tcp - lua socket communication from c# receiving nil -

i'm trying use lua script extract data program, , send data c# script processed , returns simple messages lua script pass along program.

the lua script follows

-- socket decls local socket = require("socket") local host, port = "127.0.0.1", 3000 local tcp = assert(socket.tcp()) tcp:connect(host,port) tcp:settimeout(0) tcp:send("stream starting...")  function sendeventinfotoserver(string)      tcp:send(string)  end  function processeventinfo()     local received, status = tcp:receive()      if received ~= nil         print(received, status);     end  end  while true       -- unrelated logic      processeventinfo(); end 

and on c# end

public class simpletcplistener {     private tcplistener tcplistener;     private tcpclient _tcpclient;     private thread listenthread;      private networkstream clientstream;      list<string> eventswaiting;     public list<string> eventswaiting {          {             list<string> templist = new list<string>();             (int = 0; < eventswaiting.count; i++)                 templist.add(eventswaiting[i]);             eventswaiting = new list<string>();             return templist;     }          private set { eventswaiting = value; }     }      public simpletcplistener()     {         eventswaiting = new list<string>();         this.tcplistener = new tcplistener(ipaddress.any, 3000);         this.listenthread = new thread(new threadstart(listenforclients));         this.listenthread.start();     }      private void listenforclients()     {         this.tcplistener.start();          while(true)         {             // blocks until client has connected server             tcpclient client = this.tcplistener.accepttcpclient();              // create thread handle communication             // connected client             thread clientthread = new thread(new parameterizedthreadstart(handleclientcom));             clientthread.start(client);              clientstream = client.getstream();         }     }      public void sendsavestateloadrequest()     {         if(clientstream != null)         {             asciiencoding encoder = new asciiencoding();             byte[] buffer = encoder.getbytes("hellolua!\n");             console.writeline("sending data lua");             if (clientstream.canwrite)                 clientstream.write(buffer, 0, buffer.length);             else                 console.writeline("connection close!");             //clientstream.flush();         }     }      private void handleclientcom(object client)     {         tcpclient tcpclient = (tcpclient)client;         networkstream clientstream = tcpclient.getstream();          byte[] message = new byte[4096];         int bytesread;          while(true)         {             bytesread = 0;              try             {                 // blocks until client sends message                 bytesread = clientstream.read(message, 0, 4096);             }             catch             {                 // socket error has occured                 break;             }              if(bytesread == 0)             {                 // client disconnected                 break;             }              // message has been recieved             asciiencoding encoder = new asciiencoding();             system.diagnostics.debug.writeline(encoder.getstring(message, 0, bytesread));             string s = encoder.getstring(message, 0, bytesread);             console.writeline(s);              if (!string.isnullorempty(s))                 eventswaiting.add(s);         }          tcpclient.close();     } } 

now, lua talks c# thread no problem, , c# doesn't report errors when sending data lua, on lua side it's receiving nil, if remove nil check receives , prints string, nil check never seems find 'received' not nil. i'm new lua script it's simple i'm not understanding syntax can't seem find lot of documentation.

any suggestions hugely appreciated.