[6a3a178] | 1 |
|
---|
| 2 | # Engine.IO: the realtime engine
|
---|
| 3 |
|
---|
[e29cc2e] | 4 | [![Build Status](https://github.com/socketio/engine.io/workflows/CI/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/socketio/engine.io/actions)
|
---|
[6a3a178] | 5 | [![NPM version](https://badge.fury.io/js/engine.io.svg)](http://badge.fury.io/js/engine.io)
|
---|
| 6 |
|
---|
| 7 | `Engine.IO` is the implementation of transport-based
|
---|
| 8 | cross-browser/cross-device bi-directional communication layer for
|
---|
| 9 | [Socket.IO](http://github.com/socketio/socket.io).
|
---|
| 10 |
|
---|
| 11 | ## How to use
|
---|
| 12 |
|
---|
| 13 | ### Server
|
---|
| 14 |
|
---|
| 15 | #### (A) Listening on a port
|
---|
| 16 |
|
---|
| 17 | ```js
|
---|
| 18 | const engine = require('engine.io');
|
---|
| 19 | const server = engine.listen(80);
|
---|
| 20 |
|
---|
| 21 | server.on('connection', socket => {
|
---|
| 22 | socket.send('utf 8 string');
|
---|
| 23 | socket.send(Buffer.from([0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5])); // binary data
|
---|
| 24 | });
|
---|
| 25 | ```
|
---|
| 26 |
|
---|
| 27 | #### (B) Intercepting requests for a http.Server
|
---|
| 28 |
|
---|
| 29 | ```js
|
---|
| 30 | const engine = require('engine.io');
|
---|
| 31 | const http = require('http').createServer().listen(3000);
|
---|
| 32 | const server = engine.attach(http);
|
---|
| 33 |
|
---|
| 34 | server.on('connection', socket => {
|
---|
| 35 | socket.on('message', data => { });
|
---|
| 36 | socket.on('close', () => { });
|
---|
| 37 | });
|
---|
| 38 | ```
|
---|
| 39 |
|
---|
| 40 | #### (C) Passing in requests
|
---|
| 41 |
|
---|
| 42 | ```js
|
---|
| 43 | const engine = require('engine.io');
|
---|
| 44 | const server = new engine.Server();
|
---|
| 45 |
|
---|
| 46 | server.on('connection', socket => {
|
---|
| 47 | socket.send('hi');
|
---|
| 48 | });
|
---|
| 49 |
|
---|
| 50 | // …
|
---|
| 51 | httpServer.on('upgrade', (req, socket, head) => {
|
---|
| 52 | server.handleUpgrade(req, socket, head);
|
---|
| 53 | });
|
---|
| 54 |
|
---|
| 55 | httpServer.on('request', (req, res) => {
|
---|
| 56 | server.handleRequest(req, res);
|
---|
| 57 | });
|
---|
| 58 | ```
|
---|
| 59 |
|
---|
| 60 | ### Client
|
---|
| 61 |
|
---|
| 62 | ```html
|
---|
| 63 | <script src="/path/to/engine.io.js"></script>
|
---|
| 64 | <script>
|
---|
| 65 | const socket = new eio.Socket('ws://localhost/');
|
---|
| 66 | socket.on('open', () => {
|
---|
| 67 | socket.on('message', data => {});
|
---|
| 68 | socket.on('close', () => {});
|
---|
| 69 | });
|
---|
| 70 | </script>
|
---|
| 71 | ```
|
---|
| 72 |
|
---|
| 73 | For more information on the client refer to the
|
---|
| 74 | [engine-client](http://github.com/socketio/engine.io-client) repository.
|
---|
| 75 |
|
---|
| 76 | ## What features does it have?
|
---|
| 77 |
|
---|
| 78 | - **Maximum reliability**. Connections are established even in the presence of:
|
---|
| 79 | - proxies and load balancers.
|
---|
| 80 | - personal firewall and antivirus software.
|
---|
| 81 | - for more information refer to **Goals** and **Architecture** sections
|
---|
| 82 | - **Minimal client size** aided by:
|
---|
| 83 | - lazy loading of flash transports.
|
---|
| 84 | - lack of redundant transports.
|
---|
| 85 | - **Scalable**
|
---|
| 86 | - load balancer friendly
|
---|
| 87 | - **Future proof**
|
---|
| 88 | - **100% Node.JS core style**
|
---|
| 89 | - No API sugar (left for higher level projects)
|
---|
| 90 | - Written in readable vanilla JavaScript
|
---|
| 91 |
|
---|
| 92 | ## API
|
---|
| 93 |
|
---|
| 94 | ### Server
|
---|
| 95 |
|
---|
| 96 | <hr><br>
|
---|
| 97 |
|
---|
| 98 | #### Top-level
|
---|
| 99 |
|
---|
| 100 | These are exposed by `require('engine.io')`:
|
---|
| 101 |
|
---|
| 102 | ##### Events
|
---|
| 103 |
|
---|
| 104 | - `flush`
|
---|
| 105 | - Called when a socket buffer is being flushed.
|
---|
| 106 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 107 | - `Socket`: socket being flushed
|
---|
| 108 | - `Array`: write buffer
|
---|
| 109 | - `drain`
|
---|
| 110 | - Called when a socket buffer is drained
|
---|
| 111 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 112 | - `Socket`: socket being flushed
|
---|
| 113 |
|
---|
| 114 | ##### Properties
|
---|
| 115 |
|
---|
| 116 | - `protocol` _(Number)_: protocol revision number
|
---|
| 117 | - `Server`: Server class constructor
|
---|
| 118 | - `Socket`: Socket class constructor
|
---|
| 119 | - `Transport` _(Function)_: transport constructor
|
---|
| 120 | - `transports` _(Object)_: map of available transports
|
---|
| 121 |
|
---|
| 122 | ##### Methods
|
---|
| 123 |
|
---|
| 124 | - `()`
|
---|
| 125 | - Returns a new `Server` instance. If the first argument is an `http.Server` then the
|
---|
| 126 | new `Server` instance will be attached to it. Otherwise, the arguments are passed
|
---|
| 127 | directly to the `Server` constructor.
|
---|
| 128 | - **Parameters**
|
---|
| 129 | - `http.Server`: optional, server to attach to.
|
---|
| 130 | - `Object`: optional, options object (see `Server#constructor` api docs below)
|
---|
| 131 |
|
---|
| 132 | The following are identical ways to instantiate a server and then attach it.
|
---|
| 133 |
|
---|
| 134 | ```js
|
---|
| 135 | const httpServer; // previously created with `http.createServer();` from node.js api.
|
---|
| 136 |
|
---|
| 137 | // create a server first, and then attach
|
---|
| 138 | const eioServer = require('engine.io').Server();
|
---|
| 139 | eioServer.attach(httpServer);
|
---|
| 140 |
|
---|
| 141 | // or call the module as a function to get `Server`
|
---|
| 142 | const eioServer = require('engine.io')();
|
---|
| 143 | eioServer.attach(httpServer);
|
---|
| 144 |
|
---|
| 145 | // immediately attach
|
---|
| 146 | const eioServer = require('engine.io')(httpServer);
|
---|
| 147 |
|
---|
| 148 | // with custom options
|
---|
| 149 | const eioServer = require('engine.io')(httpServer, {
|
---|
| 150 | maxHttpBufferSize: 1e3
|
---|
| 151 | });
|
---|
| 152 | ```
|
---|
| 153 |
|
---|
| 154 | - `listen`
|
---|
| 155 | - Creates an `http.Server` which listens on the given port and attaches WS
|
---|
| 156 | to it. It returns `501 Not Implemented` for regular http requests.
|
---|
| 157 | - **Parameters**
|
---|
| 158 | - `Number`: port to listen on.
|
---|
| 159 | - `Object`: optional, options object
|
---|
| 160 | - `Function`: callback for `listen`.
|
---|
| 161 | - **Options**
|
---|
| 162 | - All options from `Server.attach` method, documented below.
|
---|
| 163 | - **Additionally** See Server `constructor` below for options you can pass for creating the new Server
|
---|
| 164 | - **Returns** `Server`
|
---|
| 165 |
|
---|
| 166 | ```js
|
---|
| 167 | const engine = require('engine.io');
|
---|
| 168 | const server = engine.listen(3000, {
|
---|
| 169 | pingTimeout: 2000,
|
---|
| 170 | pingInterval: 10000
|
---|
| 171 | });
|
---|
| 172 |
|
---|
| 173 | server.on('connection', /* ... */);
|
---|
| 174 | ```
|
---|
| 175 |
|
---|
| 176 | - `attach`
|
---|
| 177 | - Captures `upgrade` requests for a `http.Server`. In other words, makes
|
---|
| 178 | a regular http.Server WebSocket-compatible.
|
---|
| 179 | - **Parameters**
|
---|
| 180 | - `http.Server`: server to attach to.
|
---|
| 181 | - `Object`: optional, options object
|
---|
| 182 | - **Options**
|
---|
| 183 | - All options from `Server.attach` method, documented below.
|
---|
| 184 | - **Additionally** See Server `constructor` below for options you can pass for creating the new Server
|
---|
| 185 | - **Returns** `Server` a new Server instance.
|
---|
| 186 |
|
---|
| 187 | ```js
|
---|
| 188 | const engine = require('engine.io');
|
---|
| 189 | const httpServer = require('http').createServer().listen(3000);
|
---|
| 190 | const server = engine.attach(httpServer, {
|
---|
[e29cc2e] | 191 | wsEngine: require('eiows').Server // requires having eiows as dependency
|
---|
[6a3a178] | 192 | });
|
---|
| 193 |
|
---|
| 194 | server.on('connection', /* ... */);
|
---|
| 195 | ```
|
---|
| 196 |
|
---|
| 197 | #### Server
|
---|
| 198 |
|
---|
| 199 | The main server/manager. _Inherits from EventEmitter_.
|
---|
| 200 |
|
---|
| 201 | ##### Events
|
---|
| 202 |
|
---|
| 203 | - `connection`
|
---|
| 204 | - Fired when a new connection is established.
|
---|
| 205 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 206 | - `Socket`: a Socket object
|
---|
| 207 |
|
---|
[e29cc2e] | 208 | - `initial_headers`
|
---|
| 209 | - Fired on the first request of the connection, before writing the response headers
|
---|
| 210 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 211 | - `headers` (`Object`): a hash of headers
|
---|
| 212 | - `req` (`http.IncomingMessage`): the request
|
---|
| 213 |
|
---|
| 214 | - `headers`
|
---|
| 215 | - Fired on the all requests of the connection, before writing the response headers
|
---|
| 216 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 217 | - `headers` (`Object`): a hash of headers
|
---|
| 218 | - `req` (`http.IncomingMessage`): the request
|
---|
| 219 |
|
---|
| 220 | - `connection_error`
|
---|
| 221 | - Fired when an error occurs when establishing the connection.
|
---|
| 222 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 223 | - `error`: an object with following properties:
|
---|
| 224 | - `req` (`http.IncomingMessage`): the request that was dropped
|
---|
| 225 | - `code` (`Number`): one of `Server.errors`
|
---|
| 226 | - `message` (`string`): one of `Server.errorMessages`
|
---|
| 227 | - `context` (`Object`): extra info about the error
|
---|
| 228 |
|
---|
| 229 | | Code | Message |
|
---|
| 230 | | ---- | ------- |
|
---|
| 231 | | 0 | "Transport unknown"
|
---|
| 232 | | 1 | "Session ID unknown"
|
---|
| 233 | | 2 | "Bad handshake method"
|
---|
| 234 | | 3 | "Bad request"
|
---|
| 235 | | 4 | "Forbidden"
|
---|
| 236 | | 5 | "Unsupported protocol version"
|
---|
| 237 |
|
---|
| 238 |
|
---|
[6a3a178] | 239 | ##### Properties
|
---|
| 240 |
|
---|
| 241 | **Important**: if you plan to use Engine.IO in a scalable way, please
|
---|
| 242 | keep in mind the properties below will only reflect the clients connected
|
---|
| 243 | to a single process.
|
---|
| 244 |
|
---|
| 245 | - `clients` _(Object)_: hash of connected clients by id.
|
---|
| 246 | - `clientsCount` _(Number)_: number of connected clients.
|
---|
| 247 |
|
---|
| 248 | ##### Methods
|
---|
| 249 |
|
---|
| 250 | - **constructor**
|
---|
| 251 | - Initializes the server
|
---|
| 252 | - **Parameters**
|
---|
| 253 | - `Object`: optional, options object
|
---|
| 254 | - **Options**
|
---|
| 255 | - `pingTimeout` (`Number`): how many ms without a pong packet to
|
---|
[e29cc2e] | 256 | consider the connection closed (`20000`)
|
---|
[6a3a178] | 257 | - `pingInterval` (`Number`): how many ms before sending a new ping
|
---|
| 258 | packet (`25000`)
|
---|
| 259 | - `upgradeTimeout` (`Number`): how many ms before an uncompleted transport upgrade is cancelled (`10000`)
|
---|
| 260 | - `maxHttpBufferSize` (`Number`): how many bytes or characters a message
|
---|
| 261 | can be, before closing the session (to avoid DoS). Default
|
---|
| 262 | value is `1E6`.
|
---|
| 263 | - `allowRequest` (`Function`): A function that receives a given handshake
|
---|
| 264 | or upgrade request as its first parameter, and can decide whether to
|
---|
| 265 | continue or not. The second argument is a function that needs to be
|
---|
| 266 | called with the decided information: `fn(err, success)`, where
|
---|
| 267 | `success` is a boolean value where false means that the request is
|
---|
| 268 | rejected, and err is an error code.
|
---|
| 269 | - `transports` (`<Array> String`): transports to allow connections
|
---|
| 270 | to (`['polling', 'websocket']`)
|
---|
| 271 | - `allowUpgrades` (`Boolean`): whether to allow transport upgrades
|
---|
| 272 | (`true`)
|
---|
| 273 | - `perMessageDeflate` (`Object|Boolean`): parameters of the WebSocket permessage-deflate extension
|
---|
| 274 | (see [ws module](https://github.com/einaros/ws) api docs). Set to `true` to enable. (defaults to `false`)
|
---|
| 275 | - `threshold` (`Number`): data is compressed only if the byte size is above this value (`1024`)
|
---|
| 276 | - `httpCompression` (`Object|Boolean`): parameters of the http compression for the polling transports
|
---|
| 277 | (see [zlib](http://nodejs.org/api/zlib.html#zlib_options) api docs). Set to `false` to disable. (`true`)
|
---|
| 278 | - `threshold` (`Number`): data is compressed only if the byte size is above this value (`1024`)
|
---|
| 279 | - `cookie` (`Object|Boolean`): configuration of the cookie that
|
---|
| 280 | contains the client sid to send as part of handshake response
|
---|
| 281 | headers. This cookie might be used for sticky-session. Defaults to not sending any cookie (`false`).
|
---|
| 282 | See [here](https://github.com/jshttp/cookie#options-1) for all supported options.
|
---|
[e29cc2e] | 283 | - `wsEngine` (`Function`): what WebSocket server implementation to use. Specified module must conform to the `ws` interface (see [ws module api docs](https://github.com/websockets/ws/blob/master/doc/ws.md)). Default value is `ws`. An alternative c++ addon is also available by installing `eiows` module.
|
---|
[6a3a178] | 284 | - `cors` (`Object`): the options that will be forwarded to the cors module. See [there](https://github.com/expressjs/cors#configuration-options) for all available options. Defaults to no CORS allowed.
|
---|
| 285 | - `initialPacket` (`Object`): an optional packet which will be concatenated to the handshake packet emitted by Engine.IO.
|
---|
| 286 | - `allowEIO3` (`Boolean`): whether to support v3 Engine.IO clients (defaults to `false`)
|
---|
| 287 | - `close`
|
---|
| 288 | - Closes all clients
|
---|
| 289 | - **Returns** `Server` for chaining
|
---|
| 290 | - `handleRequest`
|
---|
| 291 | - Called internally when a `Engine` request is intercepted.
|
---|
| 292 | - **Parameters**
|
---|
| 293 | - `http.IncomingMessage`: a node request object
|
---|
| 294 | - `http.ServerResponse`: a node response object
|
---|
| 295 | - **Returns** `Server` for chaining
|
---|
| 296 | - `handleUpgrade`
|
---|
| 297 | - Called internally when a `Engine` ws upgrade is intercepted.
|
---|
| 298 | - **Parameters** (same as `upgrade` event)
|
---|
| 299 | - `http.IncomingMessage`: a node request object
|
---|
| 300 | - `net.Stream`: TCP socket for the request
|
---|
| 301 | - `Buffer`: legacy tail bytes
|
---|
| 302 | - **Returns** `Server` for chaining
|
---|
| 303 | - `attach`
|
---|
| 304 | - Attach this Server instance to an `http.Server`
|
---|
| 305 | - Captures `upgrade` requests for a `http.Server`. In other words, makes
|
---|
| 306 | a regular http.Server WebSocket-compatible.
|
---|
| 307 | - **Parameters**
|
---|
| 308 | - `http.Server`: server to attach to.
|
---|
| 309 | - `Object`: optional, options object
|
---|
| 310 | - **Options**
|
---|
| 311 | - `path` (`String`): name of the path to capture (`/engine.io`).
|
---|
| 312 | - `destroyUpgrade` (`Boolean`): destroy unhandled upgrade requests (`true`)
|
---|
| 313 | - `destroyUpgradeTimeout` (`Number`): milliseconds after which unhandled requests are ended (`1000`)
|
---|
| 314 | - `generateId`
|
---|
| 315 | - Generate a socket id.
|
---|
| 316 | - Overwrite this method to generate your custom socket id.
|
---|
| 317 | - **Parameters**
|
---|
| 318 | - `http.IncomingMessage`: a node request object
|
---|
| 319 | - **Returns** A socket id for connected client.
|
---|
| 320 |
|
---|
| 321 | <hr><br>
|
---|
| 322 |
|
---|
| 323 | #### Socket
|
---|
| 324 |
|
---|
| 325 | A representation of a client. _Inherits from EventEmitter_.
|
---|
| 326 |
|
---|
| 327 | ##### Events
|
---|
| 328 |
|
---|
| 329 | - `close`
|
---|
| 330 | - Fired when the client is disconnected.
|
---|
| 331 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 332 | - `String`: reason for closing
|
---|
| 333 | - `Object`: description object (optional)
|
---|
| 334 | - `message`
|
---|
| 335 | - Fired when the client sends a message.
|
---|
| 336 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 337 | - `String` or `Buffer`: Unicode string or Buffer with binary contents
|
---|
| 338 | - `error`
|
---|
| 339 | - Fired when an error occurs.
|
---|
| 340 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 341 | - `Error`: error object
|
---|
| 342 | - `flush`
|
---|
| 343 | - Called when the write buffer is being flushed.
|
---|
| 344 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 345 | - `Array`: write buffer
|
---|
| 346 | - `drain`
|
---|
| 347 | - Called when the write buffer is drained
|
---|
| 348 | - `packet`
|
---|
| 349 | - Called when a socket received a packet (`message`, `ping`)
|
---|
| 350 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 351 | - `type`: packet type
|
---|
| 352 | - `data`: packet data (if type is message)
|
---|
| 353 | - `packetCreate`
|
---|
| 354 | - Called before a socket sends a packet (`message`, `ping`)
|
---|
| 355 | - **Arguments**
|
---|
| 356 | - `type`: packet type
|
---|
| 357 | - `data`: packet data (if type is message)
|
---|
[e29cc2e] | 358 | - `heartbeat`
|
---|
| 359 | - Called when `ping` or `pong` packed is received (depends of client version)
|
---|
[6a3a178] | 360 |
|
---|
| 361 | ##### Properties
|
---|
| 362 |
|
---|
| 363 | - `id` _(String)_: unique identifier
|
---|
| 364 | - `server` _(Server)_: engine parent reference
|
---|
| 365 | - `request` _(http.IncomingMessage)_: request that originated the Socket
|
---|
| 366 | - `upgraded` _(Boolean)_: whether the transport has been upgraded
|
---|
| 367 | - `readyState` _(String)_: opening|open|closing|closed
|
---|
| 368 | - `transport` _(Transport)_: transport reference
|
---|
| 369 |
|
---|
| 370 | ##### Methods
|
---|
| 371 |
|
---|
| 372 | - `send`:
|
---|
| 373 | - Sends a message, performing `message = toString(arguments[0])` unless
|
---|
| 374 | sending binary data, which is sent as is.
|
---|
| 375 | - **Parameters**
|
---|
| 376 | - `String` | `Buffer` | `ArrayBuffer` | `ArrayBufferView`: a string or any object implementing `toString()`, with outgoing data, or a Buffer or ArrayBuffer with binary data. Also any ArrayBufferView can be sent as is.
|
---|
| 377 | - `Object`: optional, options object
|
---|
| 378 | - `Function`: optional, a callback executed when the message gets flushed out by the transport
|
---|
| 379 | - **Options**
|
---|
| 380 | - `compress` (`Boolean`): whether to compress sending data. This option might be ignored and forced to be `true` when using polling. (`true`)
|
---|
| 381 | - **Returns** `Socket` for chaining
|
---|
| 382 | - `close`
|
---|
| 383 | - Disconnects the client
|
---|
| 384 | - **Returns** `Socket` for chaining
|
---|
| 385 |
|
---|
| 386 | ### Client
|
---|
| 387 |
|
---|
| 388 | <hr><br>
|
---|
| 389 |
|
---|
| 390 | Exposed in the `eio` global namespace (in the browser), or by
|
---|
| 391 | `require('engine.io-client')` (in Node.JS).
|
---|
| 392 |
|
---|
| 393 | For the client API refer to the
|
---|
| 394 | [engine-client](http://github.com/learnboost/engine.io-client) repository.
|
---|
| 395 |
|
---|
| 396 | ## Debug / logging
|
---|
| 397 |
|
---|
| 398 | Engine.IO is powered by [debug](http://github.com/visionmedia/debug).
|
---|
| 399 | In order to see all the debug output, run your app with the environment variable
|
---|
| 400 | `DEBUG` including the desired scope.
|
---|
| 401 |
|
---|
| 402 | To see the output from all of Engine.IO's debugging scopes you can use:
|
---|
| 403 |
|
---|
| 404 | ```
|
---|
| 405 | DEBUG=engine* node myapp
|
---|
| 406 | ```
|
---|
| 407 |
|
---|
| 408 | ## Transports
|
---|
| 409 |
|
---|
| 410 | - `polling`: XHR / JSONP polling transport.
|
---|
| 411 | - `websocket`: WebSocket transport.
|
---|
| 412 |
|
---|
| 413 | ## Plugins
|
---|
| 414 |
|
---|
| 415 | - [engine.io-conflation](https://github.com/EugenDueck/engine.io-conflation): Makes **conflation and aggregation** of messages straightforward.
|
---|
| 416 |
|
---|
| 417 | ## Support
|
---|
| 418 |
|
---|
| 419 | The support channels for `engine.io` are the same as `socket.io`:
|
---|
| 420 | - irc.freenode.net **#socket.io**
|
---|
| 421 | - [Google Groups](http://groups.google.com/group/socket_io)
|
---|
| 422 | - [Website](http://socket.io)
|
---|
| 423 |
|
---|
| 424 | ## Development
|
---|
| 425 |
|
---|
| 426 | To contribute patches, run tests or benchmarks, make sure to clone the
|
---|
| 427 | repository:
|
---|
| 428 |
|
---|
| 429 | ```
|
---|
| 430 | git clone git://github.com/LearnBoost/engine.io.git
|
---|
| 431 | ```
|
---|
| 432 |
|
---|
| 433 | Then:
|
---|
| 434 |
|
---|
| 435 | ```
|
---|
| 436 | cd engine.io
|
---|
| 437 | npm install
|
---|
| 438 | ```
|
---|
| 439 |
|
---|
| 440 | ## Tests
|
---|
| 441 |
|
---|
| 442 | Tests run with `npm test`. It runs the server tests that are aided by
|
---|
| 443 | the usage of `engine.io-client`.
|
---|
| 444 |
|
---|
| 445 | Make sure `npm install` is run first.
|
---|
| 446 |
|
---|
| 447 | ## Goals
|
---|
| 448 |
|
---|
| 449 | The main goal of `Engine` is ensuring the most reliable realtime communication.
|
---|
| 450 | Unlike the previous Socket.IO core, it always establishes a long-polling
|
---|
| 451 | connection first, then tries to upgrade to better transports that are "tested" on
|
---|
| 452 | the side.
|
---|
| 453 |
|
---|
| 454 | During the lifetime of the Socket.IO projects, we've found countless drawbacks
|
---|
| 455 | to relying on `HTML5 WebSocket` or `Flash Socket` as the first connection
|
---|
| 456 | mechanisms.
|
---|
| 457 |
|
---|
| 458 | Both are clearly the _right way_ of establishing a bidirectional communication,
|
---|
| 459 | with HTML5 WebSocket being the way of the future. However, to answer most business
|
---|
| 460 | needs, alternative traditional HTTP 1.1 mechanisms are just as good as delivering
|
---|
| 461 | the same solution.
|
---|
| 462 |
|
---|
| 463 | WebSocket based connections have two fundamental benefits:
|
---|
| 464 |
|
---|
| 465 | 1. **Better server performance**
|
---|
| 466 | - _A: Load balancers_<br>
|
---|
| 467 | Load balancing a long polling connection poses a serious architectural nightmare
|
---|
| 468 | since requests can come from any number of open sockets by the user agent, but
|
---|
| 469 | they all need to be routed to the process and computer that owns the `Engine`
|
---|
| 470 | connection. This negatively impacts RAM and CPU usage.
|
---|
| 471 | - _B: Network traffic_<br>
|
---|
| 472 | WebSocket is designed around the premise that each message frame has to be
|
---|
| 473 | surrounded by the least amount of data. In HTTP 1.1 transports, each message
|
---|
| 474 | frame is surrounded by HTTP headers and chunked encoding frames. If you try to
|
---|
| 475 | send the message _"Hello world"_ with xhr-polling, the message ultimately
|
---|
| 476 | becomes larger than if you were to send it with WebSocket.
|
---|
| 477 | - _C: Lightweight parser_<br>
|
---|
| 478 | As an effect of **B**, the server has to do a lot more work to parse the network
|
---|
| 479 | data and figure out the message when traditional HTTP requests are used
|
---|
| 480 | (as in long polling). This means that another advantage of WebSocket is
|
---|
| 481 | less server CPU usage.
|
---|
| 482 |
|
---|
| 483 | 2. **Better user experience**
|
---|
| 484 |
|
---|
| 485 | Due to the reasons stated in point **1**, the most important effect of being able
|
---|
| 486 | to establish a WebSocket connection is raw data transfer speed, which translates
|
---|
| 487 | in _some_ cases in better user experience.
|
---|
| 488 |
|
---|
| 489 | Applications with heavy realtime interaction (such as games) will benefit greatly,
|
---|
| 490 | whereas applications like realtime chat (Gmail/Facebook), newsfeeds (Facebook) or
|
---|
| 491 | timelines (Twitter) will have negligible user experience improvements.
|
---|
| 492 |
|
---|
| 493 | Having said this, attempting to establish a WebSocket connection directly so far has
|
---|
| 494 | proven problematic:
|
---|
| 495 |
|
---|
| 496 | 1. **Proxies**<br>
|
---|
| 497 | Many corporate proxies block WebSocket traffic.
|
---|
| 498 |
|
---|
| 499 | 2. **Personal firewall and antivirus software**<br>
|
---|
| 500 | As a result of our research, we've found that at least 3 personal security
|
---|
| 501 | applications block WebSocket traffic.
|
---|
| 502 |
|
---|
| 503 | 3. **Cloud application platforms**<br>
|
---|
| 504 | Platforms like Heroku or No.de have had trouble keeping up with the fast-paced
|
---|
| 505 | nature of the evolution of the WebSocket protocol. Applications therefore end up
|
---|
| 506 | inevitably using long polling, but the seamless installation experience of
|
---|
| 507 | Socket.IO we strive for (_"require() it and it just works"_) disappears.
|
---|
| 508 |
|
---|
| 509 | Some of these problems have solutions. In the case of proxies and personal programs,
|
---|
| 510 | however, the solutions many times involve upgrading software. Experience has shown
|
---|
| 511 | that relying on client software upgrades to deliver a business solution is
|
---|
| 512 | fruitless: the very existence of this project has to do with a fragmented panorama
|
---|
| 513 | of user agent distribution, with clients connecting with latest versions of the most
|
---|
| 514 | modern user agents (Chrome, Firefox and Safari), but others with versions as low as
|
---|
| 515 | IE 5.5.
|
---|
| 516 |
|
---|
| 517 | From the user perspective, an unsuccessful WebSocket connection can translate in
|
---|
| 518 | up to at least 10 seconds of waiting for the realtime application to begin
|
---|
| 519 | exchanging data. This **perceptively** hurts user experience.
|
---|
| 520 |
|
---|
| 521 | To summarize, **Engine** focuses on reliability and user experience first, marginal
|
---|
| 522 | potential UX improvements and increased server performance second. `Engine` is the
|
---|
| 523 | result of all the lessons learned with WebSocket in the wild.
|
---|
| 524 |
|
---|
| 525 | ## Architecture
|
---|
| 526 |
|
---|
| 527 | The main premise of `Engine`, and the core of its existence, is the ability to
|
---|
| 528 | swap transports on the fly. A connection starts as xhr-polling, but it can
|
---|
| 529 | switch to WebSocket.
|
---|
| 530 |
|
---|
| 531 | The central problem this poses is: how do we switch transports without losing
|
---|
| 532 | messages?
|
---|
| 533 |
|
---|
| 534 | `Engine` only switches from polling to another transport in between polling
|
---|
| 535 | cycles. Since the server closes the connection after a certain timeout when
|
---|
| 536 | there's no activity, and the polling transport implementation buffers messages
|
---|
| 537 | in between connections, this ensures no message loss and optimal performance.
|
---|
| 538 |
|
---|
| 539 | Another benefit of this design is that we workaround almost all the limitations
|
---|
| 540 | of **Flash Socket**, such as slow connection times, increased file size (we can
|
---|
| 541 | safely lazy load it without hurting user experience), etc.
|
---|
| 542 |
|
---|
| 543 | ## FAQ
|
---|
| 544 |
|
---|
| 545 | ### Can I use engine without Socket.IO ?
|
---|
| 546 |
|
---|
| 547 | Absolutely. Although the recommended framework for building realtime applications
|
---|
| 548 | is Socket.IO, since it provides fundamental features for real-world applications
|
---|
| 549 | such as multiplexing, reconnection support, etc.
|
---|
| 550 |
|
---|
| 551 | `Engine` is to Socket.IO what Connect is to Express. An essential piece for building
|
---|
| 552 | realtime frameworks, but something you _probably_ won't be using for building
|
---|
| 553 | actual applications.
|
---|
| 554 |
|
---|
| 555 | ### Does the server serve the client?
|
---|
| 556 |
|
---|
| 557 | No. The main reason is that `Engine` is meant to be bundled with frameworks.
|
---|
| 558 | Socket.IO includes `Engine`, therefore serving two clients is not necessary. If
|
---|
| 559 | you use Socket.IO, including
|
---|
| 560 |
|
---|
| 561 | ```html
|
---|
| 562 | <script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js">
|
---|
| 563 | ```
|
---|
| 564 |
|
---|
| 565 | has you covered.
|
---|
| 566 |
|
---|
| 567 | ### Can I implement `Engine` in other languages?
|
---|
| 568 |
|
---|
| 569 | Absolutely. The [engine.io-protocol](https://github.com/socketio/engine.io-protocol)
|
---|
| 570 | repository contains the most up-to-date description of the specification
|
---|
| 571 | at all times.
|
---|
| 572 |
|
---|
| 573 | ## License
|
---|
| 574 |
|
---|
| 575 | (The MIT License)
|
---|
| 576 |
|
---|
| 577 | Copyright (c) 2014 Guillermo Rauch <guillermo@learnboost.com>
|
---|
| 578 |
|
---|
| 579 | Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
|
---|
| 580 | a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
|
---|
| 581 | 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
|
---|
| 582 | without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
|
---|
| 583 | distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
|
---|
| 584 | permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
|
---|
| 585 | the following conditions:
|
---|
| 586 |
|
---|
| 587 | The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
|
---|
| 588 | included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
|
---|
| 589 |
|
---|
| 590 | THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
|
---|
| 591 | EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
|
---|
| 592 | MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
|
---|
| 593 | IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
|
---|
| 594 | CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
|
---|
| 595 | TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
|
---|
| 596 | SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
|
---|