chat-client

A simple chat client to be used with node-chat-server.

Installation

npm install chat-client

Usage

This chat client is compliant and meant to be used with node-chat-server.

var ChatClient = require('chat-client');

// creating a ChatClient and connecting the undelying socket.
var chatClient = new ChatClient({ url: 'ws://localhost:4001' });

// you can also connect at a later time:
  
chatClient = new ChatClient();

chatClient.connect('ws://localhost:4001');

// wait for the socket to be opened.
chatClient.whenOpened(()=>{
  
  // get authorization from the chat server.
  // the token here is just an example as the actual authorization protocol is completely up to you.
  chatClient.authorize({ token: 123 }).then(()=>{
    
    // get some old messages
    chatClient.getMessages({ with: 'someUserId', limit: 10, skip: 0 }).then((chatMessages) => {
    
      console.log('some old chat messages:', chatMessages);
      
    }).catch((err)=>{
    
      console.log('failed to get messages', err);
      
    });
    
    // listen for incoming chat messages.
    chatClient.on('chatMessage', (msg)=>{
    
      console.log('got message:', msg);
      
      // mark a message as having been read. 
      chatClient.read(msg._id).then(ok => /* ok */ ).catch(err => /* oops.. */ );
      
    });
    
    // create a new chat message.
    var newMessage = {
      to: 'someUserOrGroupId',   // required property.
      isGroup: true,             // the server needs to know if this message is for a group.
      type: 'text',              // the rest is up to you..
      value: 'Hi!'
    };
    
    chatClient.send(newMesssage).then((msg) => {
    
      console.log('message sent');
      
    }).catch((err) => {
    
      console.log('failed to send message', err);
      
    });
    
  }).catch(()=>{
  
    console.log('authorization failed!');
    
  });
  
});

Options

When creating an instance of ChatClient you may pass an 'options' object to it, containing some or all of the following fields:

• url - String - if preset will connect the underlying socket to url.
• onOpen - Function - will be called when the socket opens.
• onError - Function - will be called when the socket cannot connect or is closed unexpectedly.
• onMessage - Function - will be called on any incoming socket message.
• onClose - Function - will be called whenever the socket closes.

Methods

• connect - (url: String) - connects the underlying socket to url.
• on - (eventName: String, listener: Function) - binds listener to the eventName event.
• off - (eventName: String, listener: Function) - unbinds listener to the eventName event. if listener is not provided, all listeners for eventName will be removed. if both listener and eventName are not provided, all listeners for all events will be removed.
• emit - (eventName: String, ...args) - emit the eventName event. any additional arguments will be passed to bound listeners.
• run - (type: String, data: Object) => Promise - runs an action on the server. type is the name of the action on the server. data will be passed to the action on the server. a deffered promise is returned from this function. the promise will be resolved or rejected based on the server action's response.
• whenOpened - (callback: Function) - runs callback whenever the socket opens. note that if the socket is already opened, callback will run immediately.
• authorize - (data: Object) - runs the authorize action on the server, passing data.
• send - (message: Object) - sends a chat message to the server. this will run the create action on the server, passing data.
• read - (data: Object) - mark a chat message as having been read. this will run the read action on the server, passing data.
• error - (err: any) - a default error handler which just logs the error to the console. if you pass onError to the constructor it will override this function.

Events

• message - fired for every incoming socket message.
• open - fired whenever the socket openes.
• close - fired whenever the socket closes.
• error - fired when the socket cannot connect or is closed unexpectedly.
• chatMessage - fired for every incoming chat message.