How to Implement Real-Time Features with WebSockets and Socket.io 1.x (2016)

Short answer: npm install socket.io, attach to your HTTP server with io = require('socket.io')(server), emit events with socket.emit('event', data), listen on the client with socket.on('event', callback). For authentication: verify JWT in the Socket.io middleware before connection completes. For multiple servers: add socket.io-redis adapter.

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Server Setup

// server.js - Node.js 6 + Express + Socket.io 1.x
var express   = require('express');
var http      = require('http');
var socketio  = require('socket.io');
var jwt       = require('jsonwebtoken');

var app    = express();
var server = http.createServer(app);
var io     = socketio(server);

var JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET;

// Authentication middleware for Socket.io
io.use(function(socket, next) {
    var token = socket.handshake.query.token ||
                socket.handshake.headers['authorization'];

    if (!token) {
        return next(new Error('Authentication required'));
    }

    // Remove "Bearer " prefix if present
    if (token.startsWith('Bearer ')) {
        token = token.slice(7);
    }

    jwt.verify(token, JWT_SECRET, function(err, decoded) {
        if (err) {
            return next(new Error('Invalid token'));
        }
        socket.userId   = decoded.userId;
        socket.userRole = decoded.role;
        next();
    });
});

// Connection handler
io.on('connection', function(socket) {
    console.log('User ' + socket.userId + ' connected (' + socket.id + ')');

    // Auto-join user's private room
    socket.join('user:' + socket.userId);

    // Admins join admin room
    if (socket.userRole === 'admin' || socket.userRole === 'operator') {
        socket.join('operators');
    }

    // Listen for client joining specific order room
    socket.on('watch:order', function(orderId) {
        // Verify user owns this order or is admin
        OrderRepository.isOwnerOrAdmin(orderId, socket.userId, socket.userRole)
            .then(function(allowed) {
                if (allowed) {
                    socket.join('order:' + orderId);
                    socket.emit('watching', { orderId: orderId });
                }
            });
    });

    socket.on('disconnect', function() {
        console.log('User ' + socket.userId + ' disconnected');
    });
});

server.listen(3001, function() {
    console.log('WebSocket server on port 3001');
});

module.exports = { io };

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Emitting Events from Business Logic

// orderService.js - emit events when orders change
var io = require('./server').io;

function updateOrderStatus(orderId, newStatus, updatedBy) {
    return OrderRepository.updateStatus(orderId, newStatus)
        .then(function(order) {
            // Notify the customer
            io.to('user:' + order.userId).emit('order:updated', {
                orderId: orderId,
                status:  newStatus,
                updatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
            });

            // Notify all operators
            io.to('operators').emit('order:status_changed', {
                orderId:    orderId,
                status:     newStatus,
                customerId: order.userId,
                updatedBy:  updatedBy,
            });

            // Notify anyone watching this specific order
            io.to('order:' + orderId).emit('order:updated', {
                orderId:   orderId,
                status:    newStatus,
                updatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
            });

            return order;
        });
}

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Client-Side (Browser)

<!-- index.html -->
<script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
<script>
var token = localStorage.getItem('access_token');

var socket = io('https://api.myapp.com', {
    query:     { token: token },
    transports: ['websocket', 'polling'],
    // Try WebSocket first, fall back to long-polling
    reconnection:      true,
    reconnectionDelay: 1000,
    reconnectionAttempts: 5,
});

socket.on('connect', function() {
    console.log('Connected to WebSocket server');

    // Watch current order
    var orderId = document.getElementById('order-id').value;
    socket.emit('watch:order', parseInt(orderId));
});

socket.on('order:updated', function(data) {
    // Update UI when order status changes
    document.getElementById('order-status').textContent = data.status;
    showNotification('Order ' + data.orderId + ' is now ' + data.status);
});

socket.on('connect_error', function(error) {
    console.error('Connection error:', error.message);
    // Fall back to polling the API
    startPolling();
});

socket.on('disconnect', function(reason) {
    console.log('Disconnected:', reason);
    if (reason === 'io server disconnect') {
        // Server forced disconnect (e.g., token expired)
        socket.connect();
    }
});
</script>

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Client-Side (React/React Native 2016)

// services/socket.js
import io from 'socket.io-client';
import store from '../store';

var socket = null;

export function connect(token) {
    if (socket && socket.connected) return socket;

    socket = io('https://api.myapp.com', {
        query: { token },
        transports: ['websocket'],
    });

    socket.on('connect', () => {
        store.dispatch({ type: 'SOCKET_CONNECTED' });
    });

    socket.on('order:updated', (data) => {
        store.dispatch({ type: 'ORDER_STATUS_UPDATED', payload: data });
    });

    socket.on('disconnect', () => {
        store.dispatch({ type: 'SOCKET_DISCONNECTED' });
    });

    return socket;
}

export function disconnect() {
    if (socket) {
        socket.disconnect();
        socket = null;
    }
}

export function watchOrder(orderId) {
    if (socket && socket.connected) {
        socket.emit('watch:order', orderId);
    }
}

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Scaling: Redis Adapter for Multiple Servers

// When running multiple Node.js servers behind a load balancer,
// each server has its own in-memory socket connections.
// socket.io-redis broadcasts events across all servers.

var redis    = require('socket.io-redis');
var socketio = require('socket.io');

var io = socketio(server);
io.adapter(redis({ host: 'localhost', port: 6379 }));

// Now: io.to('user:42').emit('event', data)
// Redis pub/sub delivers to ALL servers → ALL sockets for user 42

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Connection Limit Management

// Track connected users per server
var connectedUsers = new Map();  // userId → socketId

io.on('connection', function(socket) {
    // Enforce one connection per user (optional)
    var existing = connectedUsers.get(socket.userId);
    if (existing) {
        io.to(existing).emit('force_disconnect', { reason: 'new_login' });
    }
    connectedUsers.set(socket.userId, socket.id);

    socket.on('disconnect', function() {
        if (connectedUsers.get(socket.userId) === socket.id) {
            connectedUsers.delete(socket.userId);
        }
    });
});

// Monitor connections
setInterval(function() {
    var rooms     = io.sockets.adapter.rooms;
    var operators = rooms['operators'] ? rooms['operators'].length : 0;
    console.log('Connections:', io.engine.clientsCount, '| Operators online:', operators);
}, 30000);

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Nginx WebSocket Proxy

# WebSocket requires specific nginx headers
location /socket.io/ {
    proxy_pass         http://localhost:3001;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header   Upgrade    $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header   Connection "upgrade";
    proxy_set_header   Host       $host;
    proxy_read_timeout 600s;   # Keep-alive for WebSocket connections
    proxy_send_timeout 600s;
}

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Dashboard Results (2016)

Operator dashboard before WebSockets: refreshed every 30 seconds via AJAX polling. After:

	AJAX Polling	WebSockets
Update latency	0-30 seconds	< 200ms
Server load (50 ops)	50 × 2 req/min = 100 req/min	0 requests (push)
React time to status change	30s avg	0.2s avg

Operators could now respond to new orders in seconds instead of minutes. The average time-to-first-contact with customers dropped from 4.2 minutes to 38 seconds.

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