Example program

``msgop system call example'' is a menu-driven program. It allows all possible combinations of using the msgsnd and msgrcv system calls to be exercised.

From studying this program, you can observe the method of passing arguments and receiving return values. The user-written program requirements are pointed out.

This program begins (lines 5-9) by including the required header files as specified on the msgop(2). Note that in this program errno is declared as an external variable; therefore, the sys/errno.h header file does not have to be included.

Variable and structure names have been chosen to be as close as possible to those in the synopsis. Their declarations are self explanatory. These names make the program more readable and are perfectly valid since they are local to the program.

The variables declared for this program and what they are used for are as follows:

sndbuf

used as a buffer to contain a message to be sent (line 13); it uses the msgbuf1 data structure as a template (lines 10-13). The msgbuf1 structure (lines 10-13) is a duplicate of the msgbuf structure contained in the sys/msg.h header file, except that the size of the character array for mtext is tailored to fit this application. The msgbuf structure should not be used directly because mtext has only one element that would limit the size of each message to one character. Instead, declare your own structure. It should be identical to msgbuf except that the size of the mtext array should fit your application.

rcvbuf

used as a buffer to receive a message (line 13); it uses the msgbuf1 data structure as a template (lines 10-13)

msgp

used as a pointer (line 13) to both the sndbuf and rcvbuf buffers

i

used as a counter for inputing characters from the keyboard, storing them in the array, and keeping track of the message length for the msgsnd system call; it is also used as a counter to output the received message for the msgrcv system call

c

used to receive the input character from the getchar function (line 50)

flag

used to store the code of IPC_NOWAIT for the msgsnd system call (line 61)

flags

used to store the code of the IPC_NOWAIT or MSG_NOERROR flags for the msgrcv system call (line 117)

choice

used to store the code for sending or receiving (line 30)

rtrn

used to store the return values from all system calls

msqid

used to store and pass the desired message queue identifier for both system calls

msgsz

used to store and pass the size of the message to be sent or received

msgflg

used to pass the value of flag for sending or the value of flags for receiving

msgtyp

used for specifying the message type for sending or for picking a message type for receiving.

Note that a msqid_ds data structure is set up in the program (line 21) with a pointer initialized to point to it (line 22); this will allow the data structure members affected by message operations to be observed. They are observed by using the msgctl (IPC_STAT) system call to get them for the program to print them out (lines 80-92 and lines 160-167).

The first thing the program prompts for is whether to send or receive a message. A corresponding code must be entered for the desired operation; it is stored in the choice variable (lines 23-30). Depending upon the code, the program proceeds as in the following msgsnd or msgrcv sections.

msgsnd

When the code is to send a message, the msgp pointer is initialized (line 33) to the address of the send data structure, sndbuf. Next, a message type must be entered for the message; it is stored in the variable msgtyp (line 42), and then (line 43) it is put into the mtype member of the data structure pointed to by msgp.

The program now prompts for a message to be entered from the keyboard and enters a loop of getting and storing into the mtext array of the data structure (lines 48-51). This will continue until an end-of-file is recognized which, for the getchar function, is a CTRL-d immediately following a carriage return (<Return>).

The message is immediately echoed from the mtext array of the sndbuf data structure to provide feedback (lines 54-56).

The next and final thing that must be decided is whether to set the IPC_NOWAIT flag. The program does this by requesting that a code of a 1 be entered for yes or anything else for no (lines 57-65). It is stored in the flag variable. If a 1 is entered, IPC_NOWAIT is logically ORed with msgflg; otherwise, msgflg is set to zero.

The msgsnd system call is performed (line 69). If it is unsuccessful, a failure message is displayed along with the error number (lines 70-72). If it is successful, the returned value is printed and should be zero (lines 73-76).

Every time a message is successfully sent, three members of the associated data structure are updated. They are:

msg_qnum

represents the total number of messages on the message queue; it is incremented by one.

msg_lspid

contains the process identification (PID) number of the last process sending a message; it is set accordingly.

msg_stime

contains the time in seconds since January 1, 1970, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) of the last message sent; it is set accordingly.

These members are displayed after every successful message send operation (lines 79-92).

msgrcv

When the code is to receive a message, the program continues execution as in the following paragraphs.

The msgp pointer is initialized to the rcvbuf data structure (line 99).

Next, the message queue identifier of the message queue from which to receive the message is requested; it is stored in msqid (lines 100-103).

The message type is requested; it is stored in msgtyp (lines 104-107).

The code for the desired combination of control flags is requested next; it is stored in flags (lines 108-117). Depending upon the selected combination, msgflg is set accordingly (lines 118-131).

Finally, the number of bytes to be received is requested; it is stored in msgsz (lines 132-135).

The msgrcv system call is performed (line 142). If it is unsuccessful, a message and error number is displayed (lines 143-145). If successful, a message indicates so, and the number of bytes returned and the msg type returned (because the
value returned may be different from the value requested) is displayed followed by the received message (lines 150-156).

When a message is successfully received, three members of the associated data structure are updated. They are:

msg_qnum

contains the number of messages on the message queue; it is decremented by one.

msg_lrpid

contains the PID of the last process receiving a message; it is set accordingly.

msg_rtime

contains the time in seconds since January 1, 1970, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) that the last process received a message; it is set accordingly.

  1    /*This is a program to illustrate
  2     *the message operations, msgop(),
  3     *system call capabilities.
  4     */

  5    /*Include necessary header files.*/
  6    #include    <stdio.h>
  7    #include    <sys/types.h>
  8    #include    <sys/ipc.h>
  9    #include    <sys/msg.h>

 10    struct msgbuf1 {
 11        long    mtype;
 12        char    mtext[8192];
 13    } sndbuf, rcvbuf, *msgp;

 14    /*Start of main C language program*/
 15    main()
 16    {
 17        extern int errno;
 18        int i, c, flag, flags, choice;
 19        int rtrn, msqid, msgsz, msgflg;
 20        long mtype, msgtyp;
 21        struct msqid_ds msqid_ds, *buf;
 22        buf = & msqid_ds;

 23        /*Select the desired operation.*/
 24        printf("Enter the corresponding\n");
 25        printf("code to send or\n");
 26        printf("receive a message:\n");
 27        printf("Send            =  1\n");
 28        printf("Receive         =  2\n");
 29        printf("Entry           =  ");
 30        scanf("%d", &choice);

 31        if(choice == 1) /*Send a message.*/
 32        {
 33            msgp = & sndbuf; /*Point to user send structure.*/

 34            printf("\nEnter the msqid of\n");
 35            printf("the message queue to\n");
 36            printf("handle the message = ");
 37            scanf("%d", &msqid);

 38            /*Set the message type.*/
 39            printf("\nEnter a positive integer\n");
 40            printf("message type (long) for the\n");
 41            printf("message = ");
 42            scanf("%ld", &msgtyp);
 43            msgp->mtype = msgtyp;

 44            /*Enter the message to send.*/
 45            printf("\nEnter a message: \n");

 46            /*A control-d (^d) terminates as
 47              EOF.*/

 48            /*Get each character of the message
 49              and put it in the mtext array.*/
 50            for(i = 0; ((c = getchar()) != EOF); i++)
 51                sndbuf.mtext[i] = c;

 52            /*Determine the message size.*/
 53            msgsz = i;

 54            /*Echo the message to send.*/
 55            for(i = 0; i < msgsz; i++)
 56                putchar(sndbuf.mtext[i]);

 57            /*Set the IPC_NOWAIT flag if
 58              desired.*/
 59            printf("\nEnter a 1 if you want \n");
 60            printf("the IPC_NOWAIT flag set:  ");
 61            scanf("%d", &flag);
 62            if(flag == 1)
 63                msgflg = IPC_NOWAIT;
 64            else
 65                msgflg = 0;

 66            /*Check the msgflg.*/
 67            printf("\nmsgflg = 0%o\n", msgflg);

 68            /*Send the message.*/
 69            rtrn = msgsnd(msqid, (const void*) msgp, msgsz, msgflg);
 70            if(rtrn == -1)
 71            printf("\nMsgsnd failed.  Error = %d\n",
 72                    errno);
 73            else {
 74                /*Print the value of test which
 75                      should be zero for successful.*/
 76                printf("\nValue returned = %d\n", rtrn);

 77                /*Print the size of the message
 78                  sent.*/
 79                printf("\nMsgsz = %d\n", msgsz);

 80                /*Check the data structure update.*/
 81                msgctl(msqid, IPC_STAT, buf);

 82                /*Print out the affected members.*/

 83                /*Print the incremented number of
 84                  messages on the queue.*/
 85                printf("\nThe msg_qnum = %d\n",
 86                    buf->msg_qnum);
 87                /*Print the process id of the last sender.*/
 88                printf("The msg_lspid = %d\n",
 89                    buf->msg_lspid);
 90                /*Print the last send time.*/
 91                printf("The msg_stime = %d\n",
 92                    buf->msg_stime);
 93            }
 94        }

 95        if(choice == 2)  /*Receive a message.*/
 96        {
 97            /*Initialize the message pointer
 98              to the receive buffer.*/
 99            msgp = & rcvbuf;

100            /*Specify the message queue which contains
101                   the desired message.*/
102            printf("\nEnter the msqid = ");
103            scanf("%d", &msqid);

104            /*Specify the specific message on the queue
105                  by using its type.*/
106            printf("\nEnter the msgtyp = ");
107            scanf("%ld", &msgtyp);

108            /*Configure the control flags for the
109                  desired actions.*/
110            printf("\nEnter the corresponding code\n");
111            printf("to select the desired flags: \n");
112            printf("No flags                    =  0\n");
113            printf("MSG_NOERROR                 =  1\n");
114            printf("IPC_NOWAIT                  =  2\n");
115            printf("MSG_NOERROR and IPC_NOWAIT  =  3\n");
116            printf("                Flags       =  ");
117            scanf("%d", &flags);

118            switch(flags) {
119            case 0:
120                msgflg = 0;
121                break;
122            case 1:
123                msgflg = MSG_NOERROR;
124                break;
125            case 2:
126                msgflg = IPC_NOWAIT;
127                break;
128            case 3:
129                msgflg = MSG_NOERROR | IPC_NOWAIT;
130                break;
131            }

132            /*Specify the number of bytes to receive.*/
133            printf("\nEnter the number of bytes\n");
134            printf("to receive (msgsz) = ");
135            scanf("%d", &msgsz);

136            /*Check the values for the arguments.*/
137            printf("\nmsqid =%d\n", msqid);
138            printf("\nmsgtyp = %ld\n", msgtyp);
139            printf("\nmsgsz = %d\n", msgsz);
140            printf("\nmsgflg = 0%o\n", msgflg);

141            /*Call msgrcv to receive the message.*/
142            rtrn = msgrcv(msqid, (void*), msgp, msgsz, msgtyp, msgflg);

143            if(rtrn == -1)  {
144                printf("\nMsgrcv failed., Error = %d\n", errno);
145            }
146            else {
147                printf ("\nMsgctl was successful\n");
148                printf("for msqid = %d\n",
149                    msqid);

150                /*Print the number of bytes received,
151                  it is equal to the return
152                  value.*/
153                printf("Bytes received = %d\n", rtrn);

154                /*Print the received message.*/
155                for(i = 0; i<rtrn; i++)
156                    putchar(rcvbuf.mtext[i]);
157            }
158            /*Check the associated data structure.*/
159            msgctl(msqid, IPC_STAT, buf);
160            /*Print the decremented number of messages.*/
161            printf("\nThe msg_qnum = %d\n", buf->msg_qnum);
162            /*Print the process id of the last receiver.*/
163            printf("The msg_lrpid = %d\n", buf->msg_lrpid);
164            /*Print the last message receive time*/
165            printf("The msg_rtime = %d\n", buf->msg_rtime);
166        }
167    }

msgop system call example