NodeJs - socket.io

Socket.IO is a Node.JS project that makes WebSockets and realtime possible in all browsers. It also enhances WebSockets by providing built-in multiplexing, horizontal scalability, automatic JSON encoding/decoding, and more.

Установка

npm install socket.io

Использование

First, require socket.io:

var io = require('socket.io');

Next, attach it to a HTTP/HTTPS server. If you're using the fantastic express web framework:

Express 3.x
 var app = express()
  , server = require('http').createServer(app)
  , io = io.listen(server);

server.listen(80);

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  socket.emit('news', { hello: 'world' });
  socket.on('my other event', function (data) {
    console.log(data);
  });
});

Finally, load it from the client side code:

<script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
<script>
  var socket = io.connect('http://localhost');
  socket.on('news', function (data) {
    console.log(data);
    socket.emit('my other event', { my: 'data' });
  });
</script>
 
For more thorough examples, look at the examples/ directory.

Примеры использования

Sending and receiving events.

Socket.IO allows you to emit and receive custom events. Besides connect, message and disconnect, you can emit custom events:

// note, io.listen(<port>) will create a http server for you
var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  io.sockets.emit('this', { will: 'be received by everyone' });

  socket.on('private message', function (from, msg) {
    console.log('I received a private message by ', from, ' saying ', msg);
  });

  socket.on('disconnect', function () {
    io.sockets.emit('user disconnected');
  });
});

Storing data associated to a client

Sometimes it's necessary to store data associated with a client that's necessary for the duration of the session.

• Server side

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  socket.on('set nickname', function (name) {
    socket.set('nickname', name, function () { socket.emit('ready'); });
  });

  socket.on('msg', function () {
    socket.get('nickname', function (err, name) {
      console.log('Chat message by ', name);
    });
  });
});

• Client side

<script>
  var socket = io.connect('http://localhost');

  socket.on('connect', function () {
    socket.emit('set nickname', prompt('What is your nickname?'));
    socket.on('ready', function () {
      console.log('Connected !');
      socket.emit('msg', prompt('What is your message?'));
    });
  });
</script>

Restricting yourself to a namespace

If you have control over all the messages and events emitted for a particular application, using the default / namespace works.

If you want to leverage 3rd-party code, or produce code to share with others, socket.io provides a way of namespacing a socket.

This has the benefit of multiplexing a single connection. Instead of socket.io using two WebSocket connections, it'll use one.

The following example defines a socket that listens on '/chat' and one for '/news':

• Server side

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

var chat = io
  .of('/chat')
  .on('connection', function (socket) {
    socket.emit('a message', { that: 'only', '/chat': 'will get' });
    chat.emit('a message', { everyone: 'in', '/chat': 'will get' });
  });

var news = io
  .of('/news');
  .on('connection', function (socket) {
    socket.emit('item', { news: 'item' });
  });

• Client side:

<script>
  var chat = io.connect('http://localhost/chat')
    , news = io.connect('http://localhost/news');

  chat.on('connect', function () {
    chat.emit('hi!');
  });

  news.on('news', function () {
    news.emit('woot');
  });
</script>

• Sending volatile messages.

Sometimes certain messages can be dropped. Let's say you have an app that shows realtime tweets for the keyword bieber.

If a certain client is not ready to receive messages (because of network slowness or other issues, or because he's connected through long polling and is in the middle of a request-response cycle), if he doesn't receive ALL the tweets related to bieber your application won't suffer.

In that case, you might want to send those messages as volatile messages.

• Server side

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  var tweets = setInterval(function () {
    getBieberTweet(function (tweet) {
      socket.volatile.emit('bieber tweet', tweet);
    });
  }, 100);

  socket.on('disconnect', function () {
    clearInterval(tweets);
  });
});

• Client side

In the client side, messages are received the same way whether they're volatile or not.

Getting acknowledgements

Sometimes, you might want to get a callback when the client confirmed the message reception.

To do this, simply pass a function as the last parameter of .send or .emit. What's more, when you use .emit, the acknowledgement is done by you, which means you can also pass data along:

• Server side

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  socket.on('ferret', function (name, fn) {
    fn('woot');
  });
});

• Client side

<script>
  var socket = io.connect(); // TIP: .connect with no args does auto-discovery
  socket.on('connect', function () { // TIP: you can avoid listening on `connect` and listen on events directly too!
    socket.emit('ferret', 'tobi', function (data) {
      console.log(data); // data will be 'woot'
    });
  });
</script>

• Broadcasting messages

To broadcast, simply add a broadcast flag to emit and send method calls. Broadcasting means sending a message to everyone else except for the socket that starts it.

• Server side

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  socket.broadcast.emit('user connected');
  socket.broadcast.json.send({ a: 'message' });
});

• Rooms

Sometimes you want to put certain sockets in the same room, so that it's easy to broadcast to all of them together.

Think of this as built-in channels for sockets. Sockets join and leave rooms in each socket.

• Server side

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  socket.join('justin bieber fans');
  socket.broadcast.to('justin bieber fans').emit('new fan');
  io.sockets.in('rammstein fans').emit('new non-fan');
});
Using it just as a cross-browser WebSocket

If you just want the WebSocket semantics, you can do that too. Simply leverage send and listen on the message event:

• Server side

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  socket.on('message', function () { });
  socket.on('disconnect', function () { });
});

• Client side

<script>
  var socket = io.connect('http://localhost/');
  socket.on('connect', function () {
    socket.send('hi');

    socket.on('message', function (msg) {
      // my msg
    });
  });
</script>

Changing configuration

Configuration in socket.io is TJ-style:

• Server side

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);

io.configure(function () {
  io.set('transports', ['websocket', 'flashsocket', 'xhr-polling']);
});

io.configure('development', function () {
  io.set('transports', ['websocket', 'xhr-polling']);
  io.enable('log');
});