Android App Connecting to Node.js server using Socket.io

Question

I\'m having trouble getting my Android app to connect to a socket.io chat server. I\'m using socket.io-java-client created by Gottox which can be found here: https://github.

Answer 1

I actually solved the problem. I used my PC's local IP http://192.168.0.xxx:7000 and the app was able to connect to the chat server from the emulator. I don't know why this works, but it might help out someone in the future :)

Update:

This is how I ended up structuring the project. I created a singleton class to handle socket connections Android side (you could also do it as a service). When receiving a message, the singleton class broadcasts an intent to the rest of the app. The intent is then picked up by a broadcast receiver in the relevant activity.

Android Side (singleton):

public class SocketSingleton {

    private static SocketSingleton instance;
    private static final String SERVER_ADDRESS = "http://1.2.3.4:1234";
    private SocketIO socket;
    private Context context;

    public static SocketSingleton get(Context context){
        if(instance == null){
            instance = getSync(context);
        }
        instance.context = context;
        return instance;
    }

    public static synchronized SocketSingleton getSync(Context context){
        if (instance == null) {
            instance = new SocketSingleton(context);
        }
        return instance;
    }

    public SocketIO getSocket(){
        return this.socket;
    }

    private SocketSingleton(Context context){
        this.context = context;
        this.socket = getChatServerSocket();
        this.friends = new ArrayList();
    }

    private SocketIO getChatServerSocket(){
        try {
            SocketIO socket = new SocketIO(new URL(SERVER_ADDRESS), new IOCallback() {
                @Override
                public void onDisconnect() {
                    System.out.println("disconnected");
                }

                @Override
                public void onConnect() {
                    System.out.println("connected");
                }

                @Override
                public void on(String event, IOAcknowledge ioAcknowledge, Object... objects) {
                    if (event.equals("chatMessage")) {
                        JSONObject json = (JSONObject) objects[0];
                        ChatMessage chatMessage = new ChatMessage(json);

                        Intent intent = new Intent();
                        intent.setAction("newChatMessage");
                        intent.putExtra("chatMessage", chatMessage);
                        context.sendBroadcast(intent);
                    }
                }
                @Override
                public void onError(SocketIOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            });
            return socket;
        } catch (MalformedURLException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
        return null;
    }
}

Android Side (activity):

public class ChatActivity extends Activity {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_chat);
    IntentFilter newChatMessageFilter = new IntentFilter("newChatMessage");
    this.registerReceiver(new MessageReceiver(), newChatMessageFilter);

    ...

    public class MessageReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent){
            final ChatMessage chatMessage =(ChatMessage) intent.getExtras().get("chatMessage");
            runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {
                    mAdapter.add(chatMessage);
                    mAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
                }
            });
        }
    }
} 

Server Side:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var server = require('http').createServer(app).listen(1234);
var io = require('socket.io').listen(server);

io.sockets.on('connection', function(client){

    console.log("client connected: " + client.id);

    client.on("sendTo", function(chatMessage){
        console.log("Message From: " + chatMessage.fromName);
        console.log("Message To: " + chatMessage.toName);


        io.sockets.socket(chatMessage.toClientID).emit("chatMessage", {"fromName" : chatMessage.fromName,
                                                                    "toName" : chatMessage.toName,
                                                                    "toClientID" : chatMessage.toClientID,
                                                                    "msg" : chatMessage.msg});

    });
});