This feature was introduced in version 21.1.1 of the JourneyApps Container for iOS, Android and Desktop, and requires version 4.78.0 or greater of the JourneyApps Runtime.
TCPSocket support is currently only available for customers on the Enterprise plan.
The TCPSocket API allows applications to directly connect with external devices over TCP sockets.
Checking if TCPSocket is supported
A TCPSocket.info() function is available to check if the user's device has access to the TCP sockets. It returns an object:
Field
Type
Description
supported
boolean
Indicates if TCPSocket is supported on the current device. Not supported on Web
Connecting to a TCP socket
To connect to a TCP socket, the host and port of the socket is required.
To connect, use var tcpSocket = TCPSocket.connect({host: host, port: port, timeout: timeout}, readHandler, closeHandler).
Parameter
Description
host
String hostname of socket, e.g. '10.0.0.1'.
port
Number of the port of the socket, e.g. 8080.
timeout
Number value in milliseconds. This value overrides the timeout period, which closes the TCP socket connection after network inactivity. Its default value is 10 seconds.
Note: This parameter was introduced in version 4.86.6 of the JourneyApps Runtime.
readHandler
Optional callback that gets called when data is present on the socket.
closeHander
Optional callback that gets called when an error occurs or socket closes. The closeHandler will have an optional error parameter that will be a string, or null/undefined when there isn't an error.
var socketHost ='192.168.1.1';var socketPort =8080;varreadHandler=function(data) {// data received from TCP socketconsole.log(data);}varcloseHandler=function(error) {if (error) {console.log("Error", error); }}// use a try .. catch, since an exception may be thrown.try {var tcpSocket =TCPSocket.connect({host: socketHost, port: socketPort}, readHandler, closeHandler);} catch (error) {console.log(error);}
var socketHost ='192.168.1.1';var socketPort =8080;varreadHandler=function(data) {// data received from TCP socketconsole.log(data);}varcloseHandler=function(error) {if (error) {console.log("Error", error); }}// use a try .. catch, since an exception may be thrown.try {var tcpSocket =awaitTCPSocket.connect({host: socketHost, port: socketPort}, readHandler, closeHandler);} catch (error) {console.log(error);}
Reading data
There are two ways to read data from the socket.
The readHandler from the example above uses a callback with data in Uint8Array when there is data available.
A ReadableStream object is also available. To use the ReadableStream, the following can be used:
var stream =mySocket.stream;var streamReader =stream.getReader();functionstartRead() {setTimeout(function() {streamReader.read().then(function(dataRead) {if (dataRead.done) {console.log("Stream finished"); } else {// use data:console.log("Data",dataRead.value);// trigger another read:startRead(); }// in the case where view variables are changed,// e.g. updating text on the view,// we need to call the journey.forceDigest() function// due to this code running inside a setTimeout: }).then(journey.forceDigest); },1000);}// call the startRead function once:startRead();
var stream =mySocket.stream;var streamReader =stream.getReader();functionstartRead() {setTimeout(asyncfunction() {var dataRead =awaitstreamReader.read();if (dataRead.done) {console.log("Stream finished"); } else {// use data:console.log("Data",dataRead.value);// in the case where view variables are changed,// e.g. updating text on the view,// we need to call the journey.forceDigest() function// due to this code running inside a setTimeout:journey.forceDigest();// trigger another read:startRead(); } },1000);}// call the startRead function once:startRead();
Data must be continually read when using the ReadableStream. In the example above, the data is read one second after previous reading.
ReadableStream methods can be used, including piping through other streams, e.g. TextDecoderStream:
var stream =mySocket.stream.pipeThrough(newTextDecoderStream());stream.read().then(function(data) {if (!data.done) {// result is Stringconsole.log(data.value); }});
var stream =mySocket.stream.pipeThrough(newTextDecoderStream());var data =awaitstream.read();if (!data.done) {// result is Stringconsole.log(data.value);}
Writing to a socket
The TCPSocket.connect function returns a TCPSocket instance. This instance is used to write data to the socket in binary (Uint8Array) format.
var tcpSocket =TCPSocket.connect({host: socketHost, port: socketPort}, readHandler, closeHandler);// writing binary data ("Hello" in hexadecimal)var binaryData =newUint8Array([0x48,0x65,0x6c,0x6c,0x6f]);tcpSocket.write(binaryData);
var tcpSocket =awaitTCPSocket.connect({host: socketHost, port: socketPort}, readHandler, closeHandler);// writing binary data ("Hello" in hexadecimal)var binaryData =newUint8Array([0x48,0x65,0x6c,0x6c,0x6f]);awaittcpSocket.write(binaryData);
Closing and resetting
To close a connection, call close() on the connection object, e.g. tcpSocket.close().
To reset all the sockets, call TCPSocket.reset(). This closes all open sockets.
There is also an isOpen property on each connection object, e.g. tcpSocket.isOpen that returns a boolean to check if the socket is open. Note that it may take some time after a socket has disconnected for the socket itself to register that it has closed.