Real-Time Chatroom Microservice

Overview

This project implements a real-time chatroom microservice using Socket.io for WebSocket communication and In-Memory Storage for storing chat history and active users. It supports:

• Joining and leaving chatrooms
• Sending and receiving messages in real-time
• Retrieving active users and chat history

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14+ recommended)

Setup

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install

2. Start the server:

   npm run start

The server will run on http://localhost:3000.

WebSocket Usage (Using Postman)

Step 1: Connect to WebSocket

1. Open Postman.

2. Select Socket.IO Request from the request type dropdown.

3. Enter the URL:

   http://localhost:3000
   

4. Click Connect.

5. Navigate to the Events tab in Postman and manually add event listeners for join, message, leave and error events to receive real-time updates.

Step 2: Join a Chatroom

Once connected, send the following event:

• Event Type: join
• Payload:

  {
    "userId": "1",
    "chatRoomId": "1"
  }

Step 3: Send a Message

Send a message event with the following payload:

{
  "userId": "1",
  "chatRoomId": "1",
  "message": "Hello, world!",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-29T12:00:00Z"
}

Step 4: Leave the Chatroom

Send a leave event with the following payload:

{
  "userId": "1",
  "chatRoomId": "1"
}

API Endpoints

Get Active Users

Returns a list of currently active users in a chatroom.

GET /chat/active-users/:chatRoomId

Get Chat History

Returns the last N messages from a specific chatroom (default: 50 messages).

GET /chat/chat-history/:chatRoomId?limit=50

Running Tests

Jest is used for testing the service. Run the tests using:

npm run test