socket chat room

Binary & releases.

Definition of the Protocol

Architecture

[server]
  <-- Wrapped TCP Socket -->
[client]
  <-- Wrapped IPC -->
[model/controller]
  <-- Angular.js -->
[view]

Types

1. Request: client - request -> server - response -> client
2. Push: server - push -> client

Data on Socket/TCP

{
  type
  token
  timestamp
  content
}

type

['push', 'res']

token

The token field of response should be equal to the original request which is a randomly generated integer.

content

Content field of messages.

"Segments"

JSON data -> stringify -> split to segments -> add No./total header -> binarize -> send

Demo

A request from the server (push) or client (request-response)

Stringify the message context:

{"type":"push","timestamp":1449345271889,"content":{"type":"msg","data":{"data":"It works.","name":"ds","time":1449345271886}}}

Split into segments:

{"type":"push","timestamp":1449
345271889,"content":{"type":"ms
g","data":{"data":"It works.","
name":"ds","time":1449345271886
}}}

Pre-encode "dots":

{"type":"push","timestamp":1449
345271889,"content":{"type":"ms
g","data":{"data":"It works(dot)","
name":"ds","time":1449345271886
}}}

Add header info:

.1/5.{"type":"push","timestamp":1449
.2/5.345271889,"content":{"type":"ms
.3/5.g","data":{"data":"It works(dot)","
.4/5.name":"ds","time":1449345271886
.5/5.}}}

Binarize and TCP transmit.

Client

Receive all segments and decode with UTF-8.

Parse header and push segments into a stack:

...
5/5 }}}
4/5 name":"ds","time":1449345271886
3/5 g","data":{"data":"It works(dot)","
2/5 345271889,"content":{"type":"ms
1/5 {"type":"push","timestamp":1449
...

Pop out the whole message and concat segments, decode dots:

{"type":"push","timestamp":1449345271889,"content":{"type":"msg","data":{"data":"It works.","name":"ds","time":1449345271886}}}

Image

In client we encode the image data with base64, and wrapped as the context of a message.

...{"data":"data:image/png;base64,iVB..."}...

For the receiver, just parse the base64 string and decode it.

Emoji

Send as text like :xxxxx:.

Build

Requirements

Babel & Electron & Enclose

1. $ npm i babel -g
2. $ npm i electron-prebuilt -g
3. $ npm i enclose -g

Build Client

1. $ cd client
2. $ npm install
3. $ npm run build
4. $ npm start

Run Server

1. $ cd server
2. $ npm install
3. $ npm start

Pack Client App

OS X (for darwin and x64):

1. $ cd client
2. $ npm run pack

Other platforms:

modify pack command in client/package.json, see electron-packager for more details.

Acknowledgements

License

Shu Ding [email protected].

The MIT license.