Tracking WS Clients in Nodejs - node.js

I am using ws through an express plugin, express-ws. My back end needs to track clients and, send message only to a specific or clients. Right now, I am just saving the client socket along with a token. So, when the client connects, a message is sent like the following by the client:
{"path":"/openUserSocket","token":"<CLIENT_TOKEN_VALUE>"}
This registers a socket in the back end. The socket is managed by a class wscManager which, saves the socket in a plain object. So, to register a socket, I do this:
// adding web socket support
const expressWs = require('express-ws')(app, null, {
wsOptions: {
clientTracking: true
}
});
let man = new wscManager();
// then in the web socket handler
app.ws('/', (sck,req) => {
sck.on('message',(msg)=>{
// handle messages
if(msg.path === '/openUserSocket'){
man.set(msg.token, sck);
return sck.send(JSON.stringify({ status: 200, message: 'Ok' }));
}
else if(msg.path === '/<SOME_OTHER_PATH>'){
// use that socket
}
// ... other route handling
}
}
Now, as I showed in the code above, I am trying to save the socket for later use. set just uses the token as a key for saving the socket object in another object. Later, get(token) can be used with that token to use the socket. I also extended the express app prototype to allow other route handles to use the wscManager:
app.response._man = man;
Now, my question is this the right approach to client tracking? In other route handlers, the manager is used like this:
// in route handler
res._man.send(JSON.stringify({ status: <STATUS>, message: <MSG> }));
Thanks for your time and patience.

Related

How to safely get the current user id in socket.io/Node.JS?

I am developing a simple API for a chat application on Node.js Express, and by assignment, it is required to make it possible to communicate between two users using socket.іо. I am faced with the problem that I cannot "safely" transfer information about the current user to the socket in any way. Information about the user with whom the correspondence is conducted can be specified in the socket parameters when connecting, which I do, but what about the current user (me)?
For example, I can do this:
const {receiverId, myId} = socket.handshake.query;
That is, specify both ids when connecting. But this is very unsafe because anyone who will join the socket can specify any id and write anything on behalf of someone else (for example, through Postman WebSockets).
Another option I was considering is making a post request in which a connection to the socket will be created using request.user.id and the request parameter. Then the post request will look like this:
router.post('/chat/:receiver', function (req,res){
const {receiver} = req.params
const socket = io.connect('/')
socket.emit('initMyUserId', {
myId: req.user,
});
})
But this option also did not work, because the file where this function is located and the file where the io variable is initialized are different, and I am not sure that it is generally advisable to transfer and use it in this way. Moreover, this approach will not allow me to check the operation of sockets via Postman, because the connection will occur in a post request, and not manually.
Are there working options to safely transfer the current user id with the ability to test it normally in postman? Or at least just safely pass the current user id if it doesn't work with Postman.
Here is the full code snippet for the socket events handlers:
module.exports = function(io) {
io.on('connection', (socket)=>{
const {id} = socket;
console.log(Socket connected: ${id});
const {idUser} = socket.handshake.query;
console.log(Socket idUser: ${idUser});
socket.on('message-to-user', (msg) => {
msg.type = user: ${idUser};
socket.to(idUser).emit('message-to-user', msg);
socket.emit('message-to-user', msg);
});
socket.on('disconnect', () => {
console.log(Socket disconnected: ${id});
});
});
}

Custom room Socket.io NodeJS

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).

Socket.io trigger from server

I'm asking myself : "How could I trigger an IO event to a specific user (like notification when sucess on something)". But on a post request for example I don't have any socket objet.
I want to be able to do this: (should I store the socket object in a cookie? Or there are other possibilities availible?)
app.post('/askChangeUserPass', ChangePassIfCorrect , function (req, res){
if (req.session) {
if ( req.data == 1 ){
return res.send("1") // socket.emit("notification", {})
} else {
return res.send("req.data") // socket.emit("notification", {})
}
} else {
return res.render("404")
}
});
Since it appears you already have a session for each user, then the usual way to do this is to store the socket.id in the session when the user connects with socket.io. Then, from any http request, you can get the socket.id from the session and use:
// get socketid from session
io.to(socketid).emit(...)
For sharing a session between socket.io and express, see:
How to share sessions with Socket.IO 1.x and Express 4.x?
And, when the socket.io connection is created in the connect event, you can set the socket.id into the session.
Another way to do this would be to have each client join a user-specific channel when they first connect/login, and then at any time later you can emit to that channel to communicate with all of those instances.
Instance joins the user-specific channel (on connect or login, etc):
socket.join(user.id)
Server emits a message to each instance (in your POST request, etc):
socket.server.to(user.id).emit(...)

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;
}
}

Resources