Web Socket

Bind server websocket events to Ngxs store actions.

Install

The Websocket plugin can be installed using NPM:

npm i @ngxs/websocket-plugin --S

Configuration

Add the NgxsWebsocketPluginModule plugin to your root app module:

import { NgxsModule } from '@ngxs/store';
import { NgxsWebsocketPluginModule } from '@ngxs/websocket-plugin';

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    NgxsModule.forRoot([]),
    NgxsWebsocketPluginModule.forRoot({
      url: 'ws://localhost:4200/websock'
    })
  ]
})
export class AppModule {}

The plugin has a variety of options that can be passed:

  • url: Url of the websocket connection. Can be passed here or by the ConnectWebsocket action.

  • typeKey: Object property that maps the websocket message to a action type. Default: type

  • serializer: Serializer used before sending objects to the websocket. Default: JSON.stringify

Usage

Once connected, any message that comes across the websocket will be bound to the state event stream.

Let's say you have a websocket message that comes in like:

{
  "type": "[Zoo] AddAnimals",
  "animals": []
}

We will want to make an action that corresponds to this websocket message, that will look like:

export class AddAnimals {
  static readonly type = '[Zoo] AddAnimals';
  constructor(public animals: any[]) {}
}

Now in our state, we just bind to the AddAnimals action like any other action:

@State<ZooStateModel>({
  defaults: {
    animals: []
  }
})
export class ZooState {
  @Action(AddAnimals)
  addAnimals(ctx: StateContext<ZooStateModel>, action: AddAnimals) {
    ctx.setState({ animals: [...action.animals] });
  }
}

To send messages to the server, we can dispatch the SendWebSocketMessage with the payload being what you want to send.

@Component({ ... })
export class AppComponent {

  constructor(private store: Store) {}

  onClick() {
    this.store.dispatch(new SendWebSocketMessage({ foo: true }));
  }

}

When sending the message, remember the send is accepting a JSON-able object.

In order to kick off our websockets we have to dispatch the ConnectWebSocket action. This will typically happen at startup or if you need to authenticate before, after authentication is done. You can optionally pass the URL here.

@Component({ ... })
export class AppComponent {

  constructor(private store: Store) {}

  ngOnInit() {
    this.store.dispatch(new ConnectWebSocket());
  }

}

Here is a list of all the available actions you have:

  • ConnectWebSocket: Action dispatched when you want to init the websocket. Optionally pass URL here.

  • DisconnectWebSocket: Action dispatched when the websockets disconnect.

  • SendWebSocketMessage: Send a message to the server.

  • WebsocketMessageError: Error ocurred when receiving a message.

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