socket io on sails js as API and node+react as Frontend - node.js

Question

I have an API build using sailsjs and a react redux attach to a nodejs backend, and i am trying to implement socket.io for a realtime communication, how does this work?
is it
socket.io client on the react side that connects to a socket.io server on its nodejs backend that connects to a socket.io server on the API
socket.io client on the react side and on its nodejs backend that connects to a socket.io server on the API
i have tried looking around for some answers, but none seems to meet my requirements.
to try things out, i put the hello endpoint on my API, using the sailsjs realtime documentation, but when i do a sails lift i got this error Could not fetch session, since connecting socket has no cookie (is this a cross-origin socket?) i figure that i need to pass an auth code inside the request headers Authorization property.
Assuming i went for my #1 question, and by using redux-socket.io,
In my redux middleware i created a socketMiddleware
import createSocketIoMiddleware from 'redux-socket.io'
import io from 'socket.io-client'
import config from '../../../config'
const socket = io(config.host)
export default function socketMiddleware() {
return createSocketIoMiddleware(
socket,
() => next => (action) => {
const { nextAction, shuttle, ...rest } = action
if (!shuttle) {
return next(action)
}
const { socket_url: shuttleUrl = '' } = config
const apiParams = {
data: shuttle,
shuttleUrl,
}
const nextParams = {
...rest,
promise: api => api.post(apiParams),
nextAction,
}
return next(nextParams)
},
)
}
and in my redux store
import { createStore, applyMiddleware, compose } from 'redux'
import createSocketIoMiddleware from 'redux-socket.io'
...
import rootReducers from '../reducer'
import socketMiddleware from '../middleware/socketMiddleware'
import promiseMiddleware from '../middleware/promiseMiddleware'
...
import config from '../../../config'
export default function configStore(initialState) {
const socket = socketMiddleware()
...
const promise = promiseMiddleware(new ApiCall())
const middleware = [
applyMiddleware(socket),
...
applyMiddleware(promise),
]
if (config.env !== 'production') {
middleware.push(DevTools.instrument())
}
const createStoreWithMiddleware = compose(...middleware)
const store = createStoreWithMiddleware(createStore)(rootReducers, initialState)
...
return store
}
in my promiseMiddleware
export default function promiseMiddleware(api) {
return () => next => (action) => {
const { nextAction, promise, type, ...rest } = action
if (!promise) {
return next(action)
}
const [REQUEST, SUCCESS, FAILURE] = type
next({ ...rest, type: REQUEST })
function success(res) {
next({ ...rest, payload: res, type: SUCCESS })
if (nextAction) {
nextAction(res)
}
}
function error(err) {
next({ ...rest, payload: err, type: FAILURE })
if (nextAction) {
nextAction({}, err)
}
}
return promise(api)
.then(success, error)
.catch((err) => {
console.error('ERROR ON THE MIDDLEWARE: ', REQUEST, err) // eslint-disable-line no-console
next({ ...rest, payload: err, type: FAILURE })
})
}
}
my ApiCall
/* eslint-disable camelcase */
import superagent from 'superagent'
...
const methods = ['get', 'post', 'put', 'patch', 'del']
export default class ApiCall {
constructor() {
methods.forEach(method =>
this[method] = ({ params, data, shuttleUrl, savePath, mediaType, files } = {}) =>
new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
const request = superagent[method](shuttleUrl)
if (params) {
request.query(params)
}
...
if (data) {
request.send(data)
}
request.end((err, { body } = {}) => err ? reject(body || err) : resolve(body))
},
))
}
}
All this relation between the middlewares and the store works well on regular http api call. My question is, am i on the right path? if i am, then what should i write on this reactjs server part to communicate with the api socket? should i also use socket.io-client?

Answer 1

You need to add sails.io.js at your node server. Sails socket behavior it's quite tricky. Since, it's not using on method to listen the event.
Create sails endpoint which handle socket request. The documentation is here. The documentation is such a pain in the ass, but please bear with it.
On your node server. You can use it like
import socketIOClient from 'socket.io-client'
import sailsIOClient from 'sails.io.js'
const ioClient = sailsIOClient(socketIOClient)
ioClient.sails.url = "YOUR SOCKET SERVER URL"
ioClient.socket.get("SAILS ENDPOINT WHICH HANDLE SOCKET", function(data) {
console.log('Socket Data', data);
})