Using MQTT to send time stamp - to Arduino

Question

In previous question in this forum - I asked about updating clock on an ESP8266, using MQTT broker to send a time stamp on demand, in following manner:

1) ESP8266 sends a publish containing the payload :"sync",

2) broker answers in string format ( this part is python )

def on_message(self, client, obj, msg):
 self.arrived_msg = msg.payload.decode()
 if self.arrived_msg == "sync":
 a = datetime.datetime.now()
 b = "%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d" % (a.year, a.month, a.day, a.hour, a.minute, a.second, a.microsecond) . <------ here a string time format is created
 self.client.publish(topic=self.topics[0], payload=b, qos=self.topic_qos) 

3) on a terminal (MAC OS), subscribed to relevant topic- cant see publish results. which are OK:

sync <----- ESP sends request
2018,9,18,12,44,18,903242 <----- string answer from broker

4) BUT when Arduino code get this time stamp:

void callback(char* topic, byte* payload, unsigned int length) {
 char incoming_msg[50];
 // ledBlink(30, 5);
 Serial.print("Message arrived [");
 Serial.print(topic);
 Serial.print("] ");
 for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
 Serial.print((char)payload[i]); <----- print #1
 incoming_msg[i] = (char)payload[i]; <----- generate incoming msg
 }
 Serial.println("");
 if (strcmp(topic,clockTopic)==0) { <------- detect relvant topic for clock sync
 Serial.print(incoming_msg); <------ Print #2
 }

5) I get this result on serial monitor :

Message arrived [HomePi/Dvir/Clock] 2018,9,18,13,48,5,230009 <---- here time stamp is OK , Print #1
2018,9,18,13,48,5,230009$��?O: @ . <----- Print #2

EDIT1:

6) I tried adding a null termination in time stamp, but it just added 0円 to time stamp Appreciate any help

Guy

Answer 1

You forgot to set the terminating zero of the c-ctring incoming_msg.

add incoming_msg[length] = 0;

• guyd: please see my comment in Majenko's answer
• Juraj: incoming_msg[length] = 0;
• guyd: got it the first time :)
• guyd: OK- it works. Can you please explain why last char does not regarded as a plain 0 ? and regarded as 0円 ?
• Juraj: the 0 is valid only in memory as a terminator for the c-string. it is not valid for transport over a network. you get the payload bytes and the length. you convert the payload to a string of length length so you must set the terminating zero at the right position of the char array

Answer 2

In C a string is "null terminated". That means that the very last character of every string must be character 0 (or NULL).

You need to ensure that you add that NULL character to the end of your incoming_msg string to terminate it, or force the entire string to be cleared to NULLs before you populate it.

The simplest way is to zero the string:

bzero(incoming_string, 50);

Or you can force a 0 to be appended after each byte is added:

incoming_msg[i] = (char)payload[i];
incoming_msg[i+1] = 0;

Or just add one at the end:

incoming_msg[length] = 0;

There's many ways of doing it - as long as you get that NULL in there somehow.

• guyd: thank you for your answer, as a matter of fct I tried to send time stamp with null termination ( but with no luck ), I did like :` ('%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%d,%s)` which last parameter was '0円'. perhaps I didn;t do it right ? or this is impossible ?
• Majenko: It's not the sending. It's the copying into your internal array. You discard the null.
• guyd: OK, what is the pupose of adding 0 every loop ( as you wrote ) ?
• Majenko: It's just one of the many ways of ensuring that there is a null after the last character.