Custom room Socket.io NodeJS - node.js

I am making an application with sockets and the need arises to broadcast information, but only to people who are inside a room.
This is my code from the server.ts
// Dependencies
import express from 'express'
import http from 'http'
import socket from 'socket.io';
import {connect, disconnect, orderChanged} from './sockets/socket';
import {config} from 'dotenv';
config ();
// Main class
export default class server {
_private static instance: server
public app: express.Application
public port: number
http: http.Server private
public io: socket.Server
// Initialize variables and methods
// Singleton pattern implementation
private constructor () {
this.app = express ()
this.port = Number (process.env.SRV_PORT)
this.http = new http.Server (this.app)
this.io = new socket.Server (this.http, {
cors: {
origin: true,
credentials: true
}
})
this.listenSockets ();
}
// Return the instance running Singleton pattern
public static get instance () {
returns this._instance || (this._instance = new Server ())
}
// Method to start the server
start (callback: any) {
this.http.listen (this.port, callback)
}
private listenSockets (): void {
console.log ('Listening Sockets');
this.io.on ('connection', client => {
console.log ('Connected to room', client.rooms, '-', client.id);
// User disconnected
disconnect (client);
connect (client);
});
}
}
Since node starts, an instance is created in DP Singleton and the socket listener is launched
When an operation happens in the database, anywhere in the app, I send it to call and send information to the front-end which is correctly received by the front-end and does what it has to do. Example url / edit-products
import server from '../core/server';
// Socket broadcast, new information
const __id = String (req.headers.id);
const updatedData = await getNewData (__id);
Server.instance.io.emit ('data changed', updatedData);
The problem is that this information is sent indiscriminately to all users connected to the socket. Now, I have a unique ID that brings multiple users together in a MongoDB model. You could use that ID to broadcast only to users with that ID. There is a logic that implies that if the user connects from Mexico, add it to an Array of people in MongoDB, otherwise it will add it to another MongoDB document, then they are two different IDs.
I would love the room to be that ID.
I saw that I could use the socket's join () method, but that function derives from the connected client, not from the server itself. I try to issue the information like this
// Socket broadcast, new information
const __id = String (req.headers.id);
const updatedData = await getNewData (__id);
Server.instance.io.in (updatedData._id) .emit ('data changed', updatedData);
But at no point did I set up that "ROOM". When the user login, he could add it but I don't know how to create a custom room, he tried something like this
const user = await UserModel.find (_data);
Server.instance.io.join (user.channel._id);
But that function within io does not exist.
It exists this way, but it doesn't work for me
Server.instance.io.on ('user-join', (socket: Socket) => {
console.log (plug);
socket.join (uuid);
});
Server.instance.io.emit ('user join');
What could I do?

.join() is a method on an individual socket. That's how you use it as socket.join(roomName). When the first user joins a room, the room is created automatically and other users can also join it. When the last user leaves the room, the room is removed automatically from the server. So, you join a user's socket to a room - you don't join something to the server.
Similarly, when you tried this:
Server.instance.io.on ('user-join', (socket: Socket) => {
console.log (plug);
socket.join (uuid);
});
That doesn't work because you don't listen for incoming messages from a socket on the server (except for the connection message - which introduces the socket object). You listen for incoming client messages on a socket itself:
Server.instance.io.on ('connection', (socket: Socket) => {
socket.on('user-join', () => {
// you will have to find the room name that goes with this socket
socket.join(someRoomName);
});
});
Also, note that this code:
private listenSockets (): void {
console.log ('Listening Sockets');
this.io.on ('connection', client => {
console.log ('Connected to room', client.rooms, '-', client.id);
// User disconnected
disconnect (client);
connect (client);
});
}
looks problematic. Why would you disconnect a client when they connect? You don't show those functions disconnect() and connect() so it's unclear what they actually do - I would guess they keep track of connected clients somehow. If you're just trying to clean up any state that might have been previously left hanging, then you should be doing something like this:
private listenSockets (): void {
console.log ('Listening Sockets');
this.io.on ('connection', client => {
console.log ('Connected to room', client.rooms, '-', client.id);
client.on('disconnect', () => {
// User disconnected
disconnect(client);
});
// user connected now
connect(client);
});
}
You don't have to worry about inaccurate housekeeping on whether a socket is connected or not. You will always get a disconnect event for a socket when it disconnects. This is for two reasons. For a browser window that closes or a page that the user navigates away from, the browser cleans up all objects associated with that page, including the open socket.io connection. This will always close the socket and cause a disconnect event. Second, socket.io uses ping and pong messages to regularly check if an existing connection is still working. If it's not, it will get disconnected. The client may or may not retry to open a new connection depending upon the circumstance. But, any disfunctional connection (one that isn't respond to ping messages) will get closed by the server and a disconnect event will occur for that too. So, those two circumstances make sure that a disconnect event always happens.
Server.instance.io.emit ('data changed', updatedData); The problem is that this information is sent indiscriminately to all users connected to the socket.
This sends to all users connected to your server and is how it was designed.
To send to a single socket, you would use:
socket.emit(...);
where socket is what you're code calls client, the object you get from the connection event.
To send to all sockets who have joined a room, you would use:
io.in(roomName).emit(...)
where io is the socket.io server instance.
And, there are many, many more variations of .emit() depending upon exactly what you're trying to send to.
Now, I have a unique ID that brings multiple users together in a MongoDB model. You could use that ID to broadcast only to users with that ID. There is a logic that implies that if the user connects from Mexico, add it to an Array of people in MongoDB, otherwise it will add it to another MongoDB document, then they are two different IDs. I would love the room to be that ID.
I don't completely follow what you're trying to do, but it seems like inside your connect(client) function, you could just call client.join(uniqueIDForMultipleUsers) and that would create a room with this uniqueID and add this client to that room. In the future, you can send to everyone in that room with io.in(uniqueIDForMultipleUsers).emit(...).
But at no point did I set up that "ROOM". When the user login, he could add it but I don't know how to create a custom room, he tried something like this
You don't create rooms manually. You just use socket.join(roomName) and the socket.io infrastructure automatically creates the room if it doesn't already exist. Similarly when the last socket in a room either leaves the room or disconnects, the room is automatically removed. So you just don't have to manage the room creation or deletion yourself. In fact, a room object is not something you ever deal with directly - it's a housekeeping item inside of the socket.io server that contains a list of sockets that are currently in the room. A socket can be in as many rooms as it wants to be. You use these on the server:
socket.join(roomName); // add a client's socket to a room
socket.leave(roomName); // remove a client's socket from a room
io.in(roomName).emit(...); // broadcast a message to every socket in a room
What is sometimes a bit confusing about the above logic is that socket.join() and socket.leave() are socket methods, but they actually modify a data structure in the server (where the list of rooms/sockets are kept). For whatever reason, that's just how they chose to originally design the API. Logically, it's more like io.join(socket, roomName) since it's modifying something on the server. But, since the socket knows the server object it's part of, they can leave that off and just do socket.join(roomName).

Related

How do I let socket.io server re-emit message to a particular socket when that socket re-connect?

My server codes use io.to(socketId).emit('xxx'); to a message to a particular socket, refer to https://socket.io/docs/emit-cheatsheet/
But when the connection is bad and the client disconnects and connects again, socketId changes and io.to(socketId).emit('xxx'); then fails. So how do I implement a re-emit method to handle the reconnection ?
My question is kind of opposite to this one, socket.io stop re-emitting event after x seconds/first failed attempt to get a response, from it I learn that socket.io client can re-emit when it reconnects. But the server code seems to lack that support.
--- update ---
As the comment said I show here "the code context where you're saving the socketId value that gets stale."
First, each user has a unique id in our system, when socket connects the client will send a login message so I save the userId and socketId pair. When I get disconnect event I clear that info.
Second, the user will get messages through redis pubsub (from other service), and I will send that message to the client throught the socketid I record. So when socket connects I will subscribe a channel identified by userid and unsubscribe it in disconnect event.
Third, my problem happens when I get redis pub event while socketId value gets stale. Actually the value of socketid is the latest one but the socket may fail to send the message.
io.on('connection', async function (socket) {
socket.on('login', async function (user_id, fn) {
...
await redis
.multi()
.hset('websocket:socket_user', socket.id, user_id)
.hset(
`websocket:${user_id}`,
'socketid',
socket.id
)
.exec()
await sub.subscribe(user_id)
...
}
socket.on('disconnect', async function (reason) {
let user_id = await redis.hget('websocket:socket_user', socket.id)
await redis.del(`websocket:${user_id}`)
sub.unsubscribe(user_id)
...
}
//Here is what problem happens when socket is trying to reconnect
//while I got redis pub message
sub.on('message', async function (channel, message) {
let socketid = await redis.hget(`websocket:${channel}`, 'socketid')
if (!socketid) {
return
}
//so now I assume the socketid is valid,
//but it turns out clients still complain they didn't receive message
io.to(socketid).emit('msg', message) //When it fails how do I re-emit?
})
I would suggest you use your unique id as a room, that is the best solution I come up with, no matter how many times the user is joined the user will be joined in a single room only(with their unique id).
see my answer on
NodeJs Socket.io Rooms
You can generate custom socket.id for your socket clients by overwriting default method to generate socket id. in this case socket.id will be known for you and can be re-emit when same id comes online.
//The function is called with a node request object (http.IncomingMessage) as first parameter.
As per socket.io docs
io.engine.generateId = (req) => {
return "custom:id:" + user_unique_id; // custom id must be unique
}
I can't find any existing solution for that so this is what I come up with:
Record the messages that fail to send to the socket.
I can't figure out a way to deal with these failed messages, e.g. if they have failed I don't know if re-send will make any difference.
When I get a socket connect event I check if this is from the same client, if yes then check if I have failed messages for the old socket, if yes send those messages to the new socket.
How to record the failed message is another task I find socket.io doesn't support and this is what I do,
Record the message I want to send
use ack callback to delete the message, so the messages are not deleted are the failed ones.
to use ack I can't io.to(socketId).emit('xxx'); because "acknowledgements are not supported when emitting from namespace." so I need to first get socket object from id using io.sockets.connected[socketid]
I can start a timer to check if the message is still stored in redis, if yes I re-emit it. But I don't know if re-emit will make any difference. So I have not done that yet.
The codes to record failed one are somewhat like this
let socket = io.sockets.connected[socketid]
if (!socket) return
let list_key = `websocket:${socketid}`
await redis.sadd(list_key, message)
socket.emit('msg', message, async (ack) => {
await redis.srem(list_key, message)
})
If someone can come up with a better solution I am all ears! Thanks.

How to send new user the old sent messages with socket.io

I am using this tutorial. I need to send old messages to the new connected user. How can I do that? I mean the new users should be able to see the old messages.
for my application, i don't need to store the data in a database. Once the server is turned off then the data should be removed. but how long the server runs on each session the clients should get previous message
I have tried
const history = []
//Telling Express+Socket.io App To Listen To Port
io.sockets.on("connection",function(socket){
socket.emit("Start_Chat");
//On Event Registar_Name
socket.on("Register_Name",function(data){
console.log(data)
io.sockets.emit("r_name","<strong>"+data+"</strong> Has Joined The Chat");
//Now Listening To A Chat Message
socket.on("Send_msg",function(data){
history.push(data)
console.log(history)
io.sockets.emit("msg",data);
//Now Listening To A Chat Message
})
})
})
but how can I say when a new client enters send history data?
UPDATE: I have tried the following but it is always sending the history
const history = []
const client = []
//Telling Express+Socket.io App To Listen To Port
io.sockets.on("connection",function(socket){
client.push({id : socket.client.id})
console.log(client)
socket.emit("Start_Chat");
//On Event Registar_Name
socket.on("Register_Name",function(data){
console.log(data)
io.sockets.emit("r_name","<strong>"+data+"</strong> Has Joined The Chat");
//Now Listening To A Chat Message
socket.on("Send_msg",function(data){
history.push(data)
console.log(history)
if(client.find(e => e.id !== socket.client.id)) {
io.sockets.emit("msg",history);
} else {
io.sockets.emit("msg",data);
}
//Now Listening To A Chat Message
})
})
There are several ways depending on how complex you want to make your chat application.
Simple solution: You create some type of data structure (possibly an array) which holds the last n messages. Whenever a new message is added, you remove the first one that was added. When the onConnect event is triggered, you send this entire data structure to the client. This is more for a proof of concept solution which you can later change.
Pros: Easy to implement
Cons: All the data on the server is essentially volatile, if you were to restart the application, all data would be lost. Additionally it would not scale across multiple server instances.
A little more complex solution: Store all messages in a database and query the database to retrieve the last n messages when a user connects.
Pros: All data is persistent and if the server were to crash/be stopped, you still would be able to retrieve the data.
Cons: You need to maintain the database as messages will take up more space over time. To remedy this you can always delete all messages older than x days automatically.
Finally, Figured it out
const history = []
const client = []
//Telling Express+Socket.io App To Listen To Port
io.sockets.on("connection",function(socket){
client.push({id : socket.client.id})
console.log(client)
var getClientID = client.find(e => (e.id === socket.client.id))
console.log("the Client", getClientID)
if(getClientID){
//io.sockets.emit("msg",history);
socket.emit("msg",history);
}
socket.emit("Start_Chat");
//On Event Registar_Name
socket.on("Register_Name",function(data){
console.log(data)
io.sockets.emit("r_name","<strong>"+data+"</strong> Has Joined The Chat");
//Now Listening To A Chat Message
socket.on("Send_msg",function(data){
history.push(data)
console.log(history)
io.sockets.emit("msg",data);
})
})
})
I wouldn't suggest using socket for retrieving old messages. What you can do is that, you can use AJAX to retrieve old messages and Socket for the live chat.
you need to store the messages in a database and when a new user entered the chat, read the old messages from the db and show them to user, i don't think there is another solution for that!
Update:
so you could just make an array and store every message in the form of an js object with the sender info and when a user entered, once in the connection event send the array to client and in the client parse the array in the way you want.
for your question about how long should get, as i said you can send the prev messages to the client only once and in the first entrance.
Update 2: Send History:
you can use the acknowledgements part of socket.io:
const history = []
//Telling Express+Socket.io App To Listen To Port
io.sockets.on("connection", function (socket) {
socket.emit("Start_Chat");
//On Event Registar_Name
socket.on("Register_Name", function (data, ack) {
io.sockets.emit("r_name", "<strong>" + data + "</strong> Has Joined The Chat");
console.log(data)
//**** Make change Here
ack({ history });
});
socket.on("Send_msg", function (data) {
history.push(data)
console.log(history)
io.sockets.emit("msg", data);
//Now Listening To A Chat Message
});
});
And to get the ack data in client part:
socket.emit("Register_Name", your_data, function (ack) {
//you get the prev messages
console.log(ack);
});
and you don't need to store the clients for this!

NodeJS - Response stream

I built a simple API endpoint with NodeJS using Sails.js.
When someone access my API endpoint, the server starts to wait for data and whenever a new data appears, he broadcasts it using sockets. Each client should receive his own stream of data based on his user input.
var Cap = require('cap').Cap;
collect: function (req, res) {
var iface = req.param("ip");
var c = new Cap(),
device = Cap.findDevice(ip);
c.on('data', function(myData) {
sails.sockets.blast('message', {"host": myData});
});
});
The response do not complete (I never send a res.json() - what actually happens is that the browser keep loading - but the above functionality works).
2 Problems:
I'm trying to subscribe and unsubscribe to to this API endpoint from my client (using RxJS). When I subscribe, I start to receive data via sockets - but I can't unsubscribe to the API endpoint (the browser expect the request to be completed).
Each client should subscribe to his own socket room based on the request IP parameter ( see updated code ). Currently it blasts the message to everyone.
How I can create a stream/service-like API endpoint with Sails.js that will emit new data to each user based on his input?
My goal is to be able to subscribe / unsubscribe to this API endpoint from each client.
Revised Answer
Let's assume your API endpoint is defined in config/routes.js like this:
...
'get /collect': 'SomeController.collectSubscribe',
'delete /collect': 'SomeController.collectUnsubscribe',
Since each Cap instance is tied to one device, we need one instance for each subscription. Instead of using the sails join/leave methods, we keep track of Cap instances in memory and just broadcast to the request socket's id. This works because Sails sockets are subscribed to their own ids by default.
In api/controllers/SomeController.js:
// In order for the `Cap` instances to persist after `collectSubscribe` finishes, we store them all in an Object, associated with which socket the were created for.
var caps = {/* req.socket.id: <instance of Cap>, */};
module.exports = {
...
collectSubscribe: function(req, res) {
if (!res.isSocket) return res.badRequest("I need a websocket! Help!");
if (!!caps[req.socket.id]) return res.badRequest("Dude, you are already subscribed.");
caps[req.socket.id] = new Cap();
var c = caps[req.socket.id]; // remember that `c` is a reference to our new `Cap`, not a copy.
var device = c.findDevice(req.param('ip'));
c.open(device, ...);
c.on('data', function(myData) {
sails.sockets.broadcast(req.socket.id, 'message', {host: myData});
});
return res.ok();
},
collectUnsubscribe: function(req, res) {
if (!res.isSocket) return res.badRequest("I need a websocket! Help!");
if (!caps[req.socket.id]) return res.badRequest("I can't unsubscribe you unless you actually subscribe first.");
caps[req.socket.id].removeAllListeners('data');
delete caps[req.socket.id];
return res.ok();
}
}
Basically, it goes like this: when a browser request triggers collectSubscribe, a new Cap instance listens to the provided IP. When the browser triggers collectUnsubscribe, the server retreives that Cap instance, tells it to stop listening, and then deletes it.
Production Considerations: please be aware that the list of Caps is NOT PERSISTENT (since it is stored in memory and not a DB)! So if your server is turned off and rebooted (due to lightning storm, etc), the list will be cleared, but considering that all websocket connections will be dropped anyway, I don't see any need to worry about this.
Old Answer, Kept for Reference
You can use sails.sockets.join(req, room) and sails.sockets.leave(req, room) to manage socket rooms. Essentially you have a room called "collect", and only sockets joined in that room will receive a sails.sockets.broadcast(room, eventName, data).
More info on how to user sails.sockets here.
In api/controllers/SomeController.js:
collectSubscribe: function(req, res) {
if (!res.isSocket) return res.badRequest();
sails.sockets.join(req, 'collect');
return res.ok();
},
collectUnsubscribe: function(req, res) {
if (!res.isSocket) return res.badRequest();
sails.sockets.leave(req, 'collect');
return res.ok();
}
Finally, we need to tell the server to broadcast messages to our 'collect' room.
Note that this only need to happen once, so you can do this in a file under the config/ directory.
For this example, I'll put this in config/sockets.js
module.exports = {
// ...
};
c.on('data', function(myData) {
var eventName = 'message';
var data = {host: myData};
sails.sockets.broadcast('collect', eventName, data);
});
I am assuming that c is accessible here; If not, you could define it as sails.c = ... to make it globally accessible.

How to get current socket object or id with in a sails controller?

I would like to access the currently connected socket id with in a sails.js (v0.12 ) controller function.
sails.sockets.getId(req.socket); is showing undefined since this is not a socket request
My objective is to set the online status of my user in the database when he logged in successfully
login: function (req, res) {
Util.login(req, function(){
var socketId = sails.sockets.getId(req.socket);
console.log('socketId ===', socketId); // return undefined
});
},
Basically i would like to access the current user's socket object in a controller or access current user's session object with in a socket on method
Also i'm not sure that how can i rewrite my old sockets.onConnect
handler
onConnect: function(session, socket) {
// Proceed only if the user is logged in
if (session.me) {
//console.log('test',session);
User.findOne({id: session.me}).exec(function(err, user) {
var socketId = sails.sockets.getId(socket);
user.status = 'online';
user.ip = socket.handshake.address;
user.save(function(err) {
// Publish this user creation event to every socket watching the User model via User.watch()
User.publishCreate(user, socket);
});
// Create the session.users hash if it doesn't exist already
session.users = session.users || {};
// Save this user in the session, indexed by their socket ID.
// This way we can look the user up by socket ID later.
session.users[socketId] = user;
// Persist the session
//session.save();
// Get updates about users being created
User.watch(socket);
// Send a message to the client with information about the new user
sails.sockets.broadcast(socketId, 'user', {
verb :'list',
data:session.users
});
});
}
},
You need to pass the req object to the method.
if (req.isSocket) {
let socketId = sails.sockets.getId(req);
sails.log('socket id: ' + socketId);
}
Since the request is not a socket request, you might need to do something like
Send back some identifier to the client once logged in.
Use the identifier to join a room. (One user per room. )
Broadcast messages to the room with the identifier whenever you need to send message to client.
https://gist.github.com/crtr0/2896891
Update:
From sails migration guide
The onConnect lifecycle callback has been deprecated. Instead, if you need to do something when a new socket is connected, send a request from the newly-connected client to do so. The purpose of onConnect was always for optimizing performance (eliminating the need to do this initial extra round-trip with the server), yet its use can lead to confusion and race conditions. If you desperately need to eliminate the server roundtrip, you can bind a handler directly on sails.io.on('connect', function (newlyConnectedSocket){}) in your bootstrap function (config/bootstrap.js). However, note that this is discouraged. Unless you're facing true production performance issues, you should use the strategy mentioned above for your "on connection" logic (i.e. send an initial request from the client after the socket connects). Socket requests are lightweight, so this doesn't add any tangible overhead to your application, and it will help make your code more predictable.
// in some controller
if (req.isSocket) {
let handshake = req.socket.manager.handshaken[sails.sockets.getId(req)];
if (handshake) {
session = handshake.session;
}
}

Random chat with two users at a time (Socket.io)

I just started learning NodeJS and Socket.io. Until now I have this demo code, from official socket.io site:
http://socket.io/demos/chat/
I am able to get the unique client's ID of each user (socket) which connects, I am still trying to figure out, How can I make my code to only connect with 1 random user at a time when somebody runs the application. I just want to make random chat like Omegle (http://www.omegle.com/).
Only two users should randomly connect and chat with each other till they re-run the app, if they come back they should get connected with someone else who is in the online queue.
What changes do I need to do to have a similar behaviour?
Update
Added Client site code, main.js
$(function() {
var FADE_TIME = 150; // ms
var TYPING_TIMER_LENGTH = 400; // ms
var COLORS = [
'#e21400', '#91580f', '#f8a700', '#f78b00',
'#58dc00', '#287b00', '#a8f07a', '#4ae8c4',
'#3b88eb', '#3824aa', '#a700ff', '#d300e7'
];
// Initialize variables
var $window = $(window);
var $usernameInput = $('.usernameInput'); // Input for username
var $messages = $('.messages'); // Messages area
var $inputMessage = $('.inputMessage'); // Input message input box
var $loginPage = $('.login.page'); // The login page
var $chatPage = $('.chat.page'); // The chatroom page
// Prompt for setting a username
var username;
var connected = false;
var typing = false;
var lastTypingTime;
var $currentInput = $usernameInput.focus();
//Own Global
var room = '';
var socket = io();
function addParticipantsMessage (data) {
var message = '';
if (data.numUsers === 1) {
// message += "there's 1 participant";
// Status Message
message += "Waiting to connect with someone";
} else {
// message += "there are " + data.numUsers + " participants";
//Status message update
message = "You are connected to a stranger! Say Hey!";
}
log(message);
}
// Sets the client's username
function setUsername () {
username = cleanInput($usernameInput.val().trim());
// If the username is valid
if (username) {
$loginPage.fadeOut();
$chatPage.show();
$loginPage.off('click');
$currentInput = $inputMessage.focus();
// Tell the server your username
socket.emit('add user', username);
// Own
socket.emit('login', {'username' : 'Faizan'});
}
}
Although I would close this question because it's too vague, I feel obliged to give you some insight since I worked way too much with websockets in the last years (although not that much with socketio & nodejs). I suppose some simple guide and relevant links could help you. So first,
Kind of relevant intro
You should already know that Socket.io is a WebSocket implementation.
WebSockets (WS) allow server to send data whenever it wants, as long as the connection is still open, as opposed to old way: client querying all the time asking, if there is an update on the server.
You can imagine a woman and a man at the end of a party: "Thanks for tonight, I'd love to repeat it sometimes soon. Would you give me your number?" - asks the old man. "Ughhh, you know what, better give me yours, I promise I will call you!"
If the girl were to give him her number, he'd call a few times a day asking if she'd go somewhere (and she'd reply no). The other way around, she would call him only if she wanted to go and he would go. Of course he would.
I got a bit carried away, but you get the picture. The woman is a server, the guy is a client.
What is important to understand
(Absolute basic, you should know this =>)
When client connect to your server, (s)he should be served a html page and some javascript, which establishes connection to your WS server. In the code you've posted, Express is used as http server. Check this example to see how you should give user html&js.
You'll also notice namespaces and rooms in most of these tutorials. These are used for separating users into subcategories. One server may contain multiple namespaces (by default only one) and each namespace may contain multiple rooms. You probably won't need to bother with namespaces, one is just enough for your case. You will, however, need to understand rooms (more on that later).
Next thing, taken from your code
io.on('connection', function (socket) {
It's important to know, that socket here basically represent one connected client (in one namespace, but possibly in multiple rooms). You can do all sort of stuff with it, most notably:
install event handlers on it (that's what you do when you call socket.on(event, handler(data))
send events to it with socket.emit(event, data)
send broadcast event to all users with socket.broadcast.emit(event, data)
add/remove it to/from room with socket.join(room), socket.leave(room) respectively.
work with it as with an ordinary variable - store it wherever you want and then reuse it
Do you see the definition of numUsers in your code? That's a global variable which is shared with all clients, since nodejs is single-threaded. In the example it is being incremented inside one of the event handlers. Think we could use something like that? YES.
We can define global variable, queue for example. Or Q if you want. Point is, it can be an array used to store sockets, or rather clients, which are not currently in chat room.
At the end of this section I'd like to point out another obvious thing.
io.on('connection', handler); defines an event handler for 'connection' event happening on the io object (WS server). This is triggered each time client makes connection to your WS server (in your case, through javascript ran inside client's browser). Argument to the method is socket and it is this method where you should add event listeners for each client (that you already do in the code, particularly handling events 'new message', 'add user', 'typing', 'stop typing' and 'disconnect').
What events shall you need
That really depends on how complex you want your app to be. In my opinion, the bare minimum would be (note that you can change the event names, but 'disconnect' should stay 'disconnect'):
event name -> data given
Events handled on server side
login -> username (how the user should be called), possibly password if you want to enable registration
message -> text (content of the message being sent)
leave room -> room name
disconnect
Event handled on client side
connect
chat start -> name (second client's name), room (so we can leave it)
chat end -> no data required if you want to allow only one chat at the same time. In case of multiple chats you should also include which chat got closed
disconnect
Last note before we get started
This is only a rough sketch. There are multiple different crossroads along the way and which path you take mostly depends on your idea of the app. If you want to have multiple chats opened at the same time, you'll need to do some modifications. The same goes if you want to have more than two people connected to the same chat. Here I'll describe the simplest case possible, one chat, to people, no registration. Possibly what you want, judging from your post. Could be wrong.
Workflow
User opens your page in their web browser. You serve them html and javascript. The javascript will start new connection to your websocket server. Also, handlers for desired events should be defined at this point.
When the connection is established, this will be happening:
ON SERVER SIDE
io.on('connection', handler) will be fired. Only appropriate handlers for new socket will be installed, not doing anything else at this point.
ON CLIENT SIDE
socket.on('connect', handler) will be fired. Client should at that point have username stored somewhere. If not, no problem. The connection will be alive for quite some time. You can just call socket.emit('login', {'username':name) any time you wish after you are connected (in the example below I set up variable connected, which defaults to false but will be set to true as soon as connection is established.)
After you send login event from client, server registers it and saves it somewhere. Possibilities are endless, in this case I'll create global dictionary which maps socket.id to username. After that, user socket should be either paired with another one or added to queue.
So, if the queue is empty, simply append socket to global variable (it doesn't have to be an array, since we will pair the first available sockets together, however you may want to implement some history of users so they won't get connected to the same person again). If the queue is not empty, we pull one socket out of the Q and add them to the same room. Room name can be random or whatever you want, I'll use (socket1.id+'#'+socket2.id (if you wanted to have more users in one chat, this would have to be changed).
After you add them both, you'll need to notify them that their chat has started and send them the other peer's name. You will emit event 'chat start'.
Clients will catch the event and open new window. After that, whenever user types something and sends it, client emits event 'message' with payload {'message': user_inserted_text}. Server will capture it in the .on('message' handler and broadcast it to the room. Note:
Broadcasting means sending a message to everyone else except for the socket that starts it.
Note: I am really confused about socketio code right now. Look at this and tell me, if socket.rooms is an array or an object (socket.rooms[room] = room; ?? why?)
To avoid dealing with this not-straightforward code, lets create another global object, rooms, which will store the room names for us. We will map socket.id -> roomName there.
So when message comes, we can get name of the room by calling rooms[socket.id]. Then we broadcast the message like this:
socket.broadcast.to(room).emit('message', data);
Where data is what we received from the sender, therefore object {'text': 'some nice message'}. Your peer will then receive it (you won't) and display it (you should display it when you are sending it).
So the chat continues like this for a while, then one of the users decides (s)he wants to leave / chat with somebody else. They will close window and client will emit event 'leave room'. Server will capture it and send to the other party that her/his peer has disconnected. The same should happen if the client disconnects. After everything is closed, add both users to queue (or only one, if the other has disconnected from the server). In my code I will not make sure they won't get paired again. That is for the OP to code (can't be hard).
So, if you read this far, you deserve some actual code. Although I say actual, it's actually untested. But you know, it should work like this.
Some code
Client side
var connected = false;
var username = 'Faizan';
var room = '';
var socket = io('http://localhost');
socket.on('connect', function (data) { // we are connected, should send our name
connected = true;
if (username) socket.emit('login', {'username' : username});
});
socket.on('chat start', function(data) {
room = data.room;
show_chat_window(data.name); // some method which will show chat window
});
socket.on('chat end', function(data) {
hide_chat_window(); // this will close chat window and alert user that the peer ended chat
socket.leave(room); // it's possible to leave from both server and client, hoever it is better to be done by the client in this case
room = '';
});
socket.on('disconnect', function(data) { // handle server/connection falling
console.log('Connection fell or your browser is closing.');
});
var send_message = function(text) { // method, which you will call when user hits enter in input field
if (connected) socket.emit('message', {'text': text});
};
var leave_chat = function() { // call this when user want to end current chat
if (connected) {
socket.emit('leave room');
socket.leave(room);
room = '';
}
};
Server side
Not including initial requires and html/js serving., only global definitions and main io handler.
var queue = []; // list of sockets waiting for peers
var rooms = {}; // map socket.id => room
var names = {}; // map socket.id => name
var allUsers = {}; // map socket.id => socket
var findPeerForLoneSocket = function(socket) {
// this is place for possibly some extensive logic
// which can involve preventing two people pairing multiple times
if (queue) {
// somebody is in queue, pair them!
var peer = queue.pop();
var room = socket.id + '#' + peer.id;
// join them both
peer.join(room);
socket.join(room);
// register rooms to their names
rooms[peer.id] = room;
rooms[socket.id] = room;
// exchange names between the two of them and start the chat
peer.emit('chat start', {'name': names[socket.id], 'room':room});
socket.emit('chat start', {'name': names[peer.id], 'room':room});
} else {
// queue is empty, add our lone socket
queue.push(socket);
}
}
io.on('connection', function (socket) {
console.log('User '+socket.id + ' connected');
socket.on('login', function (data) {
names[socket.id] = data.username;
allUsers[socket.id] = socket;
// now check if sb is in queue
findPeerForLoneSocket(socket);
});
socket.on('message', function (data) {
var room = rooms[socket.id];
socket.broadcast.to(room).emit('message', data);
});
socket.on('leave room', function () {
var room = rooms[socket.id];
socket.broadcast.to(room).emit('chat end');
var peerID = room.split('#');
peerID = peerID[0] === socket.id ? peerID[1] : peerID[0];
// add both current and peer to the queue
findPeerForLoneSocket(allUsers[peerID]);
findPeerForLoneSocket(socket);
});
socket.on('disconnect', function () {
var room = rooms[socket.id];
socket.broadcast.to(room).emit('chat end');
var peerID = room.split('#');
peerID = peerID[0] === socket.id ? peerID[1] : peerID[0];
// current socket left, add the other one to the queue
findPeerForLoneSocket(allUsers[peerID]);
});
});
P.S.
The code above got a bit messy in the end. It can be done better and I encourage you to do better job than I did. Having this material at hand, go through it step by step and try to understand. I think I commented most, if not all of it. Good luck.
Tl;dr
I am not even surprised. Here, read a comic

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