original message, receive broadcasted messages from the server, facilitating a synchronized communication environment where participants can engage in real-time conversations.
Conversely, upon successful startup, the server confirms its readiness by displaying a message indicating that it is listening on port 2000. As clients connect to the server, it logs each new connection, indicating the IP address and port number of the client. For instance, the server logs the establishment of connections from three different clients, identified by their IP addresses: 127.0.0.1. Additionally, the server displays messages received from each client, attributing them to the respective client's IP address. This demonstrates the server's ability to receive and process messages from multiple clients concurrently.
To modify the port to 8080 in the server-side code and ensure it runs properly, we need to update the server's listening port in the main() function of the server.rs file. Additionally, we should ensure that the clients connect to the correct port. After updating the server to listen on port 8080, we need to ensure that the clients also connect to the same port. The WebSocket protocol used for communication is defined in the tokio_websockets crate, specifically in the ClientBuilder and ServerBuilder implementations.By updating both the server and client code to use port 8080, we ensure that they communicate over the same port, enabling proper interaction between the server and clients.
Server
Client 1
Client 2
Client 3
The modification I made was in both in the server and the client. In the server, I modified the line within the loop where it is meant to send the broadcast message to the client into a formatted message containing the address and the text from the client via the incoming stream, let message = format!("Sean's Computer - From server: {}: {}", addr, text);, and finally send the message as a broadcast to the client as bcast_tx.send(message).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;. Previously, it used to just sent the message it received from the client from the incoming stream, but now it sends the formatted message along with the address and the text. The send method transmits the message to all subscribers of the channel, ensuring that every client receives the message. Additionally, the map_err method is utilized to handle any potential errors that may occur during the message transmission process, converting them into string representations for easier error handling and logging. Conversely, in the client, I just reformatted the text into println!("{}", text);, whereas it was println!("From server: {}", text);. This is because we are not sending the result of the text from the server anymore, but we are sending the full formatted message we defined earlier in server.rs.