def check_server(address, date):
# create client side socket
checker = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
# create the proper request string with a helper function
request = Analysis.date_to_request(date)
# inside a try in case the connection fails the exception can be handled differently to prevent data loss
# its not necessary currently but could be if things are added to it
try:
# connect to server and send request
checker.connect(address)
checker.send(request.encode(encoding='utf-8'))
json_data = checker.recv(10000).decode(encoding='utf-8') # get response from server and decode
return pandas.read_json(json_data) # return
finally:
checker.close() # close connection no matter what
