6.2 Setting Up socket.io Server-Side
So far we've created an Express server. Now we want to start building a real-time Q&A moderation service and we've decided to use socket.io.
Using the http
module, create an new http
server and pass the express
app as the listener for that new server.
var express = require('express'); var app = express(); var server = require('http').createServer(app);
Using the socket.io
module, listen for requests on the http
server. Store the return object of this operation in a variable called io
.
var io = require('socket.io')(server);
Use the object stored in io
to listen for client 'connection'
events. Remember, the callback function takes one argument, which is the client object that has connected.
When a new client connects, log a message using console.log()
.
io.on('connection', function(client){ console.log(client + "has connected."); });
Finally, we want to tell our http
server to listen to requests on port 8080
.
server.listen(8080);
Code:
var express = require('express'); var app = express(); var server = require('http').createServer(app); var io = require('socket.io')(server); io.on('connection', function(client){ console.log(client + "has connected."); }); server.listen(8080);
6.3 Client socket.io Setup
In our html
file, load the socket.io.js
script and connect to the socket.io server.
Load the socket.io.js
script. The socket.io.js
path you should use is'/socket.io/socket.io.js'
. Express knows to serve the socket.io client js for this path.
Using the global io
object that's now available for us, connect to the socket.io server at http://localhost:8080
.
<script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script> <script> var server = io.connect('http://localhost:8080'); </script><script></script>
6.4 Listening For Questions
In our client below, listen for 'question'
events from the server and call the insertQuestion
function whenever the event fires.
First, listen for 'question'
events from the server
.
Now, have the event callback function call the insertQuestion
function. TheinsertQuestion
function is already created for you, and it's placed in its own file. It expects exactly one argument - the question.
server.on('question', function(data){ insertQuestion(data); });
Code:
<script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script> <script src="/insertQuestion.js"></script> <script> var server = io.connect('http://localhost:8080'); // Insert code here server.on('question', function(data){ insertQuestion(data); }); </script>
6.5 Broadcasting Questions
When a question is submitted to our server, we want to broadcast it out to all the connected clients so they can have a chance to answer it.
In the server, listen for 'question'
events from clients.
client.on('question', function(question){ });
Now, emit the 'question'
event on all the other clients connected, passing them the question data.
client.broadcast.emit('question', question);
Code:
var express = require('express'); var app = express(); var server = require('http').createServer(app); var io = require('socket.io')(server); io.on('connection', function(client) { console.log("Client connected..."); client.on('question', function(question){ client.emit('question', question); }); }); server.listen(8080);
6.6 Saving Client Data
In our real-time Q&A app, we want to allow each client only one question at a time, but how do we enforce this rule? We can use socket.io's ability to save data on the client, so whenever a question is asked, we first want to check the question_asked
value on the client.
First, when a client emits a 'question'
event, we want to set the value ofquestion_asked
to true
.
Second, when a client emits a 'question'
event, we want to broadcast that question to the other clients.
client.question_asked = true;
client.broadcast.emit('question', question);
Finally, when a client emits a 'question'
event, check to make surequestion_asked
is not already set to true
. We only want to allow one question per user, so make sure that we only set the value ofquestion_asked
and broadcast the question to other clients when the value of question_asked
is not already true
.
var express = require('express'); var app = express(); var server = require('http').createServer(app); var io = require('socket.io')(server); io.on('connection', function(client) { console.log("Client connected..."); client.on('question', function(question) { if(!client.question_asked){ client.question_asked = true; client.broadcast.emit('question', question); } }); }); server.listen(8080);
6.7 Answering Questions
Clients can also answer each other's questions, so let's build that feature by first listening for the 'answer'
event on the client, which will send us both the question and answer, which we want to broadcast out to the rest of the connected clients.
With the client
, listen for the 'answer'
event from clients.
client.on('answer', function(question, answer){ });
Now, emit
the 'answer'
event on all the other clients connected, passing them the question data.
// listen for answers here client.on('answer', function(question, answer){ client.broadcast.emit('answer', question, answer); });
6.8 Answering Question Client
Now on the client, listen for the 'answer'
event and then broadcast both the question and the answer to the connected clients.
Listen for the 'answer'
event off of the server
.
Call the answerQuestion
function, passing in both the question
and theanswer
that was broadcast from the server.
<script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script> <script> var server = io.connect('http://localhost:8080'); server.on('question', function(question) { insertQuestion(question); }); server.on('answer', function(question, answer){ answerQuestion(question, answer); }); //Don't worry about these methods, just assume //they insert the correct html into the DOM // var insertQuestion = function(question) { // } // var answerQuestion = function(question, answer) { // } </script>