Handling connection loss with websockets

Question

I\'ve recently set-up a local WebSocket server which works fine, however I\'m having a few troubles understanding how I should handle a sudden loss of connection which neith

Answer 1

I used the ping/pong idea and it works nicely. Here's my implementation in my server.js file:

var SOCKET_CONNECTING = 0;
var SOCKET_OPEN = 1;
var SOCKET_CLOSING = 2;
var SOCKET_CLOSED = 3;

var WebSocketServer = require('ws').Server
wss = new WebSocketServer({ port: 8081 });

//Broadcast method to send message to all the users
wss.broadcast = function broadcast(data,sentBy)
{
  for (var i in this.clients)
  {
    if(this.clients[i] != sentBy)
    {
      this.clients[i].send(data);
    }
  }
};

//Send message to all the users
wss.broadcast = function broadcast(data,sentBy)
{
  for (var i in this.clients)
  {
    this.clients[i].send(data);
  }
};

var userList = [];
var keepAlive = null;
var keepAliveInterval = 5000; //5 seconds

//JSON string parser
function isJson(str)
{
 try {
    JSON.parse(str);
  }
  catch (e) {
    return false;
  }
  return true;
}

//WebSocket connection open handler
wss.on('connection', function connection(ws) {

  function ping(client) {
    if (ws.readyState === SOCKET_OPEN) {
      ws.send('__ping__');
    } else {
      console.log('Server - connection has been closed for client ' + client);
      removeUser(client);
    }
  }

  function removeUser(client) {

    console.log('Server - removing user: ' + client)

    var found = false;
    for (var i = 0; i < userList.length; i++) {
      if (userList[i].name === client) {
        userList.splice(i, 1);
        found = true;
      }
    }

    //send out the updated users list
    if (found) {
      wss.broadcast(JSON.stringify({userList: userList}));
    };

    return found;
  }

  function pong(client) {
    console.log('Server - ' + client + ' is still active');
    clearTimeout(keepAlive);
    setTimeout(function () {
      ping(client);
    }, keepAliveInterval);
  }

  //WebSocket message receive handler
  ws.on('message', function incoming(message) {
    if (isJson(message)) {
      var obj = JSON.parse(message);

      //client is responding to keepAlive
      if (obj.keepAlive !== undefined) {
        pong(obj.keepAlive.toLowerCase());
      }

      if (obj.action === 'join') {
        console.log('Server - joining', obj);

        //start pinging to keep alive
        ping(obj.name.toLocaleLowerCase());

        if (userList.filter(function(e) { return e.name == obj.name.toLowerCase(); }).length <= 0) {
          userList.push({name: obj.name.toLowerCase()});
        }

        wss.broadcast(JSON.stringify({userList: userList}));
        console.log('Server - broadcasting user list', userList);
      }
    }

    console.log('Server - received: %s', message.toString());
    return false;
  });
});

Here's my index.html file:

    
        
        
        
    
    
        

            

                LOADING...
            
        
        

            

                Enter Your Name:
                
                
                    Attendee
                    Presenter
                
                
                    Join
                
            
        
        

            

                
Slide 1
                
Slide 2
            
            

                Users Online
                

                
            
        
        
    

Here's a link to the cloud 9 sandbox if you want to try it out yourself: https://ide.c9.io/design1online/web-sockets