Chatter

A minimal real-time chat application using socket.io and React.js.

Try opening two windows at the same time, and chat away!

Stack

Frontend: React.js for databinding, socket.io for POST stuff

Backend: PostgresQL, Node, socket.io for GET stuff

In this case, socket.io replaces the classical ajax POST get for a new chat message. This allows for real time chatting.

Socket.io talks between frontend and backend. Whenever someone sends a chat message, React.js handles that message, and emits a socket message which the server recieves. The server then adds the socket message into the database.

File Structure

public/
..js/
....joinroom.js     <-- React code that renders available rooms to join
....chatroom.js     <-- React code that renders the chat application
....react.js
....JSXTransformer.js
..css/
....style.css       <-- CSS code applied to every view page
views/
..about.jade
..error.jade
..index.jade
..layout.jade
..room.jade
routes/
..chatrooms.js      <-- GET list of chat rooms available to join
..index.js          <-- GET index.jade
..messages.js       <-- GET list of messages from DB for a chat room
..r.js              <-- GET /r/:chatroom
app.js              <-- Node server
db.js               <-- Functions to query postgresql
config.js           <-- Config variables
dbcommands.ql       <-- PostgresQL data definition code

Server-Side Installation

Chatter relies heavily on postgresql, so correct setup for postgres is mandatory. For this application, I used postgres with username postgres and password postgres. You can choose to roll with a diffent username, but I find that doing postgres for both makes it simple.

1. git clone http://github.com/keithyong/chat-room && npm update

2. Set up postgresql connection string at config.js

3. Run dbcommands.sql with the bash command

psql -U postgres -a -f dbcommands.sql

4. If using a different postgresql username and/or password, update config.js accordingly.

5. Run node app.js, or use pm2/forever to run it in the background on a server.