Set up React component to listen to socket.io

Question

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.

Answer 1

I would create the socket on componentWillMount and setState on the desired event callback.

Answer 2

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 })
  });
}

Answer 3

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();
  }
  ...
}