CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jssocket.io
laggingreflex
laggingreflex

Reputation: 34667

Using sockets outside their dedicated 'connection' scope

I'm making a node.js app with sockets.io.

The logic of my app needs to communicate to client through their respective sockets, but the problem with sockets is they're in their own "domain" of code. 

var io = require('socket.io').listen(80);
io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  // socket object is only available here
  socket.emit('news', { hello: 'world' });
  socket.on('my other event', function (data) {
    console.log(data);
  });
});

See?

I tried to export this socket object out 

var Sockets = []
io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {
  Sockets[socket.handshake.user.id] = socket;
});

Now it's available outside

function myLogic(userid) {
  Sockets[userid].emit('free!')
}

But I'm facing weird bugs because it's probably not supposed to be used this way... like new connections make new socket objects but previous ones still exist somewhere in memory and they still react when their .on('..' gets fired...

What is the correct way to use sockets outside of their respective io.sockets.on('connection', function(socket){} scope?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1117

Answers (2)

Zlatko
Zlatko

Reputation: 19578

Make a setup function for your module and pass it the initialized socket thing. Ie. something like this from main.js:

var server = require('http').createServer(app); var io = require('socket.io').listen(server); var myModule = require('./myModule').setup(io);

Then in your myModule.js save a reference to the io object:

var localIo; exports.setup = function(io) { localIo = io; }; // Then after in your other code.... function myLocalFunction(myData) { localIo.sockets.volatile.emit('myevent', {data: myData}); };

Upvotes: 0

Leonardo Lanchas
Leonardo Lanchas

Reputation: 1668

Answering your question: if you want to use sockets outside of their respective "io.sockets.on('connection', function(socket){} scope", you have to access them through the io object --> io.sockets.socket(socketId), where socketId is stored somewhere.

Upvotes: 4

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