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Start Using HTML5 WebSockets Today

This document provides a tutorial for setting up a basic WebSocket client and server using PHP and JavaScript. It explains what WebSockets are and how they can replace long-polling techniques. It then walks through setting up a WebSocket server in PHP, creating a client template with HTML/CSS, connecting to the server and handling events like onopen, onmessage, and onclose in JavaScript. It also covers sending and receiving messages between the client and server and closing the WebSocket connection. The overall goal is to create a simple real-time messaging application with WebSockets.

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127 views

Start Using HTML5 WebSockets Today

This document provides a tutorial for setting up a basic WebSocket client and server using PHP and JavaScript. It explains what WebSockets are and how they can replace long-polling techniques. It then walks through setting up a WebSocket server in PHP, creating a client template with HTML/CSS, connecting to the server and handling events like onopen, onmessage, and onclose in JavaScript. It also covers sending and receiving messages between the client and server and closing the WebSocket connection. The overall goal is to create a simple real-time messaging application with WebSockets.

Uploaded by

:)
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Start Using HTML5 WebSockets Today

One of the coolest new features of HTML5 is WebSockets, which let us talk to the server without using AJAX requests. In this tutorial, well review the process of running a WebSocket server in PHP, and then building a client to send and receive messages to it over the WebSocket protocol.

What are WebSockets?


WebSockets is a technique for two-way communication over one (TCP) socket, a type of PUSH technology. At the moment, its still being standardized by the W3C; however, the latest versions of Chrome and Safari have support for WebSockets.

What do WebSockets Replace?


Websockets can replace long-polling. This is an interesting concept; the client sends a request to the server now, rather than the server responding with data it may not have, it essentially keeps the connection open until the fresh, up-to-date data is ready to be sent the client next receives this, and sends another request. This has its benefits: decreased latency being one of them, as a connection which has already been opened does not require a new connection to be established. However, long-polling isnt really a piece of fancy technology: its also possible for a request to time-out, and thus a new connection will be needed anyway. Many Ajax applications makes use of the above this can often be attributed to poor resource utilization. Wouldnt it be great if the server could wake up one morning and send its data to clients who are willing to listen without some sort of pre established connection? Welcome to the world of PUSH technology!

Step 1: Get the WebSocket Server


This tutorial will focus more on the client building rather than server implementation. Im using XAMPP on Windows 7 to run the PHP server locally. Grab a copy of phpwebsockets which is a WebSocket server in PHP. (Note: I experienced some problems with this version, I

made some changes to it and will including it in the source files) There are various WebSocket implementations; if one doesnt work, you can try another or just continue with the tutorial.

jWebSocket (Java) web-socket-ruby (ruby) Socket IO-node (node.js)

Start the Apache server

Step 2: Change URLs and Ports


Change the server according to your setup, for example in setup.class.php: view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. public function __construct($host='localhost',$port=8000,$max=100) 2. { 3. $this->createSocket($host,$port); 4. } Browse through the files and make changes where appropriate.

Step 3: Start Building the Client


Lets get a basic template up; this is my client.php file: view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. <!DOCTYPE html> 2. <html> 3. <head> 4. <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js"></script> 5. <title>WebSockets Client</title> 6. </head> 7. <body> 8. <div id="wrapper"> 9. <div id="container"> 10. <h1>WebSockets Client</h1> 11. <div id="chatLog"> 12. </div><!-- #chatLog --> 13. <p id="examples">e.g. try 'hi', 'name', 'age', 'today'</p> 14. <input id="text" type="text" /> 15. <button id="disconnect">Disconnect</button> 16. </div><!-- #container --> 17. </div> 18. </body> 19. </html> So in this code were creating a simple template: we have a box for the chat log, an input box, and one disconnect button.

Step 4: Add Some CSS


Nothing fancy, just space some elements out. view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. body { 2. font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; 3. } 4. #container{ 5. border:5px solid grey; 6. width:800px; 7. margin:0 auto; 8. padding:10px;

9. } 10. #chatLog{ 11. padding:5px; 12. border:1px solid black; 13. } 14. #chatLog p { 15. margin:0; 16. } 17. .event { 18. color:#999; 19. } 20. .warning{ 21. font-weight:bold; 22. color:#CCC; 23. }

Step 5: WebSocket Events


First, lets try and understand the idea of WebSocket events.

The Events
Well be using three events:

onopen: When a socket has opened onmessage: When a message has been received

onclose: When a socket has been closed

But how can we implement this? First create a WebSocket object view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. var socket = new WebSocket("ws://localhost:8000/socket/server/startDaemon.php"); And checking for events is as simple as: view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. socket.onopen = function(){ 2. alert("Socket has been opened!"); 3. } But what about when we receive a message? view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. socket.onmessage = function(msg){ 2. alert(msg); //Awesome! 3. } However, lets avoid using alert boxes, and actually integrate what weve learned into the client page.

Step 6: JavaScript
Ok, so lets get started. First we put our code in jQuerys document ready function, then we check whether the user has a WebSockets-enabled browser. If they do not, we append a link to Chrome in the HTML. view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. $(document).ready(function() { 2. if(!("WebSocket" in window)){ 3. $('#chatLog, input, button, #examples').fadeOut("fast"); 4. $('<p>Oh no, you need a browser that supports WebSockets. How about <a href="ht tp://www.google.com/chrome">Google Chrome</a>?</p>').appendTo('#container'); 5. }else{ 6. //The user has WebSockets

7. connect(); 8. function connect(){ 9. //the connect function code is below 10. } 11. }); As you can see, if the user has WebSockets then we call a connect() function. This is the core of the functionality: well start with the open, close and receive events. Well define the URL of our server view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. var socket; 2. var host = "ws://localhost:8000/socket/server/startDaemon.php"; Wait, wheres the http in that URL? Oh right, its a WebSocket URL, so its using a different protocol. Heres a breakdown of the pieces of our URL:

Lets continue with our connect() function. We will put our code within a try/catch block; so if something goes wrong, we can let the user know. We create a new WebSocket, and pass the message to a message function which Ill explain later. We create our onopen, onmessage and onclose functions. Note that we also show the user the socket status; this is not necessary, but Im including it here as it can be helpful for debugging.

CONNECTING = 0 OPEN = 1 CLOSED = 2

view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. function connect(){ 2. try{ 3. var socket; 4. var host = "ws://localhost:8000/socket/server/startDaemon.php"; 5. var socket = new WebSocket(host); 6. message('<p class="event">Socket Status: '+socket.readyState);

7. socket.onopen = function(){ 8. message('<p class="event">Socket Status: '+socket.readyState+' (open)'); 9. } 10. socket.onmessage = function(msg){ 11. message('<p class="message">Received: '+msg.data); 12. } 13. socket.onclose = function(){ 14. message('<p class="event">Socket Status: '+socket.readyState+' (Closed)'); 15. } 16. } catch(exception){ 17. message('<p>Error'+exception); 18. } 19. } The message() function is fairly simple, it takes in some text that we want to show the user and appends it to the chatLog. We create the appropriate class for paragraph tags in the socket event functions which is why there is only one closing paragraph tag in the message function. view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. function message(msg){ 2. $('#chatLog').append(msg+'</p>'); 3. }

So Far
If youve been following up to this point, well done! Weve managed to create a basic HTML/CSS template, create and establish a WebSocket connection and keep the user updated as progress was made with the connection.

Step 7: Sending Data


Now rather than having a submit button, we can detect when the user presses return on their keyboard, and run the send function. The 13 you see below is the ASCII key for the enter button. view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. $('#text').keypress(function(event) { 2. if (event.keyCode == '13') { 3. send(); 4. } 5. }); And heres the send() function: view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. function send(){ 2. var text = $('#text').val(); 3. if(text==""){ 4. message('<p class="warning">Please enter a message'); 5. return ; 6. } 7. try{ 8. socket.send(text); 9. message('<p class="event">Sent: '+text) 10. } catch(exception){ 11. message('<p class="warning"> Error:' + exception); 12. } 13. $('#text').val(""); 14. } Remember what you see above may be a chunky bit of code, but in reality, the code we really need is: view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. socket.send(); //Thanks JavaScript The extra code is doing a number of things: detecting if the user didnt enter anything but still hit return, clearing the input box, and calling the message functions.

Step 8: Closing the Socket


Closing the socket is fairly straightforward: attach a click handler to our disconnect button and were done!

view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. $('#disconnect').click(function(){ 2. socket.close(); 3. });

The Completed JavaScript


view plaincopy to clipboardprint? 1. $(document).ready(function() { 2. if(!("WebSocket" in window)){ 3. $('#chatLog, input, button, #examples').fadeOut("fast"); 4. $('<p>Oh no, you need a browser that supports WebSockets. How about <a href="http:// www.google.com/chrome">Google Chrome</a>?</p>').appendTo('#container'); 5. }else{ 6. //The user has WebSockets 7. connect(); 8. function connect(){ 9. var socket; 10. var host = "ws://localhost:8000/socket/server/startDaemon.php"; 11. try{ 12. var socket = new WebSocket(host); 13. message('<p class="event">Socket Status: '+socket.readyState); 14. socket.onopen = function(){ 15. message('<p class="event">Socket Status: '+socket.readyState+' (open)'); 16. } 17. socket.onmessage = function(msg){ 18. message('<p class="message">Received: '+msg.data); 19. } 20. socket.onclose = function(){ 21. message('<p class="event">Socket Status: '+socket.readyState+' (Closed)'); 22. } 23. } catch(exception){

24. message('<p>Error'+exception); 25. } 26. function send(){ 27. var text = $('#text').val(); 28. if(text==""){ 29. message('<p class="warning">Please enter a message'); 30. return ; 31. } 32. try{ 33. socket.send(text); 34. message('<p class="event">Sent: '+text) 35. } catch(exception){ 36. message('<p class="warning">'); 37. } 38. $('#text').val(""); 39. } 40. function message(msg){ 41. $('#chatLog').append(msg+'</p>'); 42. } 43. $('#text').keypress(function(event) { 44. if (event.keyCode == '13') { 45. send(); 46. } 47. }); 48. $('#disconnect').click(function(){ 49. socket.close(); 50. }); 51. }//End connect 52. }//End else 53. });

Step 9: Run the WebSocket Server


We will need command line access. Luckily, XAMPP has a handy shell option. Click Shell on the XAMPP control panel, and type in:
php -q path\to\server.php

You have now started a WebSocket server!

Finished
When the page loads, a WebSocket connection will attempt to be established (try editing the code so the user has connect/disconnect option). Then, the user can enter messages and receive messages from the server.

Thats it!

Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Remember, as exciting as WebSockets may be, things may change. You can refer here to keep up to date on the W3C WebSocket API.

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