I want my React component to listen to events from socket.io. My code works if I have the HTML files include:
<script src="socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
and then the component's constructor() has:
this.socket = io(); // eslint-disable-line no-undef
The HTML file retrieves the proper socket.io client code from my Express server, and everything's fine.
But this feels so cheesy. I hate to rely on the global window name space to find the io() function. What's the best practice for letting a React component connect through socket.io to the server? Thanks.
If you're using a bundler like Webpack or Browserify, you can use socket.io-client
.
For instance:
const io = require('socket.io-client');
class MyComponent extends React.Component {
constructor(...args) {
super(...args);
this.socket = io();
}
...
}
I would create the socket on componentWillMount
and setState
on the desired event callback.
Thanks for sharing. I used the componentWillMount method. I also added a connection detection:
componentWillMount() {
const socket = io(uri)
socket.on('update', (data) => {
this.setState({ data, connected: true })
});
socket.on('disconnect', () => {
this.setState({ connected: false })
});
socket.on('reconnect', () => {
this.setState({ connected: true })
});
}