Sending Ready Signal through Socket in flex - actionscript-3

Question

I'm developing an AIR project to do machine integration in Flex. In one machine, my app works really good that I'm able to receive data from the machine as I wanted. In the second one, I think it is like we have to send 'READY' kind off signal to the machine for which we will get 'ACK' in return (Handshake) and then only the communication will begin.
How could this 'READY' signal be sent from ActionAcript using Socket.
My ActionScript Class File will look like this..
protected var socket:Socket;
public function init():void
{
socket = new Socket;
socket.addEventListener(Event.CONNECT, onConnect);
socket.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.SOCKET_DATA, onSocketData);
socket.addEventListener(Event.CLOSE, onClose);
}
/*** connect to the socket */
public function connect():void
{
if(socket.connected)
{
Status = "Socket is already listening to Port " + socket.remotePort + " in " + socket.remoteAddress;
return;
}
socket.connect("localhost", 5331);
}
/*** handles socket connect event */
private function onConnect(event:Event):void
{
if(socket.connected)
Status = "Connection established successfully from " + Capabilities.os;
else
Status = "Connection failure!";
}
/*** manipulation of received data */
private function onSocketData(event:ProgressEvent):void
{
//Data Recieved
}
/*** handles socket close event */
protected function onClose(event:Event):void
{
Status = "Socket Connection is being closed..";
}
The machine(KR-8900)'s output is RS232.. 8 pin mini din (Male).. and to the system it is db9 pin (as usual).. the serial port communication is done by an External Tool 'SerProxy'. SerProxy will send and receive the data to/from machine-System. Using the app, I will have to connect to the port in the System using Socket and perform Read & Write operations.
My problem here is I don't receive any data in my onSocketData function. Before the communication begins, I need to send READY signal.. I'm stuck here as I don't know how to do this in Flex. Any idea or suggestion are eagerly welcomed.

Answer 1

Socket API allows you to write strings and bytes to a binary socket.
When you socket is connected, you can do something like :
socket.writeUTFBytes("READY");
socket.flush();
You'll have to adapt this code so it will send exactly what you'll need it to send. You can use writeByte to write a null ("\0") character or any control character, too.
To read data, you need to use read methods.