interprocess communication problem

[paranoidSandra]

hi there!here's the problem in a nutshell:
there are 2 files.the program creates 2 processes:
the parent process outputs text lines from the 1st file and for each one of these lines the child process outputs relative info from the 2nd file.
e.g.
<1st line from file1>
<relative info from file2>
<relative info from file2>
...
<2nd line from file1>
<relative info from file2>
...
the problem is that after printing everything it keeps running. to be more specific, the parent process remains in a wait state and the child process gets stuck in a pipe_w state.
I'm clearly missing something but can't seem to be able to find it, so any help would be much appreciated!
here's the code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

void client(int readfd, int writefd);
void server(int readfd, int writefd);

int main(){
    int childpid, pipe[2], pipe[2], status;
    if((pipe(pipe1)< 0)||pipe(pipe2)< 0)){
        printf("Pipes were not created.\n";
        exit(1);
    }

    childpid = fork();
    if(childpid == -1){
        printf("Server wasn't created.\n);
        exit(1);
    }

    if(childpid > 0){ //parent
        close(pipe2[1]);
        close(pipe1[0]);
        client(pipe2[0], pipe1[1]);
        wait(&status);
        close(pipe2[0]);
        close(pipe1[1]);
        exit(0);
    }
    else{ //child
        close(pipe1[1]);
        close(pipe2[0]);
        server(pipe1[0], pipe2[1]);
        close(pipe1[0]);
        close(pipe2[1]);
        exit(0);
    }

    return 0;
}//end of main

void client(int readfd, int writefd){
    FILE *fp;
    fp = fopen("file1", "r");
    char buff[1024];
    char comm[320];
    char am[80];
    while(fgets(buff, sizeof buff, fp) != NULL){
        printf("%s \n", buff);

        //...(am is initialised here)

        writefd(writefd, am, strlen(am));
        while(read(readfd, comm, sizeof comm) <= 0){}
    }
    fclose(fp);
}

void server(int readfd, int writefd){
    char buff[1024];
    char am[80];
    while(read(readfd, am, sizeof am) > 0){
        FILE *fp;
        fp = fopen("file2", "r");
        while(fgets(buff, sizeof buff, fp) != NULL){
            //...
        }
        write(writefd, "done", 4);
        fclose(fp);
    }
}

[WaltP]

while(read(readfd, comm, sizeof comm) <= 0){}

What is this supposed to do?

[firdousahmad]

just check the code at line 21 and 22 i think problem is there

[paranoidSandra]

@WaltP: It waits for the child process to finish printing before outputing the next line from file1.
While server is printing it doesn't write anything to the pipe. When it's done line 67 is executed:

write(writefd, "done", 4);

and client continues with the outer loop.

(By the way "done" is just an example, it could be any string)

Perhaps i haven't understood completely the way pipes work...Do you think it's not needed?

[paranoidSandra]

@firdousahmad: actually i think the execution freezes at line 24, so the problem must be either in server or client..

[histrungalot]

Try

    if(childpid > 0){ //parent
        close(pipe2[1]);
        close(pipe1[0]);
        client(pipe2[0], pipe1[1]);
        //---------------------------------------------------
        // I moved these, you have to close the pipes 
        // so the server can exit and then the wait 
        // will catch the exit of the server.
        close(pipe2[0]);
        close(pipe1[1]);
        wait(&status);
        exit(0);
    }

Now while(read(readfd, am, sizeof am) > 0) will see the EOF and read will return -1 and you break out of the while loop.

[DeanMSands3]

Put in checkpoints in your code like printf("Client: Now entering client function.");

Tell us what happens.

[paranoidSandra]

histrungalot, that was it, it works fine now!thanks a lot!!! :D