NSTask/NSPipe read from Unix command

Question

I am writing a Cocoa application which needs to execute a UNIX program and read its output, line by line, as they are produced. I set up a NSTask and NSPipe as such:

task = [[NSTask alloc] init];
pipe = [NSPipe pipe];
[task setStandardOutput:pipe];
//... later ...
[task setArguments:...];
[task setLaunchPath:@"..."];
[task launch];
handle = [[task fileHandleForReading] retain];

The command does not terminate until the program tells it to do so with [task terminate]. I have tried several methods of reading from the handle, such as -readInBackgroundAndNotify, while([(data = [handle availableData]) length] > 0), and -waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify, but the pipe never seems to yield any data. Is there some way I can "poke" the NSTask or NSPipe to flush the data through?

EDIT: with -readInBackgroundAndNotify:

[handle readInBackgroundAndNotify];
notification_block_t handlerBlock =
    ^(NSNotification *notification) {
         NSData *data = [[notification userInfo]
                             objectForKey: NSFileHandleNotificationDataItem];
         /*... do stuff ...*/
         [self addNotification: handle block: handlerBlock];
     };
[self addNotification: handler block: handlerBlock];
//...
- (void)addNotification:(id)handle block:(notification_block_t)block {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]
         addObserverForName: NSFileHandleReadCompletionNotification
         object: handle
         queue: [NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
         usingBlock: block];
}

with -waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify:

[handle waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify];
notification_block_t handlerBlock =
    ^(NSNotification *notification) {
        NSData *data = [handle availableData];
        /*... do stuff ...*/
    };
[self addNotification: handler block: handlerBlock];

with while loop:

[self startProcessingThread: handle];
//...
- (void)startProcessingThread:(NSFileHandle *)handle {
    [[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
         addOperation: [[[NSInvocationOperation alloc]
                             initWithTarget: self
                             selector: @selector(dataLoop:)
                             object: handle] autorelease]];
}
- (void)dataLoop:(NSFileHandle *)handle {
    NSData *data;
    while([(data = [handle availableData]) length] > 0) {
        /*... do stuff ...*/
    }
}

EDIT 2: The arguments are set as follows (the command is tshark):

NSArray *cmd = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"-R", @"http.request", 
                                         @"-Tfields", @"-Eseparator='|'", 
                                         @"-ehttp.host", @"-ehttp.request.method", 
                                         @"-ehttp.request.uri", nil];
cmd = [[cmd arrayByAddingObjectsFromArray:[self.ports map:^(id arg1, NSUInteger idx) {
           return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"-d tcp.port==%d,http", [arg1 intValue]];
       }]] 
        arrayByAddingObject:[@"dst " stringByAppendingString:
            [self.hosts componentsJoinedByString:@" or dst "]]];
[self.tsharktask setArguments:cmd];

Dunc

Post all your code (e.g. how you defined the NSFileHandleDataAvailableNotification). – Percolator

typedef (^notification_block_t)(NSNotification *);, of course. – Dunc

Answer 1

Here is a working example of how I usually do it:

    task = [[NSTask alloc] init];
    [task setLaunchPath:...];
    NSArray *arguments;
    arguments = ...;
    [task setArguments:arguments];

    NSPipe *outPipe;
    outPipe = [NSPipe pipe];
    [task setStandardOutput:outPipe];

    outFile = [outPipe fileHandleForReading];
    [outFile waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify];
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                             selector:@selector(commandNotification:)
                                                 name:NSFileHandleDataAvailableNotification 
                                               object:nil];    

    [task launch];


- (void)commandNotification:(NSNotification *)notification
{
    NSData *data = nil;
    while ((data = [self.outFile availableData]) && [data length]){
        ...
    }   
}

Percolator

This works well, but it reads the output from my command in 4096 byte blocks, which is less than optimal as I would like to have the data available as soon as tshark produces it. – Dunc

Also I added -map: to NSArray as a category. – Dunc

The arguments are ok. Try playing a bit with the methods you see under Communicating Asynchronously paragraph of NSFileHandle documentation: developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/…, replacing waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify. – Percolator

Answer 2

Here's the async solution for getting the task output.

task.standardOutput = [NSPipe pipe];
[[task.standardOutput fileHandleForReading] setReadabilityHandler:^(NSFileHandle *file) {
NSData *data = [file availableData]; // this will read to EOF, so call only once
NSLog(@"Task output! %@", [[NSString alloc] initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]);

// if you're collecting the whole output of a task, you may store it on a property
//maybe you want to appenddata
//[weakself.taskOutput appendData:data];
}];

hope could help someone.

Bin