websocketMessageObject

README

WebsocketMessageObject

WebsocketMessageObject is an API that enables you to package any type of data into a single (binary format) massage so that you can easily send it over websocket protocol. You simply create a wmo object and keep adding any data into it by calling the appropriate functions provided in the API, then finally call the 'Encode' function which converts everything into a stream of binary data that you can send to your back-end server using the 'websocket.send(theBinaryData)' function. You can add images, videos, documents, json data as well as plain text data. The API is available in a number of programming languages including go (golang) and javascript. NOTE: You need to have two wmo API interfaces; one for the front end (mainly in javascript) and the other for the back-end ( golang, nodejs, php, etc).

Why websocket protocol ?

Websocket protocol is a much better means of data communication over the web as it really overcomes all the weaknesses of http. But why do web developers still choose http? The answer is, websocket is not easy for a regular developer to get started with. Since websocket requires that data should mainly be transmitted in binary format, many developers find it difficult to do the dirty work of encoding and decoding data at both ends (the client and the server). This is the major problem which WebsocketMessageObject API (wmo for short) is here to solve, so everyone can enjoy using websocket protocol in their projects !

Compare websocket with http

There are thousands of resources online clearly explaining the strengths of websocket over http, and why the world of web development really needs to shift from http completely to websocket protocol. The book titled 'The definitive guide to html5 websocket' is one of the best I found very useful and clear.

More about websocket protocol:

https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-definitive-guide-to-html5-websocket-all-it-ebooks-e17591888.html
http://www.websocket.org/quantum.html
https://www.ably.io/blog/websockets-vs-long-polling/
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/what-is-web-socket-and-how-it-is-different-from-the-http/

Installation 1

Let's start with the front-end version, (npm package in javascript).

The Golang version will be explained after javascript. Please scroll down.

To use Websocket Message Object API, install it as a dependency:

If you use npm:

$ npm install websocket-message-object

Or if you use Yarn:

$ yarn add websocket-message-object

Usage

First, you need to import the module into your application as follows:

In a react app,

import {WebsocketMessageObject} from 'websocket-message-object';

Or if you are not using react;

const wmo = require("websocket-message-object");

Now that you have a wmo object created, you can add any data to it. Here is how to add an image file.

wmo.AddFile(file); 
//NOTE: This assumes you alredy have a file object read from the DOM eg using FileReader
 
//If you want to add the file directly from the html file input field, use this method:
wmo.AddFileFrom("id-of-the-html-file-input"); 

//...
//...
// and many more ... (see 'API' section below)
//...
//...

And now, if you're done with adding data, fire the function that does the encoding for you automatically like so:

wmo.Encode();

List of functions available (API)

Adding data to encode

wmo.AddFile(file); 

wmo.AddFileFrom("file-input-id");

wmo.AddJson({jsonobject});

wmo.AddString("key","string you intend to add"); 
// eg wmo.AddString("name","Rodgers"); 

wmo.Encode();

Decoding data received from server

let jsondata = wmo.DecodeJson(messageFromServer);

let mystr = wmo.DecodeString(messageFromServer, "key"); 
// eg, let myname = wmo.DecodeString("name"); => returns a name such as 'Rodgers'

let strMap = wmo.DecodeStringAll(messageFromServer);    
//returns a map of key-vale pairs of strings.

let filesArray = wmo.DecodeFiles(messageFromServer);

let filesBytes = wmo.ReadFilesBytes(messageFromServer);    
//returns all files data in plain binary format

NOTE:

'messageFromServer' MUST be a binary format message encoded using the server side version of wmo. This is currently available only in Go (Golang). I am still implementing wmo for other languages.

I welcome anyone who want to contribute to this project especially in other languages.

___

Installation 2

Now the go back-end.

This is how to import the Go package into your project.

Run this command:

$ go get "github.com/AtegyekaRodgers/WebsocketMessageObject"

Then import the package into your application

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  wmo "github.com/AtegyekaRodgers/WebsocketMessageObject"
  //...
  //...
)

func main(){
  //...
}

Documentation

Index

• func Uint32toBinary(uint32num uint32) []byte
• func Uint8toBinary(uint8num uint8) []byte
• type WebsocketMessageObject
  • func NewWMO() WebsocketMessageObject
  • func NewWebsocketMessageObject() WebsocketMessageObject
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) AddFile(file *os.File)
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) AddFileFrom(filepathh string)
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) AddJson(myjson interface{})
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) AddString(keyy string, mystring string)
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeFiles(dataFromClient []byte) []*os.File
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeJson(dataFromClient []byte) string
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeString(dataFromClient []byte, strkey string) string
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeStringAll(dataFromClient []byte) map[string]string
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) Encode()
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) PrintFilesSize()
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) PrintJsonSize()
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) PrintStringsSize()
  • func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) ReadFilesBytes(dataFromClient []byte) ([]byte, uint32)

Functions

func Uint32toBinary

func Uint32toBinary(uint32num uint32) []byte

func Uint8toBinary

func Uint8toBinary(uint8num uint8) []byte

Types

type WebsocketMessageObject

type WebsocketMessageObject struct {
	BinaryData []byte

	Fdata []byte
	// contains filtered or unexported fields
}

=============================================================

func NewWMO

func NewWMO() WebsocketMessageObject

func NewWebsocketMessageObject

func NewWebsocketMessageObject() WebsocketMessageObject

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) AddFile

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) AddFile(file *os.File)

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) AddFileFrom

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) AddFileFrom(filepathh string)

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) AddJson

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) AddJson(myjson interface{})

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) AddString

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) AddString(keyy string, mystring string)

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeFiles

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeFiles(dataFromClient []byte) []*os.File

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeJson

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeJson(dataFromClient []byte) string

------------------Decoders----------

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeString

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeString(dataFromClient []byte, strkey string) string

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeStringAll

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) DecodeStringAll(dataFromClient []byte) map[string]string

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) Encode

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) Encode()

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) PrintFilesSize

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) PrintFilesSize()

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) PrintJsonSize

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) PrintJsonSize()

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) PrintStringsSize

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) PrintStringsSize()

func (*WebsocketMessageObject) ReadFilesBytes

func (wmo *WebsocketMessageObject) ReadFilesBytes(dataFromClient []byte) ([]byte, uint32)