Heroku-Deployed Multi-Party RTC Web App: Building with Node.js and EnableX Web Toolkit

The Sample Web App demonstrates the use of APIs for EnableX platform to develop basic Multi-Party RTC (Real Time Communication) Application. The main motivation behind this application is to demonstrate usage of APIs and allow developers to ramp up on app by hosting on their own devices instead of directly using servers.

RTC Applications hosted on EnableX platform run natively on supported set of web browsers without any additional plugin downloads.

This basic Multi-Party RTC Application is generated using HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, jQuery, Node.js and EnxRtc (The EnableX Web Toolkit).

1. Important!

When developing a Client Application with EnxRtc.js ( present in client/js ), make sure to replace the old EnxRtc.js with updated EnxRtc.js polyfills from https://developer.enablex.io/video-api/client-api/web-toolkit/ for RTCPeerConnection and getUserMedia. Otherwise your application will not work in web browsers.

2. Trial

Sign up for a free trial https://portal.enablex.io/cpaas/trial-sign-up/ or try our multiparty video chat https://try.enablex.io/

3. Installation

3.1 Pre-Requisites

3.1.1 App Id and App Key

• Create a free account on EnableX [https://portal.enablex.io/cpaas/trial-sign-up/]
• Create your Project
• Get the App ID and App Key generated against the Project
• Clone this Repository git clone https://github.com/EnableX/Multiparty-Video-Conference-Open-Source-NodeJS-Heroku-Application.git --recursive & follow the steps further

3.1.2 SSL Certificates

The Application needs to run on https. So, you need to use a valid SSL Certificate for your Domain and point your application to use them.

However you may use self-signed Certificate to run this application locally. There are many Web Sites to get a Self-Signed Certificate generated for you, Google it. Few among them are:

• https://letsencrypt.org/
• https://www.sslchecker.com/csr/self_signed
• https://www.akadia.com/services/ssh_test_certificate.html

The following below can also be used to create a self-signed certificate.

Linux/Mac

  cd Multiparty-Video-Conference-Open-Source-NodeJS-Heroku-Application
  cd server
  mkdir certs
  sudo openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout ./certs/example.key -out ./certs/example.crt -days 10000 -nodes
  sudo chmod 755 ./certs/example.*
  cd ..

Windows(Use Git Bash)

  cd Multiparty-Video-Conference-Open-Source-NodeJS-Heroku-Application
  cd server
  mkdir certs
  openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout ./certs/example.key -out ./certs/example.crt -days 10000 -nodes
  chmod 755 ./certs/example.*
  cd ..

3.1.3 Configure

Before you can run this application, configure the service. Copy the server/example.env as server/.env and update the values. Or you can set following system environment variables instead:

  SERVICE_PORT - Node port on which your application will run. Default port set is 3000
  ENABLEX_APP_ID - Your EnableX `App ID` - It's your username for EnableX API and can be found at Dashboard > Projects https://portal.enablex.io/dashboard/
  ENABLEX_APP_KEY - Your EnableX `App Key` - - It's your password for EnableX API and can be found at Dashboard > Projects https://portal.enablex.io/dashboard/

For Mac and Linux, open a terminal window and type the following commands. Note - Replace all the characters after the = with values from your EnableX account:

  export SERVICE_PORT=XXXX
  export ENABLEX_APP_ID=XXXXXXXXXX
  export ENABLEX_APP_KEY=XXXXXXXXX

On Windows, open a powershell / command window and type the following commands. Note that there is no =, just the key and value separated by a space:

  setx SERVICE_PORT 'XXXX'
  setx ENABLEX_APP_ID 'XXXXXXXXX'
  setx ENABLEX_APP_KEY 'XXXXXXXXX'

3.2 Build

Run npm install --save to build the project and the build artifacts will be stored in the ./node_modules directory.

3.2.1 Run Server

Run node server.js inside server folder for starting your Server.

  cd server
  node server.js

3.2.2 Test

• Open a browser and go to https://localhost:3000/. The browser should load the App.
• Allow access to Camera and Mic as and when prompted to start your first RTC Call through EnableX.

4. Server API

EnableX Server API is a Rest API service meant to be called from Partners' Application Server to provision video enabled meeting rooms. API Access is given to each Application through the assigned App ID and App Key. So, the App ID and App Key are to be used as Username and Password respectively to pass as HTTP Basic Authentication header to access Server API.

For this application, the following Server API calls are used:

• https://developer.enablex.io/video-api/server-api/rooms-route/#create-room - To create room to carry out a video session
• https://developer.enablex.io/video-api/server-api/rooms-route/#create-token - To create Token for the given Room to join a session

To know more about Server API, go to: https://developer.enablex.io/video-api/server-api/

5. Client API

Client End Point Application uses Web Toolkit EnxRtc.js to communicate with EnableX Servers to initiate and manage RTC Communications.

To know more about Client API, go to: https://developer.enablex.io/video-api/client-api/