Websockets

[jarodium]

Hello

Will websockets will connect to a server like socketio, or, it will be a "socketio" like server?

[tobiemh]

Hi @jarodium , our WebSocket connector uses our own implementation which is similar (but not exactly the same) to JSON-RPC 2.0. Therefore this implementation is not based around (or similar to) 'socketio'.

If you let me know a bit more about your question / I'll try to guide you in the right direction... 😀

[jarodium]

Hello @tobiemh

I am envisioning all kinds of tools ( aka goodies ) i can develop with surrealdb, being one of them the ability to create a web chat application.
Now, this usually requires a socketio implementation which would store and replay messages in the database, but also requires some logic to work with clients and server. For a chat this is a simple matter.

But, for, let's say for a realtime AR application, which I could share datapoints ( aka AR tags ) or sending my avatar sending a huge fireball so my AR "enemies" see a red mage casting an incoming fireball at them ( perhaps the implementation of this kind of thing one wouldn't go with socket.io, but that's ok. ).

My question was made thinking I could kick socketio out of the stack and replace it with the websocket of surrealdb, hence my question, could I use it like a server like socket.io in order to make apps like a web chat in real time? Or I just have a client which connects with websocket's and issue commands to surrealdb?

Thank you for your guidance :)

[tobiemh]

Absolutely @jarodium it's designed exactly for your use-case!

[jarodium]

Great!
Looking forward for the websocket release :D

[fredguth]

@jarodium As soon as the websockets api is published I intend to create a small Proof-of-concept "messenger app". Ping me if you want to collaborate on that.

[uma-uc]

When will the docs for WebSockets become available?

[tobiemh]

Hi @uma-uc really soon we hope! In the meantime...

When connected to the WebSocket you can send JSON/SurrealQL down it. The request needs to be an object with the following fields:

id field

A string, (integer or random id) to track the response with the sent request

method field

A string, which can be one of:

• ping
• info
• use
• signup
• signin
• authenticate
• invalidate
• authenticate
• kill
• live
• let
• set
• query
• select
• create
• update
• change
• modify
• delete

params field

An array of values (string, int, float, bool, null, array, object). This is different depending on the method being requested:

ping empty array (ping is just used to keep connection open over some proxies - maybe set a poller to call this every 30 seconds or so)...
info empty array (used to get the current $auth object of the currently authenticated user - I'll explain better in due course)
use array with two string values [NS, DB],
- NS if set (and not undefined) will set the NAMESPACE
- DB if set (and not undefined) will set the DATABASE
signup takes one value which is an object (can accept any keys in the object)
signin takes one value which is an object (can accept any keys in the object)
authenticate takes one value which is a string (a JWT token)
invalidate empty array
kill takes one value which is a string (specifically a uuid)
live takes one value which is a string (the name of a table)
let takes two values, the first a string (the param name), the second any value (treated like JSON)
set alias for let
query takes two values, the first a string (SurrealQL query text), the second an object with any keys (parameters to be used in the sql query)
returns an array of query results, each with an array of records (because you can send multiple statements in a single query)
select takes one value (the name of a table or a record id)
returns an array of records (it takes just the first query resultset)
create takes two values, the first is the name of a table or a record id, the second is either undefined or an object (the record content)
returns an array of records (it takes just the first query resultset)
update takes two values, the first is the name of a table or a record id, the second is either undefined or an object (the record content)
returns an array of records (it takes just the first query resultset)
change takes two values, the first is the name of a table or a record id, the second is either undefined or an object (the record content)
returns an array of records (it takes just the first query resultset)
modify takes two values, the first is the name of a table or a record id, the second is an array of JSONPatch objects to apply to the records
returns an array of record DIFFS after thenchanges were made (it takes just the first query resultset)
delete takes one value, the name of a table or a record id
returns an array of records (which will be empty)

[ralyodio]

How do I connect via web socket?