Aller au contenu principal
Version: 4.x

Custom parser

Since Socket.IO v2.0.0, it is now possible to provide your own parser, in order to control the marshalling / unmarshalling of packets.

Server

const httpServer = require("http").createServer();
const io = require("socket.io")(httpServer, {
parser: myParser
});

Client

const socket = io({
parser: myParser
});

Implementing your own parser​

Here is a basic example with a parser that uses the JSON.stringify() and JSON.parse() methods:

const Emitter = require("component-emitter"); // polyfill of Node.js EventEmitter in the browser 

class Encoder {
/**
* Encode a packet into a list of strings/buffers
*/
encode(packet) {
return [JSON.stringify(packet)];
}
}

class Decoder extends Emitter {
/**
* Receive a chunk (string or buffer) and optionally emit a "decoded" event with the reconstructed packet
*/
add(chunk) {
const packet = JSON.parse(chunk);
if (this.isPacketValid(packet)) {
this.emit("decoded", packet);
} else {
throw new Error("invalid format");
}
}
isPacketValid({ type, data, nsp, id }) {
const isNamespaceValid = typeof nsp === "string";
const isAckIdValid = id === undefined || Number.isInteger(id);
if (!isNamespaceValid || !isAckIdValid) {
return false;
}
switch (type) {
case 0: // CONNECT
return data === undefined || typeof data === "object";
case 1: // DISCONNECT
return data === undefined;
case 2: // EVENT
return Array.isArray(data) && data.length > 0;
case 3: // ACK
return Array.isArray(data);
case 4: // CONNECT_ERROR
return typeof data === "object";
default:
return false;
}
}
/**
* Clean up internal buffers
*/
destroy() {}
}

module.exports = { Encoder, Decoder };

The default parser​

The source code of the default parser (the socket.io-parser package) can be found here: https://github.com/socketio/socket.io-parser

Example of output:

  • basic emit
socket.emit("test", 42);

will be encoded as:

2["test",42]
||
|└─ JSON-encoded payload
└─ packet type (2 => EVENT)
  • emit with binary, acknowledgement and custom namespace
socket.emit("test", Uint8Array.from([42]), () => {
console.log("ack received");
});

will be encoded as:

51-/admin,13["test",{"_placeholder":true,"num":0}]
|||| || └─ JSON-encoded payload with placeholders for binary attachments
|||| |└─ acknowledgement id
|||| └─ separator
|||└─ namespace (not included when it's the main namespace)
||└─ separator
|└─ number of binary attachments
└─ packet type (5 => BINARY EVENT)

and an additional attachment (the extracted Uint8Array)

Pros:

Cons:

  • packets with binary content are sent as two distinct WebSocket frames (if the WebSocket connection is established)

The msgpack parser​

This parser uses the MessagePack serialization format.

The source code of this parser can be found here: https://github.com/socketio/socket.io-msgpack-parser

Sample usage:

Server

const httpServer = require("http").createServer();
const io = require("socket.io")(httpServer, {
parser: require("socket.io-msgpack-parser")
});

Client (Node.js)

const socket = require("socket.io-client")("https://example.com", {
parser: require("socket.io-msgpack-parser")
});

In the browser, there is now an official bundle which includes this parser:

In that case, you don't need to specify the parser option.

Pros:

  • packets with binary content are sent as one single WebSocket frame (if the WebSocket connection is established)
  • may results in smaller payloads (especially when using a lot of numbers)

Cons:

Please note that socket.io-msgpack-parser relies on the notepack.io MessagePack implementation. This implementation mainly focuses on performance and minimal bundle size, and thus does not support features like extension types. For a parser based on the official JavaScript implementation, please check this package.