Full socket.io client and server example

_Full-socketio-client-and-server-example.md

Full socket.io client and server example

Last updated: 2021-02-21, tested with socket.io v3.1.1

This is the simplest implementation you will find for a client/server WebSockets architecture using socket.io.

To see a full explanation, read my answer on SO here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/24232050/778272.

If you're looking for examples using frameworks, check these links:

• socket.io + Express
• socket.io + Restify

How to run

Create a folder, run npm init -f on it and paste both server.js and client.js there (see files below). Needless to say, you must have Node.js installed on your system.

Install the required libraries:

npm install socket.io@3.1.1
npm install socket.io-client@3.1.1

Run the server:

node server

Open other terminal windows and spawn as many clients as you want by running:

node client

client.js

const
    io = require("socket.io-client"),
    ioClient = io.connect("http://localhost:8000");

ioClient.on("seq-num", (msg) => console.info(msg));

server.js

const
    {Server} = require("socket.io"),
    server = new Server(8000);

let
    sequenceNumberByClient = new Map();

// event fired every time a new client connects:
server.on("connection", (socket) => {
    console.info(`Client connected [id=${socket.id}]`);
    // initialize this client's sequence number
    sequenceNumberByClient.set(socket, 1);

    // when socket disconnects, remove it from the list:
    socket.on("disconnect", () => {
        sequenceNumberByClient.delete(socket);
        console.info(`Client gone [id=${socket.id}]`);
    });
});

// sends each client its current sequence number
setInterval(() => {
    for (const [client, sequenceNumber] of sequenceNumberByClient.entries()) {
        client.emit("seq-num", sequenceNumber);
        sequenceNumberByClient.set(client, sequenceNumber + 1);
    }
}, 1000);