Simple example needed to test installation

Question

I am running a LAMP server on a VPS, and I have just installed socket.IO on it (with node 0.6.6 as npm refused to install on 0.7.0-pre). Now, I would like to test my installation with a simple example, such as a simple chat application, and also learn from it how to use it in my own apps.

There is however something strange with this. There seems to be a well-known 10-line chat example, but it has vanished from the developer's website and despite hundreds of references to it and hours or searching, I fail to find the actual example.

Hidden in the page source on http://socket.io I find a screenshot of an improved version with nicknames, still in 10 lines, but alas still no code example and it's also not public. The last example on http://howtonode.org/websockets-socketio looks like it already, but alas without a matching server-side script or html-page to embed it in.

Does anyone know what's going on with this? Could anyone provide a working small example (chat or multiplayer game) to demonstrate the basics of socket.IO, that works with the current version?

Edit: from the examples at the socket.io website, I assume that I would need "broadcasting", but it's not clear to me at all how to build a working chat app from this (even though they claim it's only 10 lines). :/

Perhaps it is because I don't have sufficient understanding of how this works, or perhaps there is even a browser issue, but I fail to see a chat example on that page... I see many examples, but I cannot even figure which example would be closest to the chat application I mentioned... — user1111929, Dec 22 '11 at 22:16
I assume the technique I need for this is the "broadcasting" but I don't see sufficient syntax (and I don't know if the syntax exists) to make a working chat client with this. — user1111929, Dec 22 '11 at 22:18

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

Firstly you would want to install express along side for this, makes life easier :)

npm install express or npm -g install express if your installing globally, once installed create an app by going to your work directory and typing express sample to create a project called sample. go into the sample directory and open the app.js up with your favourite editor.

replace the contents with the following:

/**
 * Module dependencies.
 */    
var express = require('express')
  , io = require('socket.io')
  , routes = require('./routes')

var app = module.exports = express.createServer();

// Configuration
app.configure(function(){
  app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
  app.set('view engine', 'jade');
  app.use(express.bodyParser());
  app.use(express.methodOverride());
  app.use(app.router);
  app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
});

app.configure('development', function(){
  app.use(express.errorHandler({ dumpExceptions: true, showStack: true })); 
});

app.configure('production', function(){
  app.use(express.errorHandler()); 
});

// Routes
app.get('/', routes.index);

//IO Bindings
io.sockets.on('connection',function (client){

    client.on('hello', function(data){
        //Client sent hello
    });

    //Add the rest of your event bindings here for client scopes
});

app.listen(8080);
io.listen(app);

console.log("Express server listening on port %d in %s mode", app.address().port, app.settings.env);

And then you can modify your jade to t spit out the following html to the front page:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
        <script>
            var socket = io.connect(/*defaults to so ip:port*/);
            socket.on('connect', function (){
                console.log("Connected");
                socket.emit('hello', { my: 'world' });
            });
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
         Body Here
    </body>
</html>

You just need to turn that into your templates and you should be good to go.

Simple example needed to test installation

1 Answers1