How to use socket.io with the latest mean.io?

Question

I have fetched a copy of the latest Mean.io and noted quite a number of changes compared to the previous version I have been working with before. Now, what I am doing is creating a very basic chat application that uses socket.io with rooms. Following the basic setup in the Socket documentation I have to implement the following:

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

server.listen(80);

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.sendfile(__dirname + '/index.html');
});

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  socket.emit('news', { hello: 'world' });
  socket.on('my other event', function (data) {
    console.log(data);
  });
});

Where would I define the basic socket room setup?

socket.set("log level", 1);  
var people = {};  
var rooms = {};  
var clients = [];  

Answer 1

You can set the socket.io to listen on your server on

/server/config/system/bootstrap.js

Require the socket.io module

var express = require('express'),
    appPath = process.cwd(),
    io      = require('socket.io');

Now set the socket.io to listen on your app

// Express settings
var app = express(); 
require(appPath + '/server/config/express')(app, passport, db);
io = io(app.listen(3000));    

return io;

Then you need to inject the socket.io object into your app on bootstrapDependencies() function.

function bootstrapDependencies() {
    ...

    // Register socket.io dependency
    mean.register('io', function() {
        return io;
    });
}

Mean.uses this project for its dependency injection https://www.npmjs.org/package/dependable

Finally you need to configure your app to listen on every socket connections probably you want to do these on your main app's router at

/server/routes/index.js

Sample connection handler

var io = require('meanio').io;

io.on('connection', function (socket) {
    // emit data to the clients
    socket.emit('news', { hello: 'world' });

    // event listeners
    socket.on('my other event', function (data) {
         // call your controller function here
         Controller.action(data);
    });
});

And more importantly, don't forget to setup socket.io on the client side.

// on '/server/views/includes/foot.html'
<script src='/socket.io/socket.io.js'></script>
<script>
    var socket = io();
</script>

Answer 2

I've just responded to another SO post (Mean.io framwork with socket.io).

Note: I'm using mean.io v0.5.26 and socket.io v1.1.0.

Pasting my answer again, here.

---

I also faced the same issue and took me about a week to finally get it right. I'll try to explain what I did:

app.js

In this file, I just invoke the code that creates and sets up a socket.io object for me, which is then passed to the routes module.

'use strict';

/*
 * Defining the Package
 */
var Module = require('meanio').Module;

var MeanSocket = new Module('chat');

/*
 * All MEAN packages require registration
 * Dependency injection is used to define required modules
 */
MeanSocket.register(function(app, http) {

    var io = require('./server/config/socketio')(http);

    //We enable routing. By default the Package Object is passed to the routes
    MeanSocket.routes(io);

    return MeanSocket;
});

server/config/socketio.js

This file simply configures the socket.io object. Please note that I had to upgrade meanio module to version 0.5.26 for this work, as http object (express server) is not available in older meanio versions. Moreover, in case you want to use ssl, you can inject https instead of http.

'use strict';

var config = require('meanio').loadConfig(),
    cookie = require('cookie'),
    cookieParser = require('cookie-parser'),
    socketio = require('socket.io');

module.exports = function(http) {

    var io = socketio.listen(http);

    io.use(function(socket, next) {
        var data = socket.request;

        if (!data.headers.cookie) {
            return next(new Error('No cookie transmitted.'));
        }

        var parsedCookie = cookie.parse(data.headers.cookie);
        var sessionID = parsedCookie[config.sessionName];
        var parsedSessionID = cookieParser.signedCookie(parsedCookie[config.sessionName], config.sessionSecret);

        if (sessionID === parsedSessionID) {
            return next(new Error('Cookie is invalid.'));
        }

        next();
    });

    return io;
};

routes/chat.js

Finally, use the routes file to define the socket events, etc.

'use strict';

// The Package is passed automatically as first parameter
module.exports = function(MeanSocket, io) {

    io.on('connection', function(socket) {

        console.log('Client Connected');

        socket.on('authenticate', function(data, callback) {

        });
    });
};

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The latest update v0.4.0 requires another strategy to get socket.io setup. I'm currently in discussion with one of the project contributors to validate my solution. I'll make sure to update my response once I'm 100% sure.

The meanio package is now where the bootstrap functionality is located, as well, where express setup is being called from.

Answer 4

Looks like the mean.io guys have recently released an official Socket.io implementation that integrates directly with their stack. Check it out on Github.