Websockets using angular and Nodejs: How to send data to specific client - node.js

Question

I am trying to use websocket.io with nodejs and angular. I am trying to build a one-to-one chat application. Here is snippets of my code:
server.js
app.io.on('connection', function(socket){
console.info(`Client connected [id=${socket.id}]`);
socket.on('disconnect', function(){
console.info(`Client gone [id=${socket.id}]`);
});
});
sendmessage.js
router.post("/auth/sendMessage", function(req, res) {
//rest api to handle send message
//mongodb insert
app.io.emit('new-message', { message: message});
}
Angular Client
this.socket.on("new-message", function(data) {
if (
data.message.conversationId === self.conversationId &&
data.message.sender === "customer"
) {
self.messages.push(data.message);
setTimeout(function() {
self.messagesDiv.nativeElement.scrollTop =
self.messagesDiv.nativeElement.scrollHeight;
}, 100);
}
});
Now, the problem that I am facing is new-message will send message to all the listeners. Although, I am handling the logic on the client side, to only show the message if it is sent by specific conversationId, this should be handled at the server end only due to security issues.
So, I want to be able to send to specific users only. I think this can somehow be done using socket.id which would be unique for each connection. But how can I pass this socket.id from client to server, so that server knows on which client it needs to send the data?

Answer 1

There are two things here, app.io and socket. In the first snippet, you use app.io.on('connection', function(socket){. This socket is the new connection. You can store this socket object somewhere in the database or in memory.
Now, app.io.emit will send the message to all the clients, while this socket that you stored somewhere will send the message to that particular client/user on socket.emit.
In short, you need to do
router.post("/auth/sendMessage", function(req, res) {
//rest api to handle send message
//mongodb insert
socket.emit('new-message', { message: message});
}
Here is a small tic-tac-toe game I made using sockets. It will give you more insight on how to use sockets. This is not perfect but you will still understand how to use sockets.
tl;dr save socket from app.io.on('connection'... and use socket.emit to send messages to that particular client.