Handling byte streams in node.js - node.js

Question

For education purposes I am creating a little chat with node.js using TCP.
I am using the windows console to connect with my node server but when I am typing all the characters are streamed one by one. They don't arive as strings. How can I manage to handle those streams so my users don't can write complete words.
My Code:
var net = require("net");
Array.prototype.remove = function(e) {
for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
if (e == this[i]) { return this.splice(i, 1); }
}
};
function Chatter(stream) {
this.name = null;
this.stream = stream;
}
var chatters = [];
var server = net.createServer(function(stream) {
var chatter = new Chatter(stream);
chatters.push(chatter);
stream.setTimeout(0);
stream.setEncoding("utf8");
stream.addListener("connect", function(){
stream.write("Hallo, wer bist du?:\n");
});
stream.addListener("data", function (data) {
if(chatter.name == null) {
chatter.name = data.match(/\S+/);
stream.write("....................\n");
chatters.forEach(function(c){
if (c != chatter) {
c.stream.write(chatter.name + " ist dem Chat beigetreten!\n");
}
});
return;
}
var command = data.match(/^\/(.*)/);
if (command) {
if (command[1] == 'users') {
chatters.forEach(function(c) {
stream.write("- " + c.name + "\n");
});
}
else if (command[1] == 'quit') {
stream.end();
}
}
chatters.forEach(function(c) {
if(c != chatter) {
c.stream.write(chatter.name + ": " + data);
}
});
});
stream.addListener("end", function(){
chatters.remove(chatter);
chatters.forEach(function(c) {
c.stream.write(chatter.name + " hat den Chat verlassen.\n");
});
stream.end();
});
});
server.listen(8000);
For the record that code is from this site
ADDITION:
setEncoding('utf8') is supposed to change the emiting of data, but it doesn't work for me :-(

Answer 1

The solution to your problem is to store all received characters in a buffer and when an END_OF_NICK character is encountered (say, \n), use the buffer as the name.
var buffer = ""; // stores received characters
stream.addListener("data", function (data) {
if(chatter.name == null) { // still receiving characters for the name
buffer += data; // append received characters to the buffer
if (buffer.indexOf('\n') == -1) return; // if there's no END_OF_NICK character, keep waiting for it
chatter.name = buffer.match(/\S+/); // use the name in the buffer
// ...
}