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Experimental / Unreleased

sockful

Creates socket.io servers and event maps for resourceful resources. Can be used as a stand-alone module or as a Flatiron plugin.

Explanation

The sockful project removes the process of writing boilerplate socket.io event mapping code for interacting with resourceful resources. sockful uses reflection to reflect a socket.io server interface which maps all the socket.io events needed to perform basic CRUD operations with resourceful. sockful also has the ability to expose additional arbitrary remote resource methods in socket.io

Through the removal of this boilerplate code, sockful creates a robust, standardized, and re-usable socket.io interface for any resourceful resource.

Installation

 npm install sockful

Usage

As a Flatiron Plugin

To use sockful as a Flatiron plugin you will have to:

  • Define resource(s) in your Flatiron app
  • Use the sockful plugin in your Flatiron app
  • Set sockful=true on the resource to let Flatiron know to expose it

Here is a code example of using sockful as a Flatiron plugin: https://github.com/flatiron/sockful/blob/master/examples/app.js

As a stand-alone server

To use sockful as a stand-alone server you will have to:

  • Define resource(s)
  • Create a new server based on the resource(s) using sockful.createServer

Here is a code example of using sockful as a stand-alone server: https://github.com/flatiron/sockful/blob/master/examples/server.js

Core Socket.io Mappings

By default, sockful will map all Resourceful methods in the following signature:

server.on(resource, action, payload, callback);

Example:

socket.emit('creature', 'create', { id: 'bob' } , function(err, bob) {
  console.log('created: ', bob);
};
 Socket Event                                             Action

 socket.emit('creature', 'create', data, callback)    =>  Creature.create()
 socket.emit('creature', 'get', data, callback)       =>  Creature.get()
 socket.emit('creature', 'all', data, callback)       =>  Creature.all()
 socket.emit('creature', 'update', data, callback)    =>  Creature.update()
 socket.emit('creature', 'destroy', data, callback)   =>  Creature.destroy()

The socket server will delegate all incoming Creature events to the resource and respond back with the appropriate result.

Relational Resources

To define relational data in sockful you will have to:

  • Define the relationship in the resource itself using the resourceful Resource.parent() API
  • Create a new server based on the resource(s)

sockful will then properly reflect the relational properties of your resources into the socket server.

Here is a simple code example of using sockful with Albums and Songs: https://github.com/flatiron/sockful/blob/master/examples/server.js

<a name"remote">

Exposing Arbitrary Resource Methods

In many cases, you'll want to expose additional methods on a Resource through socket.io outside of the included CRUD operations: create, all, get, update, destroy.

sockful has built in support for easily exposing arbitrary remote resource methods.

Consider the example of a Creature. We've already defined all the sockful CRUD events, but a Creature also needs to eat!

Simply create a new method on the Creature resource called feed.

Creature.feed = function (_id, options, callback) {
  callback(null, 'I have been fed');
}

This feed method is consider private by default, in that it will not be exposed to the web unless it's set to a remote function. To set a resource method to remote, simply:

Creature.feed.remote = true

It's easy as that! By setting the feed method to remote, the following events will exist in the socket.io server.

 socket.emit('creature', 'feed', data, callback)  => Creature.feed()

Resource Security

There are several ways to provide security and authorization for accessing resource methods exposed with sockful. The recommended pattern for authorization is to use resourceful's ability for before and after hooks. In these hooks, you can add additional business logic to restrict access to the resource's methods.

TL;DR; For security and authorization, you should use resourceful's before and after hooks.

Tests

 npm test

TODO

  • Full resourceful property type support ( numeric, boolean, array, object )
  • Full resourceful nested property schema support
  • Better browser / isomorphic support
  • Add ability to specify schemas for remote method argument payloads
  • Improve Tests
  • Add better error support via errs library