WebSocket Integration

Problem

Polling APIs for updates is inefficient and slow, creating noticeable delays. Chat messages appear late, collaborative editing lags, and live dashboards show stale data. Short polling wastes bandwidth with constant requests, while long polling creates complex connection management and doesn’t support true server-push notifications.

Solution

Establish persistent bidirectional connections for real-time communication between client and server. This enables features like live chat and collaborative editing.

Example

This demonstrates establishing persistent bidirectional WebSocket connections for real-time communication, enabling instant updates for features like live chat, collaborative editing, and real-time dashboards.

// Establish secure WebSocket connection
const ws = new WebSocket('wss://api.example.com');

// Send subscription message when connection opens
ws.onopen = () => {
  ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: 'subscribe', channel: 'updates' }));
};

// Handle incoming messages from server
ws.onmessage = (event) => {
  const data = JSON.parse(event.data);
  updateUI(data);  // Update UI with real-time data
};

// Handle connection errors
ws.onerror = (error) => console.error('WebSocket error:', error);

Benefits

• Enables true real-time communication with instant updates.
• Supports bidirectional communication for interactive features.
• More efficient than polling for high-frequency updates.
• Enables features like live chat, collaborative editing, and real-time dashboards.

Tradeoffs

• Requires managing connection lifecycle and reconnection logic.
• Harder to scale than stateless HTTP due to persistent connections.
• Can be blocked by corporate firewalls or proxies.
• Adds complexity with message queuing and error handling.