boost asio async_write : how to not interleaving async_write calls?

Question

Here's my implementation :

• Client A send a message for Client B
• Server process the message by async_read the right amount of data and will wait for new data from Client A (in Order not to block Client A)
• Afterwards Server will process the information (probably do a mysql query) and then send the message to Client B with async_write.

The problem is, if Client A send message really fast, async_writes will interleave before the previous async_write handler is called.

Is there a simple way to avoid this problem ?

EDIT 1 : If a Client C sends a message to Client B just after Client A, the same issue should appear...

EDIT 2 : This would work ? because it seems to block, I don't know where...

 namespace structure {                                                              
  class User {                                                                     
  public:                                                                          
    User(boost::asio::io_service& io_service, boost::asio::ssl::context& context) :
      m_socket(io_service, context), m_strand(io_service), is_writing(false) {}    

    ssl_socket& getSocket() {                                                      
      return m_socket;                                                             
    }                                                                              

    boost::asio::strand getStrand() {                                              
      return m_strand;                                                             
    }                                                                              

    void push(std::string str) {                                                   
      m_strand.post(boost::bind(&structure::User::strand_push, this, str));        
    }                                                                              

    void strand_push(std::string str) {                                            

      std::cout << "pushing: " << boost::this_thread::get_id() << std::endl;       
      m_queue.push(str);                                                           
      if (!is_writing) {                                                           
        write();                                                                   
        std::cout << "going to write" << std::endl;                                
      }                                                                            
      std::cout << "Already writing" << std::endl;                                 
    }                                                                              

    void write() {                                                                 
      std::cout << "writing" << std::endl;                                         
      is_writing = true;                                                           
      std::string str = m_queue.front();                                           
      boost::asio::async_write(m_socket,                                           
                               boost::asio::buffer(str.c_str(), str.size()),       
                               boost::bind(&structure::User::sent, this)           
                               );                                                  
    }                                                                              

    void sent() {                                                                  
      std::cout << "sent" << std::endl;                                            
      m_queue.pop();                                                               
      if (!m_queue.empty()) {                                                      
        write();                                                                   
        return;                                                                    
      }                                                                            
      else                                                                         
        is_writing = false;                                                        
      std::cout << "done sent" << std::endl;                                       
    }                                          

  private:                                     
    ssl_socket          m_socket;              
    boost::asio::strand m_strand;              
    std::queue<std::string>     m_queue;       
    bool                        is_writing;    
  };                                           
}                                              

#endif

Answer 1

Is there a simple way to avoid this problem ?

Yes, maintain an outgoing queue for each client. Inspect the queue size in the async_write completion handler, if non-zero, start another async_write operation. Here is a sample

#include <boost/asio.hpp>
#include <boost/bind.hpp>

#include <deque>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

class Connection
{
public:
    Connection(
            boost::asio::io_service& io_service
            ) :
        _io_service( io_service ),
        _strand( _io_service ),
        _socket( _io_service ),
        _outbox()
    {

    }

    void write( 
            const std::string& message
            )
    {
        _strand.post(
                boost::bind(
                    &Connection::writeImpl,
                    this,
                    message
                    )
                );
    }

private:
    void writeImpl(
            const std::string& message
            )
    {
        _outbox.push_back( message );
        if ( _outbox.size() > 1 ) {
            // outstanding async_write
            return;
        }

        this->write();
    }

    void write()
    {
        const std::string& message = _outbox[0];
        boost::asio::async_write(
                _socket,
                boost::asio::buffer( message.c_str(), message.size() ),
                _strand.wrap(
                    boost::bind(
                        &Connection::writeHandler,
                        this,
                        boost::asio::placeholders::error,
                        boost::asio::placeholders::bytes_transferred
                        )
                    )
                );
    }

    void writeHandler(
            const boost::system::error_code& error,
            const size_t bytesTransferred
            )
    {
        _outbox.pop_front();

        if ( error ) {
            std::cerr << "could not write: " << boost::system::system_error(error).what() << std::endl;
            return;
        }

        if ( !_outbox.empty() ) {
            // more messages to send
            this->write();
        }
    }


private:
    typedef std::deque<std::string> Outbox;

private:
    boost::asio::io_service& _io_service;
    boost::asio::io_service::strand _strand;
    boost::asio::ip::tcp::socket _socket;
    Outbox _outbox;
};

int
main()
{
    boost::asio::io_service io_service;
    Connection foo( io_service );
}

some key points

• the boost::asio::io_service::strand protects access to Connection::_outbox
• a handler is dispatched from Connection::write() since it is public

it wasn't obvious to me if you were using similar practices in the example in your question since all methods are public.