Java socket API: How to tell if a connection has been closed?

Question

I am running into some issues with the Java socket API. I am trying to display the number of players currently connected to my game. It is easy to determine when a player h

Answer 1

I faced similar problem. In my case client must send data periodically. I hope you have same requirement. Then I set SO_TIMEOUT socket.setSoTimeout(1000 * 60 * 5); which is throw java.net.SocketTimeoutException when specified time is expired. Then I can detect dead client easily.

Answer 2

As @user207421 say there is no way to know the current state of the connection because of the TCP/IP Protocol Architecture Model. So the server has to notice you before closing the connection or you check it by yourself.
This is a simple example that shows how to know the socket is closed by the server:

sockAdr = new InetSocketAddress(SERVER_HOSTNAME, SERVER_PORT);
socket = new Socket();
timeout = 5000;
socket.connect(sockAdr, timeout);
reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream());
while ((data = reader.readLine())!=null) 
      log.e(TAG, "received -> " + data);
log.e(TAG, "Socket closed !");