Use socket.io inside a express routes file

node.js, socket.io, sockets

Solution

You can set up your routes file as a function, and pass the Socket.IO object when requiring the file.

module.exports = function(io) {
  var routes = {};
  routes.index = function (req, res) {
    io.sockets.emit('payload');
    res.render('index', {
      title: "Awesome page"
    });
  };
  return routes;
};

Then require routes like this:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var http = require('http');
var server = http.createServer(app);
var io = require('socket.io').listen(server);
var routes = require('./routes')(io);

Problem

I'm trying to use Socket.io with Node.js and emit to a socket within the logic of a route. I have a fairly standard Express 3 setup with a server.js file that sits in the route, and then I have an index.js which sits in a routes folders that exports all the pages/publically accessible functions of the site. So they look like: ``` exports.index = function (req, res) { res.render('index', { title: "Awesome page" }); }; ``` with the routing defined in server.js like: ``` app.get('/',routes.index); ``` I'm assuming I have to create the socket.io object in the server.js, since it needs the server object, but how can I access that object and emit to it from the index.js export functions?

Original source

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