Now that we are well acquainted with Socket.IO, let us write a chat application, which we can use to chat on different chat rooms. We will allow users to choose a username and allow them to chat using them. So first, let us set up our HTML file to request for a username −
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello world</title>
</head>
<script src = "/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
<script>
var socket = io();
</script>
<body>
<input type = "text" name = "name" value = "" placeholder = "Enter your name!">
<button type = "button" name = "button">Let me chat!</button>
</body>
</html>
Now that we have set up our HTML to request for a username, let us create the server to accept connections from the client. We will allow people to send their chosen usernames using the setUsername event. If a user exists, we will respond by a userExists event, else using a userSet event.
var app = require('express')();
var http = require('http').Server(app);
var io = require('socket.io')(http);
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.sendfile('index.html');
});
users = [];
io.on('connection', function(socket) {
console.log('A user connected');
socket.on('setUsername', function(data) {
if(users.indexOf(data) > -1) {
users.push(data);
socket.emit('userSet', {username: data});
} else {
socket.emit('userExists', data + ' username is taken! Try some other username.');
}
})
});
http.listen(3000, function() {
console.log('listening on localhost:3000');
});
We need to send the username to the server when people click on the button. If user exists, we show an error message; else, we show a messaging screen −
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello world</title>
</head>
<script src = "/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
<script>
var socket = io();
function setUsername() {
socket.emit('setUsername', document.getElementById('name').value);
};
var user;
socket.on('userExists', function(data) {
document.getElementById('error-container').innerHTML = data;
});
socket.on('userSet', function(data) {
user = data.username;
document.body.innerHTML = '<input type = "text" id = "message">\
<button type = "button" name = "button" onclick = "sendMessage()">Send</button>\
<div id = "message-container"></div>';
});
function sendMessage() {
var msg = document.getElementById('message').value;
if(msg) {
socket.emit('msg', {message: msg, user: user});
}
}
socket.on('newmsg', function(data) {
if(user) {
document.getElementById('message-container').innerHTML += '<div><b>' +
data.user + '</b>: ' + data.message + '</div>'
}
})
</script>
<body>
<div id = "error-container"></div>
<input id = "name" type = "text" name = "name" value = ""
placeholder = "Enter your name!">
<button type = "button" name = "button" onclick = "setUsername()">
Let me chat!
</button>
</body>
</html>
Now if you connect two clients with same username, it will give you an error.
Once you have provided an acceptable username, you will be taken to a screen with a message box and a button to send messages. Now, we have to handle and direct the messages to the connected client. For that, modify your app.js file to include the following changes −
var app = require('express')();
var http = require('http').Server(app);
var io = require('socket.io')(http);
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.sendfile('index.html');
});
users = [];
io.on('connection', function(socket) {
console.log('A user connected');
socket.on('setUsername', function(data) {
console.log(data);
if(users.indexOf(data) > -1) {
socket.emit('userExists', data + ' username is taken! Try some other username.');
} else {
users.push(data);
socket.emit('userSet', {username: data});
}
});
socket.on('msg', function(data) {
//Send message to everyone
io.sockets.emit('newmsg', data);
})
});
http.listen(3000, function() {
console.log('listening on localhost:3000');
});
Now connect any number of clients to your server, provide them a username and start chatting! In the following example, we have connected two clients with names Ayush and Harshit and sent some messages from both the clients.