Send a message using websockets in node.js - javascript

hell0 there!
Today I tried to send a websocket message. What am I doing wrong? I commented the code bellow so hopefully you guys can understand my goal...
// Import websocket
const websocket = require('ws');
// Create server
var socket = new websocket.Server({ port: 8080 })
// When client connects to websock server, reply with a hello world message
socket.on('connection', ws => {
ws.send('{"message":"Hello world."}'); //This works.
});
function send_message(msg){
ws.send(msg);
}
/* Calculate something, await for user interaction, etc... */
// When im done with all that, just send a message.
send_message('{"message":"please work"}'); // This does not work
What am I doing wrong?

You need to keep track of the connections. How you do that is up to you
const websocket = require('ws');
const socket = new websocket.Server({ port: 8080 })
const connections = [];
socket.on('connection', ws => {
connections.push(ws);
});
// send a new message to every connection once per second
setInterval(() => {
const date = new Date();
for (const ws of connections) {
ws.send(`hello again: ${date}`);
}
}, 1000);
Of course a real app would probably track the connections via something more complicated than just an array of connections. It would also need to stop tracking those connections when they disconnect etc...

const socket = new WebSocket('server_url'); // Connection opened
socket.addEventListener('message', function (event) { socket.send('send message'); });
I used the WebSocket like this to send the message.
I hope this will help you to fix the issues.

Related

How can I do Ping/Pong between JavaScript and NodeJS WebSocket?

I'm currently developing a NodeJS WebSocket server. To detect broken connections I've followed this guide here:
https://github.com/websockets/ws#how-to-detect-and-close-broken-connections
The server side works really good but the client makes problems because I can't find a ping function.
Does anyone has an idea how I can get the client part done without the library?
const WebSocket = require('ws');
function heartbeat() {
clearTimeout(this.pingTimeout);
// Use `WebSocket#terminate()`, which immediately destroys the connection,
// instead of `WebSocket#close()`, which waits for the close timer.
// Delay should be equal to the interval at which your server
// sends out pings plus a conservative assumption of the latency.
this.pingTimeout = setTimeout(() => {
this.terminate();
}, 30000 + 1000);
}
const client = new WebSocket('wss://echo.websocket.org/');
client.on('open', heartbeat);
client.on('ping', heartbeat);
client.on('close', function clear() {
clearTimeout(this.pingTimeout);
});
One main problem is that there is no ping method I think:
client.on('open') -> client.onopen available in JavaScript
client.on('close') -> client.onclose available in JavaScript
client.on('ping') -> How? Just how?
There is no Javascript API to send ping frames or receive pong frames. This is either supported by your browser, or not. There is also no API to enable, configure or detect whether the browser supports and is using ping/pong frames.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/10586583/7377682
Sad but true, in case of the ping frame, the API does not support it as mentioned in previous answers.
The most popular workaround is to listen to the close event and try to reconnect to the server using an interval.
This tutorial is easy to understand and contains most use-cases to begin with WS:
var ws = new WebSocket("ws://localhost:3000/ws");
let that = this; // cache the this
var connectInterval;
var check = () => {
const { ws } = this.state;
if (!ws || ws.readyState == WebSocket.CLOSED) this.connect(); //check if websocket instance is closed, if so call `connect` function.
};
// websocket onopen event listener
ws.onopen = () => {
console.log("connected websocket main component");
this.setState({ ws: ws });
that.timeout = 250; // reset timer to 250 on open of websocket connection
clearTimeout(connectInterval); // clear Interval on on open of websocket connection
};
// websocket onclose event listener
ws.onclose = e => {
console.log(
`Socket is closed. Reconnect will be attempted in ${Math.min(
10000 / 1000,
(that.timeout + that.timeout) / 1000
)} second.`,
e.reason
);
that.timeout = that.timeout + that.timeout; //increment retry interval
connectInterval = setTimeout(this.check, Math.min(10000, that.timeout)); //call check function after timeout
};
// websocket onerror event listener
ws.onerror = err => {
console.error(
"Socket encountered error: ",
err.message,
"Closing socket"
);
ws.close();
};
I think what you are look for on the client is onmessage:
client.onmessage = function (event) {
console.log(event.data);
}
All messages sent from the server can be listened to this way. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebSockets_API/Writing_WebSocket_client_applications

How to emit to everyone using a poller with Socket.IO

So I'm using Server.js for a middleware application that polls data every few seconds and emits the data to all clients. The problem I'm running into is that a new set of pollers are being created for every new socket connection, with each of those pollers getting and emiting to all clients (way too much data). I only want one poller that emits to all, is there a way to do this with Server.js using Socket.IO?
const server = require('server')
const { get, post, socket } = require('server/router')
socket('connect', socket => {
// New connection
setInterval(() => getData(socket), 60000),
});
function getData(socket) {
let sets = db.newSet()
if (typeof socket != 'undefined') {
socket.io.emit("set", sets);
}
return '';
}

Socket.io client disconnects due to ping timeout / transport closed

Here's my setup:
Raspberry Pi 2 (192.168.1.101):
Sensor recording temperature, pressure and humidity.
Python3 script connected to a Raspberry Pi 3, reading sensor data and sending to Pi 3, in JSON format, every 5 seconds.
Raspberry Pi 3 (192.168.1.100):
Node.js server listening for python client on port 8888.
Socket.io listening for web clients on port 3000 (port 3000 and 80 have been opened on my router).
Web server (on port 80) with a website displaying sensor data.
JavaScript connecting to node server, using socket.io, via foobar.ddns.net:3000.
Misc:
I'm using noip.com to have a domain serving my dynamic IP address, my router lets noip know when my public IP changes. I have a URL that looks like foobar.ddns.net.
This setup seems to be working. The Python script is sending data to the node server, which is forwarding it on to any web client connected, which is displayed correctly on the website.
My issue is that the web client disconnects after 1 round of ping/pong between the client and node server.
Here's the chrome console log when connected to the server and receiving data:
The web client connects, receives some data, does a ping/pong with the server, receives some more data, then when it's supposed to ping/pong again it disconnects, then after a while it tries reconnecting and the cycle continues.
And here's the node.js log:
The first New Connection is the Python client (I'm not sure why the IP is the Pi3 address), the rest are the same web client connecting, being disconnected for ping time out, then reconnecting. The client appears to be disconnecting based on on the servers pingInterval + pingTimeout values.
Changing the pingTimeout and pingInterval values just delays the disconnect.
Here's my code:
Python Client:
import json
import socket
import bme280_sensor
import time
import os
class Connection():
def __init__(self, host, port):
self.host = host
self.port = port
def connect(self):
print('Creating socket')
try:
self.sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
except socket.error as msg:
print('Failed to create socket: %s' % msg)
raise
print('Socket created')
server_address = (self.host, self.port)
print('Connecting to %s:%s' % server_address)
try:
self.sock.connect(server_address)
except socket.error as msg:
print('Failed to connect: %s' % msg)
raise
print('Connected')
def shutdown(self):
print('Shutting down')
self.sock.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
self.sock.close()
def measure_temp():
bme_data = bme280_sensor.read_all()
obj = {}
obj['temp'] = round(bme_data[2], 2)
obj['humidity'] = round(bme_data[0], 2)
obj['pressure'] = round(bme_data[1], 2)
return json.dumps(obj)
def sendData(sock):
print('Sending data')
while True:
try:
data = 'data,' + measure_temp()
sock.sendall(data.encode())
except socket.error as msg:
print("Cannot send to server: %s" % msg)
break
time.sleep(5)
connection = Connection('192.168.1.100', 8888)
while True:
try:
connection.connect()
sendData(connection.sock)
connection.shutdown()
break
except socket.error as msg:
print('Connection failed, retrying in 3 seconds.')
time.sleep(3)
print('Done')
Node.js Server:
var net = require('net');
var port = 8888;
var server = net.createServer();
// socket io listens for clients on port 3000
var io = require('socket.io')(3000,{
pingInterval: 10000,
pingTimeout: 5000,
});
// server listens for python client on port 8888
server.listen(port);
console.log('Server started');
// store the last data recorded, so when a socket.io client connects, they can get the last reading instead of waiting for the next one
global.last;
server.on('connection', function(socket){
console.log('New server connection ' + socket.address().address);
// when the server recieves data, send it to the connected socket clients
socket.on('data', function(data){
// strip the first 5 characters from the input string, parse json from the result
var actual = generateJSON(data.toString().substring(5));
// store the dta
global.last = actual;
//send the data
io.sockets.emit('data', actual);
});
});
io.on('connection', function(socket){
console.log('New io connection ' + socket.id);
// if the server has data previously recorded, send it to the new client
if(global.last){
io.emit('data', global.last);
}
socket.on('disconnect', function(reason){
console.log('io disconnect: ' + reason);
});
});
function generateJSON(data){
var dataJSON = JSON.parse(data);
var obj = new Object();
obj.temperature = dataJSON.temp;
obj.humidity = dataJSON.humidity;
obj.pressure = dataJSON.pressure;
obj.datetime = new Date().toString();
return JSON.stringify(obj);
}
Website Javascript:
var socket;
var connected = false;
function connect(){
console.log('connecting...')
if(socket){
socket.destroy()
delete socket;
socket = null;
}
socket = io.connect("http://foobar.ddns.net:3000", {
forceNew: true,
reconnection: true,
reconnectionDelay: 3000,
reconnectionDelayMax: 5000,
reconnectionAttempts: Infinity
});
console.log(socket);
socket.on("data", function(data){
var obj = JSON.parse(data);
console.log(data);
$('#temperature-value').text(obj.temperature);
$('#humidity-value').text(obj.humidity);
$('#pressure-value').text(obj.pressure);
lastUpdate = new Date();
});
socket.on('connect_error', function(error){
console.log('connection error: ' + error);
});
socket.on('connect_timeout', function(){
console.log('connection timeout');
});
socket.on('reconnect', function(){
console.log('reconnect');
});
socket.on('reconnect_attempt', function(){
console.log('reconnect attempt');
});
socket.on('reconnect_failed', function(){
console.log('reconnect_failed');
});
socket.on('reconnect_error', function(){
console.log('reconnect_error');
});
socket.on('reconnecting', function(){
console.log('reconnecting');
});
socket.on('ping', function(){
console.log('ping');
});
socket.on('pong', function(ms){
console.log('pong ' + ms + "ms");
});
socket.on('connect', function(){
console.log('connected to server');
connected = true;
});
socket.on('disconnect', function(reason){
console.log('disconnected from server: ' + reason);
connected = false;
});
}
$(document).ready(function(){
connect();
});
I'm accessing the socket.io.js script with this in my index.html:
<script src="http://foobar.ddns.net:3000/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
This is functional but the disconnects are rather annoying, I'd rather the client stays connected. I have a feeling that my node.js server is not setup correctly, but I can't figure out what the issue is. If there's a better way to feed data from the python script > node.js server > web clients then please let me know.
Thanks
I've solved the issue! It had nothing to do with node.js or socket.io.
The issue was on the web page I have displaying the data, I had this method to update a span showing the seconds since the last update:
function updateLastUpdateTimer(){
var seconds = (new Date() - lastUpdate) / 1000;
$('#time-since-last-update').text(formatTime(seconds) + " ago");
$('#last-updated-time').text(lastUpdate);
setInterval(updateLastUpdateTimer, 1000);
}
The issue was setInterval when it should have been setTimeout. I realised that my web page was eating up RAM, which was causing the client socket to hang and not send any data to the server, which was causing the time out!
The setInterval method runs a function every x milliseconds. DO NOT put it in the method you want to call! Call it once instead.
To anyone reading this who has the same issue with ping timeout and transport closed disconnects, check your client!

Using Socket.IO from Node.js to connect to external server

Background: I have a node.js server running on my localhost (call this Server A); and an external server running node.js at https://example.net:3000 (call this Server B). I do not control or have access to Server B (it is a dashboard site for an IoT device in my home), but I need to connect to is using socket.io and emit a specific message.
I can connect to it easily from a flat javascript file (client-side), but need it running server side (ultimate goal is to make it into something I can call with an HTTP request); and examples such as How to connect two node.js servers with websockets? suggest I should be able to use socket.io-client from node.js with nearly the same code to achieve the same results. But when I run the code from node.js, I cannot connect to the socket.
Below is the code that works successfully in flat javascript file. I know it works because I see 'socket connect' in the console, and I can also test for the the socket emit at the end.
var myemail = "email#gmail.com";
var device_id = '12345';
// Create SocketIO instance, connect
var socket = io.connect('https://example.net:3000');
socket.on('connect', function(){
try {
console.log('socket connect');
socket.emit('configure', {email:myemail, deviceid:device_id});
} catch(e) {
console.log(e);
}
});
socket.emit("/" + device_id, "45678");
...and below is the code I cannot get to work when running from my node.js instance. I'd expect a message 'socket connect' in the command line log and get nothing.
var express=require('express');
var http=require('http');
var app=express();
var server = http.createServer(app);
//Variables
var myemail = "email#gmail.com";
var device_id = '12345';
var io = require('socket.io-client');
var socket = io.connect('https://example.net:3000');
//Connect listener
socket.on('connect', function(){
try {
console.log('socket connect');
socket.emit('configure', {email:myemail, deviceid:device_id});
} catch(e) {
console.log(e);
}
});
socket.emit("/" + device_id, "45678");
Any ideas?
UPDATE
Ran debug utility, results included as linked image below. Key thing I see is that engine.io tries to do an xhr poll, and gets a 503 response back from the server. (Obviously not a true 'temporary error' with the server as again, this all works from running client-side js in chrome).
debugging output image link
Solved this - issue was that the server I was connecting to required use of https, so I needed to add
{secure: true, rejectUnauthorized: false}
after the url to connect to.
Full working example:
const myemail = email#email.com;
const device_id = 12345;
io = require('socket.io-client');
var socket = io.connect('https://server.net:3000',{secure: true, rejectUnauthorized: false});
function doStuff(){
//Listener
socket.on('connect', function(){
try {
console.log('socket connect');
socket.emit('configure', {email:myemail, deviceid:device_id});
} catch(e) {
console.log(e);
}
});
socket.emit("/" + device_id, "003021");
}
doStuff();
I think the line causing the issue is :
var socket = io.connect('https://example.net:3000');
I managed to make a working example using this code :
const myemail = "email#gmail.com";
const device_id = '12345';
var socket = require('socket.io-client')('https://example.net:3000');
socket.on('connect', function(){
try{
console.log('socket connect');
socket.emit('configure', {email:myemail, deviceid:device_id});
}catch(e){ console.log(e); }
});

Check if WebSocket Server is running (on localhost)

When I try to initialize a websocket connection to the server running on localhost with
var webSocket = new WebSocket("ws://localhost:8025/myContextRoot");
in javascript, but the server hasn't completed starting up yet, I get the error
SCRIPT12029: WebSocket Error: Network Error 12029, A connection with the server could not be established
How can I prevent this? I.e. how do I check if the server has already started or how can I force the WebSocket client to wait for the server?
What about:
var webSocketFactory = {
connectionTries: 3,
connect: function(url) {
var ws = new WebSocket(url);
ws.addEventListener("error", e => {
// readyState === 3 is CLOSED
if (e.target.readyState === 3) {
this.connectionTries--;
if (this.connectionTries > 0) {
setTimeout(() => this.connect(url), 5000);
} else {
throw new Error("Maximum number of connection trials has been reached");
}
}
});
}
};
var webSocket = webSocketFactory.connect("ws://localhost:8025/myContextRoot");
When you get a connection error, you can do a limited number of trial-errors to try to re-connect. Or you can endlessly try to reach the server.
The accepted answer is perfectly fine. I just would like to extend it a little bit further with promises.
var wsFactory = { tryCount: 3,
connect : function(url){
var ctx = this,
ws = new WebSocket(url);
return new Promise(function(v,x){
ws.onerror = e => { console.log(`WS connection attempt ${4-ctx.tryCount} -> Unsuccessful`);
e.target.readyState === 3 && --ctx.tryCount;
if (ctx.tryCount > 0) setTimeout(() => v(ctx.connect(url)), 1000);
else x(new Error("3 unsuccessfull connection attempts"));
};
ws.onopen = e => { console.log(`WS connection Status: ${e.target.readyState}`);
v(ws);
};
ws.onmessage = m => console.log(m.data);
});
}
};
wsFactory.connect("ws://localhost:8025/myContextRoot")
.then(ws => ws.send("Hey..! This is my first socket message"))
.catch(console.log);
You can't prevent (or put on hold) the WebSocket from starting / establish a connection. WebSocket automatically establishes a connection with the server when its declared. What you can do is place all your code inside onopen event handler that you want to execute on successful connection. So it would be like...
var webSocket = new WebSocket("ws://localhost:8025/myContextRoot");
webSocket.onopen = function() {
// code you want to execute
};
check this article to know more about WebSocket.
Hence the protocol can't get queried by the server if it is not started, the only option is trial and error.
Or you could let the WebSocket server create a simple textfile with the timestamp of the startup in your web space directory where the javascript can retrieve it and than try to establish a connection. You can retrieve the textfile with XMLHttpRequest.

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