use node.js cluster with socket.io chat application - node.js

Question

I'm trying to learn node.js cluster with socket.io to create a chat application... the problem is that I can't seem to get things working.
i've been trying to go through all the tutorials including the one that I get from this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18310635/scaling-socket-io-to-multiple-node-js-processes-using-cluster/18650183#18650183
when I try to open two browsers, the messages does not go to the other browser.
here's the code that i got
var express = require('express'),
cluster = require('cluster'),
net = require('net'),
socketio = require('socket.io'),
socket_redis = require('socket.io-redis');
var port = 3000,
num_processes = require('os').cpus().length;
if (cluster.isMaster) {
// This stores our workers. We need to keep them to be able to reference
// them based on source IP address. It's also useful for auto-restart,
// for example.
var workers = [];
// Helper function for spawning worker at index 'i'.
var spawn = function(i) {
workers[i] = cluster.fork();
// Optional: Restart worker on exit
workers[i].on('exit', function(code, signal) {
console.log('respawning worker', i);
spawn(i);
});
};
// Spawn workers.
for (var i = 0; i < num_processes; i++) {
spawn(i);
}
// Helper function for getting a worker index based on IP address.
// This is a hot path so it should be really fast. The way it works
// is by converting the IP address to a number by removing non numeric
// characters, then compressing it to the number of slots we have.
//
// Compared against "real" hashing (from the sticky-session code) and
// "real" IP number conversion, this function is on par in terms of
// worker index distribution only much faster.
var worker_index = function(ip, len) {
var s = '';
for (var i = 0, _len = ip.length; i < _len; i++) {
if (!isNaN(ip[i])) {
s += ip[i];
}
}
return Number(s) % len;
};
// Create the outside facing server listening on our port.
var server = net.createServer({ pauseOnConnect: true }, function(connection) {
// We received a connection and need to pass it to the appropriate
// worker. Get the worker for this connection's source IP and pass
// it the connection.
var worker = workers[worker_index(connection.remoteAddress, num_processes)];
worker.send('sticky-session:connection', connection);
}).listen(port);
} else {
// Note we don't use a port here because the master listens on it for us.
var app = new express();
// Here you might use middleware, attach routes, etc.
app.use('/assets', express.static(__dirname +'/public'));
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.sendFile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});
// Don't expose our internal server to the outside.
var server = app.listen(),
io = socketio(server);
// Tell Socket.IO to use the redis adapter. By default, the redis
// server is assumed to be on localhost:6379. You don't have to
// specify them explicitly unless you want to change them.
io.adapter(socket_redis({ host: 'localhost', port: 6379 }));
// Here you might use Socket.IO middleware for authorization etc.
io.on('connection', function(socket) {
console.log('New client connection detected on process ' + process.pid);
socket.emit('welcome', {message: 'Welcome to BlueFrog Chat Room'});
socket.on('new.message', function(message) {
socket.emit('new.message', message);
})
});
// Listen to messages sent from the master. Ignore everything else.
process.on('message', function(message, connection) {
if (message !== 'sticky-session:connection') {
return;
}
// Emulate a connection event on the server by emitting the
// event with the connection the master sent us.
server.emit('connection', connection);
connection.resume();
});
}

Answer 1

If I understand correctly, your problem is that the messages from a client are not broadcasted to the other clients. you can solve this easily using :
io.on('connection', function(socket) {
console.log('New client connection detected on process ' + process.pid);
socket.emit('welcome', {message: 'Welcome to BlueFrog Chat Room'});
socket.on('new.message', function(message) {
socket.emit('new.message', message); // this line sends the message back to the emitter
socket.broadcast.emit('my message', msg); // this broadcasts the message to all the clients
})
});

Answer 2

There are different ways to emit a message. The one you're using emits the message only to the socket that first sent a 'new.message' message to the server. Which means that a socket will receive the message that you emit there only if it first sent a message 'new.message'. That's why, in your browser, the client originating the message is the only one receiving it back.
Change it to:
socket.on('new.message', function(message) {
io.sockets.emit('new.message', message);//use this if even the browser originating the message should be updated.
socket.broadcast.emit('new.message', message);//use this if everyone should be updated excpet the browser source of the message.
})
Here are the different ways you can emit:
io.sockets.on('connection', function(socket) {
//This message is only sent to the client corresponding to this socket.
socket.emit('private message', 'only you can see this');
//This message is sent to every single socket connected in this
//session, including this very socket.
io.sockets.emit('public message', 'everyone sees this');
//This message is sent to every single connected socket, except
//this very one (the one requesting the message to be broadcasted).
socket.broadcast.emit('exclude sender', 'one client wanted all of you to see this');
});
You can also add sockets to different rooms when they connect so that you only communicate messages with sockets from a given room:
io.sockets.on('connection', function(socket) {
//Add this socket to a room called 'room 1'.
socket.join('room 1');
//This message is received by every socket that has joined
//'room 1', including this one. (Note that a socket doesn't
//necessarily need to belong to a certain room to be able to
//request messages to be sent to that room).
io.to('room 1').emit('room message', 'everyone in room 1 sees this');
//This message is received by every socket that has joined
//'room 1', except this one.
socket.broadcast.to('room 1').emit('room message', 'everyone in room 1 sees this');
});