How to Build a Simple Websocket Server and Client in Go and Javascript?

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Dec 16, 2023 552 Words

Read Time: 3 Minutes

In this guide, you'll create a basic WebSocket echo program in Golang using the Gorilla WebSocket library (and test it with javascript client).

Introduction

WebSocket is a communication protocol that enables bidirectional communication between a client and a server. It is commonly used for real-time applications where instant data updates are crucial like a chat application.

In this guide, we’ll create a basic WebSocket echo program in Golang using the Gorilla WebSocket library (and test it with javascript client).

Setting Up the Server

Let’s start by creating a simple Go program that acts as the WebSocket server. This program will echo back any messages it receives from clients.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/gorilla/websocket"
	"net/http"
)

var upgrader = websocket.Upgrader{
	CheckOrigin: func(r *http.Request) bool {
		return true
	},
}

func echo(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	c, err := upgrader.Upgrade(w, r, nil)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Print("upgrade:", err)
		return
	}
	defer c.Close()

	// Welcome message
	c.WriteMessage(websocket.TextMessage, []byte("Welcome"))

	for {
		mt, message, err := c.ReadMessage()
		if err != nil {
			fmt.Println("read:", err)
			break
		}

		fmt.Printf("Received: %s\n", message)

		err = c.WriteMessage(mt, message)
		if err != nil {
			fmt.Println("write:", err)
			break
		}
	}
}

func ping(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "pong\n")
}

func main() {
	fmt.Println("WebSocket Server Running on :8080")
	http.HandleFunc("/echo", echo)
	http.HandleFunc("/ping", ping)
	http.ListenAndServe(":8080", nil)
}

This code sets up a simple WebSocket server using the Gorilla WebSocket library. The /echo endpoint handles WebSocket connections, and the root endpoint / responds with “pong” to any HTTP requests.

Creating WebSocket Client

Now, let’s create a basic HTML file and sprinkle in some vanilla javascript code to act as our WebSocket client.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>WebSocket Client</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>WebSocket Client</h1>
        <!-- Output of websocket reception gets populated here -->
        <p id="dataSync"></p>
        <script>
            var ws = null
            var sync = document.getElementById("dataSync")
            // Package up the websocket connection declarations and required behaviour.
            function reconnect() {
                ws = new WebSocket("ws://localhost:8080/echo")
                ws.onopen = function (e) {
                    console.log("Opening WebSocket connection", e)
                }
                ws.onclose = function (e) {
                    console.log("Closing WebSocket connection")
                }
                ws.onmessage = function (e) {
                    console.log("Received a message via WebSocket connection", e.data)
                    sync.innerText = e.data
                }
            }
            // Implement a check to ensure we can re-establish a websocket connection
            // ..if existing connection is either closed or doesn't exist at all!
            function check() {
                !ws || ws.readyState == ws.CLOSED ? reconnect() : ''
            }
            // Invoke!
            reconnect()
            // Periodic check to re-establish a new connection if current is closed or non-existent, every second.
            setInterval(check, 1000)
        </script>
    </body>
</html>

This simple HTML file includes a WebSocket client using JavaScript. It connects to the WebSocket server running on ws://localhost:8080/echo and displays any received messages in the dataSync paragraph.

Running the Program

  1. Save the server code in a file named main.go and the client code in an HTML file, e.g., client.html

  2. Run the following commands in your terminal if you’re using go1.11 or newer version:

    go mod init websocker-server-example && go mod tidy
    
  3. Open a terminal and run the server:

    go run main.go
    
  4. Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080/ping to see the “pong” response

  5. Open the client HTML file in a web browser. You should see the WebSocket client connecting to the server and displaying received messages

  6. Open the dev console and send a simple websocket signal using the following code

ws.send("Hi, incoming bytes from the browser")
  1. You should see the same data in your html body

Hi, incoming bytes from the browser

Great! You’ve just built a simple WebSocket echo program in Go.

👋 — @TnvMadhav

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